Linux & gr. card

casey

casey

casey

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8 Apr 2006
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116
I am having problems installing Linux on my machine which seems to be down to the graphics card (Nvidia 6600) & wondered if I changing the card would get me out of trouble.
The problems seem to be tied up with the display.
1/ No Cursor. (Suse).
2/ Will not install in graphical mode (locks up with vertical lines. (Fedora).
If so what card would you suggest. (No gaming).

Casey.
 
With fedora you can install in text mode. Its got me round similar problems before, wap the OS on then install the driver OR change the driver in xorg.conf to vesa.

Going from memory when you insert the Fedora CD and it asks you to press enter to install, I think you can type in 'text' (or similar) then press enter to install in text mode. It should have a little prompt telling you how to do this. Try that.
 
Thanks.
I have installed in text mode but when it gets to reboot it starts in text mode , gets to log in, I log in as root and enter startx and it promply locks up with vertical stripes. What else can I do.
Casey.
 
Strange that it starts in text mode, should at least try graphical. Perhaps it does then drops back out? Check your runlevel, simply type in 'runlevel' at a command prompt, it should be 5.

Anyhow ...

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the line saying driver and change it to 'vesa'. Try that first, other thing might be the monitor sync frequencies.

e.g;

Section "Device"
Identifier "geforce6600" < that line doesn't matter
Driver "vesa"

Save the changes to the file by pressing

:wq!

Then try startx.
 
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Thanks once again.
I tried your suggestions and it is in runlevel 3. I get a graphical Grub screen up on boot with 3secs before loading & that is it.

As for the rest I went into the config file & made the changes & saved the changes but didn't know how to get back to a command prompt. So I restarted & entered startx with the same old result. I did notice that the only resolution modes wre “800x600” “640x480”. I think I need “1024x768”.
Horiz sync 31.5 – 37.9 Vertical refresh 50 – 70. i think these are OK.

Next I went to go back into the config fileto see if the changes were still there, but it come up with the following -

E325: ATTENTION
Found a swap file by the name of “/etc/X11/.xorg.conf.swap” owned by: root dated Sun Aug 27
File name “/etc/X11/.xorg.conf”
Modified:Yes
User name :root
Process I.D.: 2682
While opening file “/etc/X11/.xorg.conf. ”

1/ Another program may be editing the same file. If this is the case, be careful not to end up with two different instances of the same file when making changes.
Quit or continue with caution.

2/ An edit session for this file crashed. If this is the case, use “:recover” or “vim -r / “/etc/X11/.xorg.conf.swap” to aviod this message.
“/etc/X11/.xorg.conf.” 104L, 2529C

Hit ENTER or type command to continue.

I hit continue and there were no changes in the conf file.

Casey.
 
get the nvidia drivers for linux

I think 87.62 are the latest.

before you start

boot up in runlevel 3

ensure you have your kernel-source package installed

backup you xorg.conf

run the installer

type sh "path_to_nvidia_driver_package"

on fedora run the gtf script I think its in /usr/X11R6/bin

this will generate a mode line for your xorg.conf.

edit your xorg.conf replace driver "nv"

with driver "nvidia"

ensure you comment out Load "dri" and Load "GLcore" in module

if you want it editing send me your existing conf file :)
 
I think things are getting past my knowledge.
Where would I store the Nvidia driver ?
How would I back-up the conf file ?
How would I save it ?
If I was in graphical mode I could do it but not from runlevel 3.
 
download the nvidia driver anywhere it doesn't matter where

your home directory would be fine

open a shell type "rpm -qa | grep -i kernel"

if you see a package called kernel-source or similar you have the kernel source you need this to build the driver against.

don't worry the installer will do the building for you.

"cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf ~/xorg.conf.bak" will create a backup of the file in your home dir

then as root you can vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf to edit it
 
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you can download the nvidia driver at runlevel 3

stick your install cd/dvd in your drive

install the package ncftp

rpm -ivh path_to_install_media/Fedora/RPMS/ncftp*.rpm

ncftp

open ftp://download.nvidia.com

cd XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-8774/

get NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-8774-pkg1.run

this will download the file for you

hope this helps :)
 
As for it not saving changes, you need to open it up as root.

su -
(enter root password when prompted)

Then vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you can get the Nvidia drivers installed they have a little utility called nvidia-xconfig which will try to make these changes automatically which is nice.

Once you make changes in vi, you need to hit;

:wq! to go back to command line, you then need to type in "init 5", which will go to runlevel 5, full multiuser with graphical.

If your really desperate for assistance you can email me and get me on MSN. I could then even ssh into your machine and sort it out for you.
 
Thanks you both for your advice, but I do not seem to be getting anywhere.
This vi /etc/X11 ---------- I tried again but sometimes it will not let me edit it but I can get back to a command prompt, other times I can edit it but then I cannot get back to a command prompt with :wq!, so cannot do much there.
I tried deleting /etc/..............conf.swp file as it suggested but still get the warning screen.
I then tried ...................RPMS/ncftp.... but it kept saying 'file could not be found'. I was not quite sure what to put for the DVD drive path but tried a few things but I thought it would have said ' cannot find device' if that was the problem.
As for download & saving the driver to HD, I cannot download to Linux, & Linux cannot see my windows partitions.

Casey.
 
Have now managed to get into graphics mode by editing conf. file but still only 800x600 resolution available so will still have to try to install the Nvidia drivers. It still starts up in runlevel 3 & I have to log in to user & startx. Will the driver cure this?
I also have problems with Mozilla as it will not connect to most web sites. Never have got Mozilla to work. Not connection settings as it will download updates. Will try and install Opera as this usually works.
Casey.
 
casey said:
It still starts up in runlevel 3 & I have to log in to user & startx. Will the driver cure this?
Click to expand...

You should be able to get it to start X on boot by editing (vi again) /etc/inittab, and changing the 3 to a 5 in the line with initdefault in :).
 
Thanks AndrewP. Did what you suggested & now loads Ok in graphics mode.
Tried to install Nvidia driver which started OK but just came up with "Unable to find the system utility 'ld'; please make sure you have the package 'binutilities' installed. If installed then please check that 'ld' is in your path".
Cannot find an answer to why I can only view a few web pages. Don't know why it finds some & not others. Some I can get to the home page but no further. Installed Opera but thats the same.
Also how can I mount the my other patitions.
Casey.
 
Made progress with the NV driver. Installed 'binutilities' but it came up wth 'no gcc', installed that. Now it comes up with 'Cannot find Kernel-source'. Any help where I can find that?
Casey.
 
should be on your install medium. If not try http://rpm.pbone.net good resource for RPM files. Should be able to find one there. make sure it matches your running kernel.
uname -a will give you your kernel ver

make sure you have binutils, gcc make and your kernel-source installed then try the installer again.

glad your getting somewhere with it.
 
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Thanks.
I had to re-install as I messed up my router connection altogether somehow. Now when I go to install gcc it comes up with 'missing dependency cpp=4.1.0.-3'. Never had this trouble before. Found this on CD and tried to install it and it said later version already installed. So am going backwards instead of forward. I don't like to give up on it.
Do you have any suggestion about my browsing. I got to this page OK but when I try to go to your link it just sits until it times out after 2-3 mins. The software updater works fine its just most web pages it will not go to.
Casey.
 
which o/s are you using

on suse10.1 I'm using cpp = 4.1.0-25
gcc= 4.1.0-25

I would guess you have upgraded your cpp so that gcc is not compatible.

on fedora you could use yum install gcc

if suse you could force in your gcc then upgrade it use

rpm -ivh --nodeps "path to gcc rpm file" can add a force flag if required --force

as for the link works fine for me mate check your network settings is all I can suggest
 
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I am trying in Fedora at the moment. Have now found kernel-source on Cd and that installed OK, make installed, just gcc to go.
Strange it was later as it was a new install.
Have checked settings for ethernet as far as I know, just let it automatically assign. I have the same problem in Suse.
Casey
 
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