Jump to content

Video Card Upgrade


crispus
 Share

Recommended Posts

I have a GForce 5600 card installed on my Mandriva 2007 system with the latest drivers installed (using the drivers from the Nvidia site and manual method). This video card only supports a max digital resolution of 1280 x 1024 (which is working fine) Since I just purchased a new 21 LCD and this PC also dual boots into Windows XP for gaming I would like to upgrade it a GForce 7600 (its AGP and I don't want a complete hardware replacement at this time) to realize the potential of the monitor.

 

What can I expect the response to be from Mandriva the first time I boot up after doing the hardware switch? Should I be booting into console to make some configuration changes first? Will I need to reinstall the Nvidia driver?

 

Just want to know what to expect.

 

Regards,

Crispus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to be safe, I would boot into console and reinstall the driver. I have read others have switched out nvidia product and not had to do anything at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That card certainly supports resolutions greater than 1280x1024:

 

http://reviews.cnet.com/eVGA_com_e_GeForce...7-30422569.html

 

See the above link. Unless you are talking about the max resolution that you can play a certain game at which may very well be limited to 1280x1024 at the max color depth.

 

However, to answer your question, assuming you already have mandriva setup for the new 21 inch LCD, you probably won't have to do anything. I just upgraded from a 5900 ot a 7600(AGP) myself and didn't have to do anything but I reran the nvidia driver install just to be on the safe side. Worst that will happen is you will have to reinstall the driver. I would disable hardrake in mcc>System>services. Hardrake picks up new hardware on boot and may try to install the open source nv driver for your new card.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That card certainly supports resolutions greater than 1280x1024:

 

http://reviews.cnet.com/eVGA_com_e_GeForce...7-30422569.html

 

See the above link. Unless you are talking about the max resolution that you can play a certain game at which may very well be limited to 1280x1024 at the max color depth.

 

Yes, while the card supports resolutions greater than 1280x1024, the Nvidia graphics driver only allows 1280x1024 max when using DVI. You can still get higher using VGA. Older versions of the driver allow greater digital resolutions but for some reason Nvidia removed that support from the driver around the 7000 series.

 

However, to answer your question, assuming you already have mandriva setup for the new 21 inch LCD, you probably won't have to do anything. I just upgraded from a 5900 ot a 7600(AGP) myself and didn't have to do anything but I reran the nvidia driver install just to be on the safe side. Worst that will happen is you will have to reinstall the driver. I would disable hardrake in mcc>System>services. Hardrake picks up new hardware on boot and may try to install the open source nv driver for your new card.

 

 

Thanks for the responses. Yes I have the monitor set up @ 1280x1024 already. It won't be until the new year that I make the switch so if I remember I'll report back on how it goes.

 

Regards,

Crispus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Yes, while the card supports resolutions greater than 1280x1024, the Nvidia graphics driver only allows 1280x1024 max when using DVI. You can still get higher using VGA. Older versions of the driver allow greater digital resolutions but for some reason Nvidia removed that support from the driver around the 7000 series.

 

I'm using a 7600 GT graphics card and the nvidia drivers (installed manually) with a 22" LCD monitor on Mandriva 2007 at 1680x1050 on DVI (not VGA).

 

What version of the nvidia driver are you using? I used NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-1.0-9629-pkg2.run.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Ok, so I finally did the swap and things are not going very well.

 

I replaced the MSI GForce 5600 with an MSI GForce 7600. The machine dual boots into mandriva 2007 and winXP. The winxp boot was fine. I only needed to reinstall the NVIDIA driver. When I attempted to boot into linux the boot gets stuck at the line:

 

starting HAL daemon

 

I've let it sit there for awhile and it doesn't progress. I understand that the HAL daemon is what is going to detect the new hardware. If I look at the log files (unfortunately I can't save them to be copied here) it says that it is removing the 5600 and loading the 7600. There is also an error "kernel: end_request: I/O error dev fd0 sector 0" which makes no sense as fd0 should be the floppy (right?). I don't know if this error is new.

 

I am using Lilo to boot and I don't know how to change the boot options on startup. I have the full boot, failsafe and winXP.

 

I used the Mandriva live 2007 CD to boot and while it stops at the HAL daemon after 30 seconds the boot continues and everything stats nicely. 3D effects are initialized and all looks good.

 

I'm stumped and don't know what config files or boot options I need to change to at least get it to boot so that I can update the vid card settings.

 

-Crispus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's sticking on loading X; that's what loads after the hal daemon IIRC.

 

Boot into nongraphical, text mode by rebooting and hitting the Esc key as soon as you see the lilo selection screen. That will take you to a command line boot prompt at which you should type:

 

linux 3

 

Hit the Enter key and you should boot to a command line login. Login as root and rerun your nvidia driver install.

 

The above procedure boots you into run level 3 where X is never loaded so you shouldn't hangup anymore. From there you should be able to reinstall your nvidia driver just like you did before.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The command line boot prompt will not accept that command. It will only allow me to invoke my 3 boot options: Mandriva_2007, failsafe, WinXP.

 

If I boot via failsafe and then type init 3 it still hangs at the same point. I'm really stumped and would like to avoid a full reinstall.

 

If I boot into failsafe is there a way I can specify what daemons to start after that and not boot into X?

 

Is there something I can do to my lilo.conf file to progress the boot like create a new boot entry? With what parameters?

 

-Crispus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, sorry, i misunderstood and was taking you too literally. In any case if I follow your instructions and the boot still hangs at the starting Hal [OK]. So while I get what you are saying, I'd really like to try a boot without the daemon starting but don't know what to pass. I've tried passing (noapic nolapic acpi=off) without success.

 

Regards,

Crispus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The command line boot prompt will not accept that command. It will only allow me to invoke my 3 boot options: Mandriva_2007, failsafe, WinXP.

 

Where pmpatrick said type "linux 3" in your case you probably need to type "Mandriva_2007 3".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

crispus:

 

Hope this helps. I have been thinking about upgrading my NVidia card, but I thought it was supposed to be easy...

 

From this link: http://www.aerospacesoftware.com/fubar-howto.html

 

Run the Mandrake Installation again and this time, select Upgrade. The system will check everything, find nothing to upgrade and you will quickly end up at the end of the install process. Here, select the display setup utility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

crispus:

 

Hope this helps. I have been thinking about upgrading my NVidia card, but I thought it was supposed to be easy...

 

From this link: http://www.aerospacesoftware.com/fubar-howto.html

 

Run the Mandrake Installation again and this time, select Upgrade. The system will check everything, find nothing to upgrade and you will quickly end up at the end of the install process. Here, select the display setup utility.

 

I was thinking about that too but when I booted from the Discovery Disk 1 I didn't see an option to upgrade.

 

Anyways, its no matter now as I think I fixed it! In my exuberance to install the new vid card I forgot to reread this post and it turns out the answer is above (Did I mention that WOW looks absolutely fantastic with my new card? No. yeah my wife wasn't impressed either).

 

the first thing I did was boot into failsafe mode and cleared my logs. I rebooted again a few times just to get a fresh population of the log files which I could look at. It appears from the logs that the offending piece was harddrake which was trying to install the nvidia driver with dkms after detecting the new hardware (now where did I read that I should have deslected that from starting before swapping the cards?). So I needed to figure out how to prevent harddrake and dkms from starting with run level 3 so that I could install the NVidia driver myself.

 

I had just purchased this book:

 

http://www.amazon.ca/How-Linux-Works-Super...TF8&s=books

 

so I did a little reading.

 

I booted into failsafe mode.

 

Under the directory tree

 

.../rc3.d/

 

I renamed the S04dkms and S05harddrake sim links by

 

mv S04dkms _S04dkms

mv S05harddrake _S05harddrake

 

I then did an init 3 and viola! It booted into the login prompt.

 

I logged as root and reinstalled the nvidia driver. I then manually restarted harddrake:

 

/etc/init.d/harddrake start

 

I was then able to startx.

 

Once I verified that the card was recognized and that the native resolution was set up (1600x1080). I renamed the simlinks back to normal, rebooted and everything appears to have worked. It was late and I only did one reboot so I need to verify tonight when I get home.

 

If I am going to update the NVidia drivers myself I don't think I need dkms to load so I think I'll make sure I deselect that in the startup services (assuming I am correct?).

 

So I need to verify but I think everything is ok. One thing I got a nice preview of with the Mandriva live CD was the 3D desktop. Since I didn't bother with that with the old card what do I need to install via urpmi to get that functionality now?

 

thanks all. I'll report back after verifying.

 

Regards,

Crispus

 

p.s. Along with the above book I also find this one invaluable:

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Linux-Cookbook-Tips-T...TF8&s=books

 

As a side note, I've been using linux/Mandriva for a few years now, but am in no means an expert, and while I commend any person for giving it a try I would highly recommend that anyone new to linux pick up at least 1 resource book. I started out with Fedora Core 1 and still use an old Red Hat book from time to time.

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Learning-Red-Linux-Bi...TF8&s=books

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...