No video card reference in the XF86??!

[Big_Baller]

Ok I just installed mandrake 9.1 (I had redhat but I wanted to see how much easyer mandrake is) and I need to install the nvidia drivers. Well to make a long story short here is what my XF86Config-4 file says

# File generated by XFdrake.

 

# **********************************************************************

# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of

# this file.

# **********************************************************************

 

Section "Files"

   # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)

   # By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of

   # the X server to render fonts.

   FontPath "unix/:-1"

EndSection

 

Section "ServerFlags"

   #DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)

   AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work

   #DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)

EndSection

 

Section "Module"

   Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension

   Load "v4l" # Video for Linux

   Load "extmod"

   Load "type1"

   Load "freetype"

   Load "glx" # 3D layer

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier "Keyboard1"

   Driver "Keyboard"

   Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

   Option "XkbLayout" "us"

   Option "XkbCompat" ""

   Option "XkbOptions" ""

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

   Identifier "Mouse1"

   Driver "mouse"

   Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"

   Option "Device" "/dev/usbmouse"

   Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

EndSection

 

Section "Monitor"

   Identifier "monitor1"

   VendorName "Plug'n Play"

   HorizSync 30-97

   VertRefresh 50-180

 

   # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?

   # 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync

   ModeLine "1024x480"    65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344   480  488  494  563 -hsync -vsync

 

   # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.

   # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630

 

   # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync

   ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616

EndSection

 

Section "Device"

   Identifier "device1"

   Driver "fbdev"

   Option "DPMS"

EndSection

 

Section "Screen"

   Identifier "screen1"

   Device "device1"

   Monitor "monitor1"

   DefaultColorDepth 16

 

   Subsection "Display"

       Depth 8

       Modes "default"

   EndSubsection

 

   Subsection "Display"

       Depth 15

       Modes "default"

   EndSubsection

 

   Subsection "Display"

       Depth 16

       Modes "default"

   EndSubsection

 

   Subsection "Display"

       Depth 24

       Modes "default"

   EndSubsection

EndSection

 

Section "ServerLayout"

   Identifier "layout1"

   InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

   InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

   Screen "screen1"

EndSection

Last night I tryed adding the lines for the nvidia installation to the device that has the fbdev as the driver. Well that didn't work and I coulnd't get into a gui. So I reinstalled being the noob that I am. Its ok. So where do I need to put the driver as "nvidia" here? I can't find it. I might throw up if my monitor says at 60hz much longer. My specs are: Abit Nf7-S, AMD 2500, 2x256 corsair, GeForce FX 5900. So whats up?

[tyme]

you want to change "fbdev" to "nvidia" but make sure you've already run the nvidia-installer (from nvidia.com) while not running X (the gui). to get back to a console stop the gui process from running, just open a terminal, su to root, type init 3 and hit enter. you will be dropped to a login screen. login as root, go to the directory where you downloaded the nvidia installer to, and type ./NVIDIA* to run it. you man also need to do:

chmod +x NVIDIA*

prior to running it, so that the system knows it's an executable.

[Big_Baller]

I did that and now it boots up but just puts me to the basic text enter mode. No gui....no x server?

[tyme]

no it's there. type startx to get back into the GUI, and then go into MCC->Boot->Boot Options and make sure that the "start graphical environment on boot..." option is selected (check the box).

[Big_Baller]

hehe I try that: It gives me stuff about a fatal IO error. No modes remaining for CRT aborting. Error 104. Fatal service erro: no screens found. I dont know what to list because its a little long. The log file is even longer. Should I post everything it said of is that enough?

[tyme]

ok, you installed the nvidia drivers, right?

 

hmm....post the errors you got...did you make sure to get the latest drivers? 4496?

[Big_Baller]

Its the latest right off the server at nvidia. Hot n fresh. Post the errors where? The stuff it says when I try it or in the log file?

[tyme]

what it says when you try it.

[Big_Baller]

Xfree86 4.3.0

blah dates....

(EE) NVIDIA(0): No modes remaining for display device CTR-0

(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***

(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configeration

 

Fatal Server error:

no screens found

 

blah about reporting....

 

XIO: Fatal IO error: 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0" after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

[tyme]

in the subsections where it says Modes "default" try putting a resolution, i.e. 1280x1024 1024x768 800x600

 

and check your horiz and vert syncs, make sure they are in the same range as that of your monitor.

 

you could also just try running drakxconf from a terminal as root

[Big_Baller]

Well changing them to 1024x768 (my fav resoultion) did the trick. Since I am a noob could you explain why?

[tyme]

because the X server didn't know what "default" was, is my guess. giving it a value to actually use corrected this.