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Cannot install NVIDIA drive on 2008.1


banjo
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I am trying to install an NVIDIA graphics card in my Mandy 2008.1. When I did the initial OS install some video drivers were installed that made the card work, but poorly. Graphical programs are now compute bound. So I want to install a more up-to-date NVIDIA driver, which I downloaded from the NVIDIA page.

 

I installed from the Mandriva One CD, but I replaced the kernel in order to get it to see my whole 2 Gig of RAM.

 

I am having difficulty getting the driver to finish its installation and would like some help figuring where to go from here. I am kind of stuck.

 

I am installing a PNY GeForce 9600 GT graphics card. I followed the directions on wiki.linuxquestions.org to put the computer into init3 level and then followed the directions on the NVIDIA site.

 

I went to init3 level and ran the nvidia file

 

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-177.80-pkg1.run

 

The NVIDIA installer unpacked itself and ran. It did not find a precompiled kernel interface either on the system or on their ftp site, so it compiled its own. I installed the kernel sources to allow that compliation to happen. Here is some of the output in the /var/log/nvidia-installer.log

 

-> License accepted.
-> Installing NVIDIA driver version 177.80.
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site;
  this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for
  your kernel.

 

Then it compiled the kernel interface OK but had an error installing the compiled driver.

 

-> Kernel module compilation complete.
ERROR: Unable to load the kernel module 'nvidia.ko'.  This happens most
   frequently when this kernel module was built against the wrong or
   improperly configured kernel sources, with a version of gcc that differs
   from the one used to build the target kernel, or if a driver such as
   rivafb/nvidiafb is present and prevents the NVIDIA kernel module from
   obtaining ownership of the NVIDIA graphics device(s).

   Please see the log entries 'Kernel module load error' and 'Kernel
   messages' at the end of the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for
   more information.
-> Kernel module load error: insmod: error inserting './usr/src/nv/nvidia.ko':
  -1 Invalid module format

 

When I cat /proc/version I get.

cat /proc/version
Linux version 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb (qateam@titan.mandriva.com) (gcc version 4.2.3 (4.2.3-6mnb1)) #1 SMP Mon Jul 28 15:12:10 EDT 2008

 

Then I checked the version of gcc:

 

rpm -qa | grep gcc
libgcc1-4.2.3-6mnb1
gcc-cpp-4.2.3-6mnb1
gcc-4.2.3-6mnb1
manbo-mandriva-files-gcc-4.2.3-6mnb1
gcc-c++-4.2.3-6mnb1
manbo-mandriva-files-gcc-c++-4.2.3-6mnb1

 

It looks like there is no discrepancy between the kernel compiler and the compiler that was used for the nvidia kernel interface. I suspect the problem is that another driver is installed.

 

The MCC Hardware Manager shows the following for the video card:

 

Identification
Vendor: nVidia Corporation
Description: Unknown
Media class: VGA compatible controller
Connection
Bus: PCI
PCI domain: 0
Bus PCI #: 1
PCI device #: 0
PCI function #: 0
Vendor ID: 0x10de
Device ID: 0x0622
Sub vendor ID:0x196e
Sub device ID: 0x0545
Misc
Module: Card:NVIDIA GeForce 9300 and later

 

The MCC Software Manager shows the following nvidia packages installed:

 

nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia-current driver for kernel 2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb - nvidia-current driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia-current driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop-latest - nvidia-current driver for latest kernel-desktop
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop586-latest - nvidia-current driver for latest kernel-desktop586\
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia71xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb - nvidia71xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia71xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia71xx-kernel-desktop-latest - nvidia71xx driver for latest kernel-desktop
nvidia71xx-kernel-desktop586-latest - nvidia71xx driver for latest kernel-desktop586
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia96xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb - nvidia96xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb - nvidia96xx driver for kernel 2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb
nvidia96xx-kernel-desktop-latest - nvidia96xx driver for latest kernel-desktop
nvidia96xx-kernel-desktop586-latest - nvidia96xx driver for latest kernel-desktop586
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current - NVIDIA proprietary X.org driver and libraries for new cards
x11-driver-video-nvidia71xx - NVIDIA proprietary X.org driver and libraries for old cards
x11-driver-video-nvidia96xx - NVIDIA proprietary X.org driver and libraries for most GF2/3/4 class cards

 

There are a lot more NVIDIA packages that are not installed.

 

I don't know what to uninstall or what to install or what much of this stuff means.

 

Any help in resolving this issue would be much appreciated since the performance of the card with the currently installed drivers is abysmal.

 

Is there something in the repositories that I can use? I am afraid that all the options in the MCC Software Manager have me perplexed.

 

Thanks in advance

Banjo

(_)=='=~

Edited by banjo
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I'm not currently writing this from my MDV installation, but IIRC the latest Nvidia driver in Mandriva repos is just that: 177.80.

 

Have you tried finding the same in Mandriva repos? Have you set up the sources correctly (also the PLF sources)? The simplest way (at least for me) is to install the Nvidia-latest -package (don't remember the full name of that virtual driver) that would set you up with the latest Nvidia drivers.

 

To set the repos correctly go to the link above Easy-Urpmi and follow the instructions there (OK, I'm sure you're familiar with that - but for everyone else having this problem). Then install the Nvidia-latest -package and you're good to go.

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OK. Cool. B)

 

I have, indeed, set up the repositories and have managed to install many apps successfully. I remember seeing Nvidia-latest -package or something similar in the list of uninstalled packages along with a bunch of other stuff that did not make much sense to me. Maybe I will give that a try.

 

Sorry for all the noob questions, but drivers are a bit confusing for me. The confusing part is that my system already has a bunch of Nvidia stuff installed.

 

Is there anything else that must be done to install the driver after the package has been installed?

 

Thanks for the info

Banjo

(_)=='=~

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Is there anything else that must be done to install the driver after the package has been installed?

 

If you install the Nvidia-latest, it will get you the latest nvidia driver (it will tell you what the latest driver is and ask you to install it: "The following package will be installed...").

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I just checked, and the highest version I can find in the 2008.1 repositories is 169.12, which is the version that is installed on this computer.

 

According to Nvidia, the 169.12 does not support the GeForce 9600 GT, which is the card I have.

 

I also tried using drakx11 and it only displays older cards. So I am stuck unless I can compile in the new driver.

 

I downloaded the newer driver, 177.80 and attempted to install it. The installer said the I had to compile a kernel interface, which I did. The compilation worked fine, but I get errors when I try to link it into the kernel. It looks like we might have to uninstall the current drivers to get it to go in. Here is the specific error I get when it tries to link in the kernel interface.

 

ERROR: Unable to load the kernel module 'nvidia.ko'.  This happens most
   frequently when this kernel module was built against the wrong or
   improperly configured kernel sources, with a version of gcc that differs
   from the one used to build the target kernel, or if a driver such as
   rivafb/nvidiafb is present and prevents the NVIDIA kernel module from
   obtaining ownership of the NVIDIA graphics device(s).

 

What is rivafb/nvidiafb? Does any of this ring a bell? Should I uninstall the current drivers in MCC and then try to link in the new driver again? I am over my head with this.

 

Any help on how to resolve this would be much appreciated.

 

Banjo

(_)=='=~

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I just checked, and the highest version I can find in the 2008.1 repositories is 169.12, which is the version that is installed on this computer.

 

Yes, I just found this, but as medo3891 said it's in the Non-free Backports. Mine is currently v177.70, but I think I'm going to keep that (as it is working fine for my card).

 

x11-driver-video-nvidia-current - NVIDIA proprietary X.org driver and libraries for GeForce 6 and later cards​

	   Version: 177.80-3mdv2009.0
	   Currently installed version: 177.70-2.3mdv2009.0
	   Group: System/Kernel and hardware
	   Architecture: i586
	   Size: 26930 KB
	   Medium: Non-free Backports (Official2009.0-20)

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Hello Banjo.

I also have the GeForce9600 GT video card

 

I deleted everything that had word nvidia in the packages titles. In MCC ...Software management . Set to All then just type in nvidia and enter then uninstall everything that is ticked.

 

I have the following stuff installed:-...

 

kernel-desktop-2.6.24.7-1mnb

kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.7-1mnb

kernel-desktop-latest.............2.6.24.7

kernel-desktop-devel-latest..............2.6.24.7

kernel-headers.................2.6.24

 

The Nvidia driver that I installed was.........NVIDIA-Linux-x86-177.80-pkg1.run

 

This works perfectly and has never been a bother. I have done over 5 reinstall of 2008-Spring over friends and my machine and works AOK everytime.

 

Cheers. John

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John,

 

I did the initial install from the Mandriva One CD, which apparently has a different kernel on it since it could only see 800 Meg of my 2 Gig of RAM. So I followed the instructions in the errata to install a different kernel and it now sees all of the RAM. When I did that it instructed me to replace a bunch of modules, which I did.

 

When I search MCC for installed packages with "kernel-desktop" I get tons of stuff..... :lol2: It does look similar to your list though....but much longer, and with a lot of nvidia stuff in it. Here are the kernels.

 

kernel-desktop-2.6.24.7-1mnb - Linux Kernel for desktop use with i686 & 4GB RAM
kernel-desktop-latest - Virtual rpm for latest kernel-desktop​
kernel-desktop586-2.6.24.4-1mnb - Linux kernel for desktop use with i586 & 1GB RAM​
kernel-desktop586-2.6.24.7-1mnb - Linux kernel for desktop use with i586 & 1GB RAM​
kernel-desktop586-latest - Virtual rpm for latest kernel-desktop586​
​

 

What's with all the kernels?

 

There are about 18 Nvidia drivers installed, and I don't know what they all mean.

 

x11-driver-video-nvidia71xx-71.86.04-4mdv2008.1
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb-96.43.05-4mdv2008.1
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb-96.43.05-4mdv2008.1
nvidia96xx-kernel-desktop586-latest-96.43.05-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb-71.86.04-4mdv2008.1
nvidia96xx-kernel-desktop-latest-96.43.05-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb-71.86.04-4mdv2008.1
x11-driver-video-nvidia96xx-96.43.05-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia71xx-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb-71.86.04-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop-latest-169.12-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1
nvidia96xx-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb-96.43.05-4mdv2008.1
nvidia71xx-kernel-desktop586-latest-71.86.04-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop586-latest-169.12-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1
nvidia71xx-kernel-desktop-latest-71.86.04-1.20080729.4mdv2008.1

 

Yikes!

 

I tried to install the same Nvidia driver that you have, but it will not install because of the error I posted previously.

 

If I remove the other nvidia drivers, will that link error go away? Sorry for the noob questions, but I usually don't delve into the world of drivers much.

 

Thanks for the help.

Banjo

(_)=='=~

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Banjo, what I suggested was get rid of all those numerous nvidia named packages that you listed. Dump them. Throw out. Remove etc. Sorry but my list is no way similar. My list is all related to .......2.6.24.7-1

 

Of all the kernels you listed I suggested you make sure the same ones I listed are installed and then boot into that one . When you do then do the proprietary driver install routine as recommended by nvidia, not Mandriva.

 

You are allowing yourself to be confused when there is no need to be.

I see you have ....kernel-desktop-2.6.24.7-1mnb ...already, so install the other packages I listed. You CANNOT install an nividia driver without the .....kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.7-1mnb...as well (or perhaps the kernel-source-2.6.24.7-1mnb which is a much larger package and not really needed for our purpose) it is essential.

 

After you finally get things running you can uninstall the........

kernel-desktop-latest - Virtual rpm for latest kernel-desktop​

kernel-desktop586-2.6.24.4-1mnb - Linux kernel for desktop use with i586 & 1GB RAM​

kernel-desktop586-2.6.24.7-1mnb - Linux kernel for desktop use with i586 & 1GB RAM​

kernel-desktop586-latest - Virtual rpm for latest kernel-desktop586​.

..............which will serve no useful purpose.

 

Cheers. John.

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Ok. I'm starting to get it. I do have the kernel source installed as well.

 

kernel-source-2.6.24.7-1mnb-1-1mnb1

 

I installed that when I had to compile the kernel interface for the driver. I guess that was overkill, but it worked for the compilation.

 

I assume that I am booting into kernel-desktop-2.6.24.7-1mnb since it can now see all of my 2 Gig of RAM but I don't know yet how to tell for sure. I would like to find out how to look at Grub to see what is actually going on. I was booting with LILO in the past, so I am on a steep learning curve here. I will do some more research on that issue.

 

I have little time to work on this problem because I still have that day job that takes away so many hours. So if I go away for a day or two I have not given up, I am just doing that work thing to pay for this fancy new computer. :lol2:

 

Thanks for all the help.

Banjo

(_)=='=~

 

P.S. OK, duh. I just went to /proc and cat version and I get

 

Linux version 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb (qateam@titan.mandriva.com) (gcc version 4.2.3 (4.2.3-6mnb1)) #1 SMP Mon Jul 28 15:12:10 EDT 2008

Edited by banjo
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I was finally successful in my effort to install the GeForce 9600 GT Nvidia card, although I cannot explain how it got done. So I thought I would report back to the Board to let folks know what happened.

 

First of all, I tried the steps that Aussie John suggested.

 

Uninstalled every Nvidia driver on the system

Rebooted the computer.

Shut the system down to init level 3

Ran the Nividia proprietary installer.

 

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-177.80-pkg1.run

 

The Nvidia installer once again found no precompiled kernel interface, so it compiled it's own. The compilation reported no errors, however, when it tried to link the new interface into the kernel I got the same error as before:

 

-> Kernel module compilation complete.
ERROR: Unable to load the kernel module 'nvidia.ko'.  This happens most
   frequently when this kernel module was built against the wrong or
   improperly configured kernel sources, with a version of gcc that differs
   from the one used to build the target kernel, or if a driver such as
   rivafb/nvidiafb is present and prevents the NVIDIA kernel module from
   obtaining ownership of the NVIDIA graphics device(s).

   Please see the log entries 'Kernel module load error' and 'Kernel
   messages' at the end of the file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for
   more information.
-> Kernel module load error: insmod: error inserting './usr/src/nv/nvidia.ko':
  -1 Invalid module format

 

This left me with no Nvidia drivers installed at all. I still do not know what is missing here.

 

Strangely enough, the system continued to boot to a graphical login. I have no idea how that works or what it means WRT the attempted nvidia installation. The card did not work properly in that mode because the OpenGL was running on the CPU, not the card.

 

Giving up on the Nvidia installer, I next followed the suggestion given by medo3891, to try and find a newer driver in backports. I followed the directions at:

 

Updating_proprietary_drivers_from_backports

 

I enabled the Main Backports and Non-free Backports repositories (they said nothing about the PLF backports). I installed the ldetect-lst package and then rebooted (to detect the hardware again).

 

I ran XFdrake, which now reported a new set of Nvidia hardware "6100 and newer..."

 

OK fine. The previous installed drivers said they were for "9300 and newer...", so that looked like a step backward to me. My son said "That's it", so we went with it. I am suffering from nomenclature failure here, because I cannot map "6100 and newer" to GeForce 9600 GT, whereas "9300 and newer" might fall more easily into that category. I am so confused. Nevertheless, I fired off the "Doit" button and the system fell into "Package Installation Hell".

 

The computer started downloading packages and would just hang there for the longest time without apparently doing anything. It would hang for 5 or 10 minutes on one dialog box. We have Verizon DSL, so we were not waiting on the net bandwidth. I suspect the mirror was busy.

 

After about a half hour, the system had downloaded about a dozen packages. One of them that went by was a kernel package. Somehow it downloaded Yet Another Kernel (YAK).

 

After the system said, "OK, done" I rebooted and the sweetest thing happened.

 

Ever since we had plugged in the graphics card, the system had been really loud. The fan on the graphics card just screamed all the time. Nvidia has a reputation for making loud cards, so we thought we would just have to get used to it.

 

Once I rebooted, the card got quiet. It is sitting here running as quiet as a mouse. My son speculated that the card was running the fan at 100% speed all the time because it had no driver to tell it otherwise. Go figure.

 

The card works fine now, but I have no idea what I installed or how or why there is YAK or what any of the alphabet soup means or why we needed YAK. I went to /proc and cat version now and get:

 

Linux version 2.6.24.7-desktop-2mnb (qateam@titan.mandriva.com) (gcc version 4.2.3 (4.2.3-6mnb1)) #1 SMP Thu Oct 30 18:03:14 EDT 2008

 

and previously I had

 

Linux version 2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb (qateam@titan.mandriva.com) (gcc version 4.2.3 (4.2.3-6mnb1)) #1 SMP Mon Jul 28 15:12:10 EDT 2008

 

All of that is the same except for "2mnb" instead of "1mnb" and the build date.

 

The nvidia drivers that are now installed are:

 

[root@localhost proc]# rpm -qa | grep nvidia
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-173.14.12-2mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-2mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop-latest-169.12-1.20081031.4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-doc-html-173.14.12-2mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop586-2mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-desktop586-latest-169.12-1.20081031.4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.7-desktop-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
nvidia-current-kernel-2.6.24.4-desktop586-1mnb-169.12-4mdv2008.1
dkms-nvidia-current-173.14.12-2mdv2008.1
[root@localhost proc]#

 

This is showing drivers with version 169.12 except for x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-173.14.12-2mdv2008.1. The 169.12 drivers were the ones we had installed before that did not work. Once again, I have no idea what happened that made this work, unless it was the new kernel or maybe the x11 driver is the important one???. If I can believe the build date on the new kernel, it was just created last Thursday.

 

I apologize for writing such a long message, but I thought some other folks might be interested in what happened. Maybe someone out there can educate me on what all of this means and remove the mystery of it. I am not a novice computer user (25 years of industrial GUI design) but I am lost in this Linux driver world.

 

Thanks to everyone on the board for the help. I would not have ever been able to get this working without the MUB.

 

Banjo

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