xboxboy Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 Hi guys, as some of you are aware, I've finally got my PC running in a state that I've always wanted. Now that the main items are checked off it's time to start playing. :D I have a EN9400GT Nvidia graphics card (I'm not up with it when it comes to graphics cards, I know this isn't a real fantastic card, but it has 512mb, where my old one had only 128mb). I downloaded, ages ago, a Nvidia driver from the Nvidia website and am using that. I've now got compiz running and it's not as smooth as my old PC. Maybe I need the latest driver? How can I find out what version of the driver I'm running, and are there any ways to improve the performance of my card? I remember when I first got into Linux a common tip was to raise the priority of the desktop. Is this done automatically with a Mandriva install? Any help on this is most appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted February 28, 2009 Report Share Posted February 28, 2009 to determine what driver version you are running, from the command line: /user/bin/nvidia-settings to check if your card is configured correctly (if it is AGP) cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 I used Nvidia server settings to get the driver version of: 177.8, which is definately not the current version. It is not an agp card. Im not sure if its just the display that is slow, the system itself doesn't seem as fast as it could have been. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Well you are running a more recent driver than I am. I have 169.12. I do not have a PCI video card, and the only hardware checks I know are AGP related. Can someone else help with hardware configuration checks for a PCI card? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarecrow Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 (edited) 1. Download the latest driver from nvidia (180.22). 2. Drop to runlevel 3 (# telinit 3) and install the driver from there. 3. Run "# nvidia-xconfig --composite" to enable composite effects in your xorg configuration. Some useful tips for manually finetuning your nvidia driver: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Composite They apply for pretty much any distro, not just the one they're referring at. Edited March 1, 2009 by scarecrow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted March 1, 2009 Report Share Posted March 1, 2009 Good stuff scarecrow. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 I installed the current driver and it does seem much snappier. Thanks. I read through those manual config guides over the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) ARRGH! I done a system update. No graphical login, to be expected. Installed the NVIDIA driver, all ok. Start x, all ok. So next time I reboot I get dropped at the CLI, in run level 3 I think it is. What do I have to change to get a graphical login? Please help. EDIT: Ooops, I was booting into fail safe not the running version...Sorry! Edited March 2, 2009 by xboxboy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted March 2, 2009 Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2009 Yeah laughs all round. What a dumb NEWB trick to fall for. Problem is I think I've messed the first mandriva splash screen resolution. Can this be changed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Tonight I came home checked my emails, shutdown. Came back now when I boot, I can login graphically, but then plasma crashes and I have to reboot. I can login with root (no 3d effects). How do I repair this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted March 3, 2009 Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Well I am a KDE 3.5.9 user, so I can''t help. You need some KDE4 assistance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xboxboy Posted March 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2009 Found a solution online. Not sure of the cause. Alot point to updates, I did that update yesterday, so possibly. I renamed the .kde folder in my user directory to .kde-old and rebooted and all is good! Something got scrambled somewhere, but is fine now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angst Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 (edited) to determine what driver version you are running, from the command line: /user/bin/nvidia-settings Not trying to be a nit picking *hole or anything but that should be: /usr/bin/nvidia-settings I'm sure daniewicz knew that but mistyped. I do that with 'usr' fairly regularly. :D Edited March 9, 2009 by angst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daniewicz Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 I checked my /usr/bin directory. The file is called nvidia-settings on my system. :unsure: Mandriva 2008.1 169.12 nvidia driver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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