GeForce FX + NVIDIA driver + X = Failure?

[Nicholas Evans]

Hey

    I've just spent awhile with WebDragon from #fedora, google, and the 
NVIDIA driver readme, and can't seem to get x to boot with the new 
driver. I've tried the RPM from livina, and both the 5336 and the 5328 
driver install files from NIVIDIA. I'm using a GeForce FX 5200, and 
(obvioulsly) Fedora.

    You see, when I start up X, I get a blank screen with some white 
jibberish, like what you get when you try and open a binary in gEdit.  
The XFree86 config is correct, and I can't find any errors in the Xfree 
startup log, or any errors that matter in the nvidia-install log.

    I've tried google, I've spent about an hour with someone in a 
private message on IRC, and I can't seem to get it to work. I must of 
tried installing the driver 2-3 times using each method. I also made 
sure to uninstall my previous attempt before trying again.

    Has anyone had this problem and fixed it? My next step will be 
trying to see if anyone in the xfree86 IRC channel can help.

Thanks in advance!

[Craig Jansen]

Hi,

On Wed, 2004-02-11 at 13:23, Nicholas Evans wrote:

>      I've just spent awhile with WebDragon from #fedora, google,
> and the 
>  NVIDIA driver readme, and can't seem to get x to boot with the new  
[snip]

>   Has anyone had this problem and fixed it? My next step will be 
>  trying to see if anyone in the xfree86 IRC channel can help. 

I installed the NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5328-pkg1.run archive from
www.nvidia.com without any problems, It had to build the kernel driver
itself and I have to reinstall it after each kernel upgrade, but other
than that I have had no problems on my FX5200 

My XF86Config section looks like.

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "nvidia"
        VendorName  "NVidia"
        BoardName   "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

HTH.


Best Regards
   Craig Jansen

[Nicholas Evans]

Hey
    That's funny - My XFree86Config has that in it, except the vendor is 
set to some default generic thing. I don't think the vendor name could 
cause any problems, though.

Thanks though,
Nicholas

Craig Jansen wrote:

>  Hi,
>
>  I installed the NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5328-pkg1.run archive from 
>  www.nvidia.com <http://www.nvidia.com> without any problems, It had to 
>  build the kernel driver itself and I have to reinstall it after each 
>  kernel upgrade, but other than that I have had no problems on my FX5200 
[snip snip]

[Axel Thimm]

On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 07:23:55PM -0500, Nicholas Evans wrote:
>     I've just spent awhile with WebDragon from #fedora, google,
> and the 
>  NVIDIA driver readme, and can't seem to get x to boot with the new 
>  driver. I've tried the RPM from livina, and both the 5336 and the 5328 
>  driver install files from NIVIDIA. I'm using a GeForce FX 5200, and 
>  (obvioulsly) Fedora. 
Try the rpms at

    http://atrpms.physik.fu-berlin.de/name/nvidia-graphics/

It contains 4363, 4496, 4620, 5328 and 5336 drivers built for several
kernels (including the updates/testing ones, PlanetCCRMA's and of
course ATrpms').

I have also an GeForce FX 5200 and found the 4620 to be the most
suitable for me (note: out of all the drivers it is the one labeled
beta). Depending on your focus (fast GL vs XV/XVMC/overscan/vsync
video features) other drivers will be more suitable.

You can install all of them and switch with nvidia-graphics-switch
from driver to driver (after exiting X and rmmoding the previous
kmdl of course, but you don't need to (un)install rpms to switch the
drivers).
-- 
Axel.Thimm(a)physik.fu-berlin.de