Nvidia driver - Debian way, custom (or not) kernel.

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sweelinck · #76 Post by **sweelinck** » 2008-01-17 08:32

Hi. I've just installed lenny 32bits, kernel 2.6.22-3-686. Then I followed this howto, and everything went fine, except that the module seems to work not ; ). So, let me gather what it seems to be relevant.

I did install the nvidia-glx package, and everything went fine about it. When I change from 'nv' to 'nvidia', xorg says that this module doesn't exist, and dies. When I do 'modprobe nvidia', nothing happens. on /etc/modules there are just two lines (besides the #):

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loop
nvidia

But... on /var/log/kern.log:

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Jan 17 05:29:39 mnesala kernel: nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.
Jan 17 05:29:39 mnesala kernel: ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:04:00.0[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
Jan 17 05:29:39 mnesala kernel: PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:04:00.0 to 64
Jan 17 05:29:39 mnesala kernel: NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 Kernel Module  1.0-8776  Mon Oct 16 21:56:04 PDT 2006
Jan 17 05:37:41 mnesala kernel: PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:04:00.0 to 64
Jan 17 05:37:41 mnesala kernel: NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 Kernel Module  1.0-8776  Mon Oct 16 21:56:04 PDT 2006

I think that means the module started... or not? Ah, and when I do nvidia-xconfig:

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Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".
Segmentation fault

I'm puzzled. Not that I need much to be puzzled ; ), after ~ two months of debian, and linux. Well... please, help, i'm stuck : /.

llivv · #77 Post by **llivv** » 2008-01-19 01:03

You're not the only one. Somebody posted a bug concerning the" nvidia-kernel-source-169.07 installed with the linux-2.6.22xxxx kernel".

I had the same problem with lenny, and after triing to build a workaround with sid packages (not really knowing to much about what I'm doing)
I finally decided to purge X and downgrade to etch.

Mind you, I don't recommend this course as it's LOADED with potential issues, no matter how you actually make the switch.

Well anyways, I now have 2 "up to date etch" and 2 "up to date sid" installs on this machine, and I think it's about time
to hibernate the beast for another month or so.

But the visual I have with sid and nvidia 169.07 is wayyy better than anything I've had before....
Lazyweb: Does it look better on a 17" LCD?

Eck · #78 Post by **Eck** » 2008-01-19 17:37

The segfault when running Debian's version of nvidia-xconfig can be solved by adding a Modules section (don't forget the End Section line) to xorg.conf. NVidia's downloaded driver doesn't have this problem as they use a different version of nvidia-xconfig that has a lot of additional features.

For example, nvidia's version has an nvidia-xconfig --composite switch whereas ours does not.

Mostly all we need is to change nv or vesa to nvidia, and put Load "glx" as a line in the Modules section. And for composite just adding OPTION "Composite" "Enable" to the Extensions section.

I've used both Debian's and NVidia's versions of this stuff and the NVidia installer just seems like less hassle to get going. Only have to remember to nvidia-installer --uninstall and then reinstall it following Kernel, Xorg, or Mesa upgrades. It was pretty easy to use the Debian version, especially for Sid users but it was fine for Lenny users who read the guides for mixed systems too, before the current renaming scheme for these packages.

They're doing this for the future 2.6.23 Kernel upgrades but it had made it necessary to do additional steps temporarily until that happens and I found it too bothersome to, well, bother with. The NVidia binary works fine (export CC=gcc-4.1 and then run the NVidia package) and no need for mixing Lenny and Sid.

pszalapski · #79 Post by **pszalapski** » 2008-01-20 03:42

didi wrote: Get updated, install the necesary packages
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apt-get update && apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source/experimental module-assistant nvidia-settings

I'm trying to follow this to install 169, which apt-get downloaded for me by following the above (without the "Experimental".) I've never used the module assitant. Could someone please point me to a good guide for that? I've tried to do the obvious to get it going, but when I try to compile "nvidia-kernel", I get:

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Build of the package nvidia-kernel-source failed! How do you wish to proceed?

The buildlog is empty except for a "starting" line. Any way I can proceed? If not I'd be happy even with the 100-series drivers, which I don't know how to apt-get.

Thanks in advance. [/code]

bluesdog · #80 Post by **bluesdog** » 2008-01-26 00:32

module-assistant needs to know the location of the nvidia-kernel source files, as noted in the above posts

Either make a symlink, or manually unpack the source, as described.

As long as you have installed kernel-headers or kernel source to match your running kernel, module-assistant will then be able to build the nvidia-kernel module

didi · #81 Post by **didi** » 2008-01-26 14:48

pszalapski wrote:
didi wrote: Get updated, install the necesary packages
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apt-get update && apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source/experimental module-assistant nvidia-settings
I'm trying to follow this to install 169, which apt-get downloaded for me by following the above (without the "Experimental".) I've never used the module assitant. Could someone please point me to a good guide for that?

That was exactly how I got it working too (without the experimental).
Then I followed the rest of the tutorial and got it working, using module assistant.

I think that /experimental has to do with apt-pinning, but I'm not sure (ie pinned to stable or testing), but I don't know how that works ... probably in time I will

popatopalous · #82 Post by **popatopalous** » 2008-02-03 21:43

Boy, Debian and nVidia really don't seem to work well together. In Sid AMD 64 I'm at step:

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# apt-get install nvidia-glx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.

Since you only requested a single operation it is extremely likely that
the package is simply not installable and a bug report against
that package should be filed.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  nvidia-glx: Depends: nvidia-kernel-169.09 but it is not installable
E: Broken packages

Here's sources.list:

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# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r2 _Etch_ - Official amd64 kde-CD Binary-1 20080102-14:34]/ unst$

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r2 _Etch_ - Official amd64 kde-CD Binary-1 20080102-14:34]/ unst$

deb http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ unstable main contrib non-free

deb http://mirror.home-dn.net/debian-multimedia/ unstable main
deb-src http://mirror.home-dn.net/debian-multimedia/ unstable main

# deb http://debian.three-dimensional.net/debian-multimedia/ unstable main
# deb-src http://debian.three-dimensional.net/debian-multimedia/ unstable main

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# uname -a
Linux localhost 2.6.22-3-amd64 #1 SMP Sun Nov 4 18:18:09 UTC 2007 x86_64 GNU/Linux

What do I need to do to get nvidia-glx to install?

Hadret · #83 Post by **Hadret** » 2008-02-03 23:23

On my Sid I did aptitude full-upgrade, which didn't upgrade my nvidia-glx and nvidia-glx-ia32 packages. Than I switched off X-Server and type:

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# m-a a-i nvidia

When this one was ready, I've installed both missing packages:

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# aptitude install nvidia-glx nvidia-glx-ia32

That's all

bluesdog · #84 Post by **bluesdog** » 2008-02-04 02:31

popatopalous wrote:Boy, Debian and nVidia really don't seem to work well together. In Sid AMD 64 I'm at step:

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# apt-get install nvidia-glx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.

Since you only requested a single operation it is extremely likely that
the package is simply not installable and a bug report against
that package should be filed.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
  nvidia-glx: Depends: nvidia-kernel-169.09 but it is not installable
E: Broken packages

...What do I need to do to get nvidia-glx to install?

Assuming you have module-assistant installed, and there are no hardware weirdnesses, such as the notorious 4Gb RAM problem, nvidia is easy!

The unmet dependency problem is because the required kernel module is not available or installed. You must provide it first, and the easiest way is to build it yourself.

Especially simple to do from the CLI, while x-server is not running.

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# apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source

Then, if necessary unpack the source, as already explained, or make a symlink, if already explained.
Then run module-assistant to build the nvidia-kernel module, as already explained
Then

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# apt-get install nvidia-glx

popatopalous · #85 Post by **popatopalous** » 2008-02-04 17:47

Thanks Hadret and bluesdog. I got nvidia working now. I used aptitude this time and did full-upgrade 1st. It installed in the Sid kernel 2.6.22-4-amd64 with no problem. The nvidia-kernel-source wasn't installing in 2.6.22-3-2md64 because I had testing repos disabled. Once I enabled testing repos it installed there no problem as well.

Yesterday I must have skipped a step or something. It was Superbowl Sunday and all...

boz · #86 Post by **boz** » 2008-02-19 03:28

Ok, I'm trying to do this but when I try to apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source it tells me it doesn't exist? This is a fresh install of Lenny, sources.list:

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# 
# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r1 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070820-20:21]/ etch contrib main

# Changed all 'etch' to 'lenny' 2/18/08

# Removed CD-ROM source 2/18/08, pre-Lenny
#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 4.0 r1 _Etch_ - Official i386 NETINST Binary-1 20070820-20:21]/ etch contrib main

# Added 'contrib' and 'non-free' to these lines 2/17/08
# Then commented them out, as they should be the same as the ftp.us.debian.org lines below
#deb http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ etch main contrib non-free
#deb-src http://mirrors.usc.edu/pub/linux/distributions/debian/ etch main contrib non-free

# Following two lines removed 2/17/08, pre-Lenny, to clean up sources.list
# They're duped down at the bottom
#deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
#deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib

# Changed to ftp.us.debian.org 2/17/08
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ lenny main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ lenny/updates main contrib non-free

# Line added 12/14/07 by Boz to get gtkpod 0.99.10-3
# Commented out 1/4/08
#deb http://www.backports.org/debian etch-backports main contrib non-free

deb http://www.debian-multimedia.org lenny main

Yeah, it's kind of messy...old coder's habits die hard.

'apt-cache search nvidia' turns up nvidia-kernel-common, but no "source".

bluesdog · #87 Post by **bluesdog** » 2008-02-19 03:55

Currently unavailable in Lenny

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$ apt-cache policy nvidia-kernel-source
nvidia-kernel-source:
  Installed: 169.09-1
  Candidate: 169.09-1
  Version table:
 *** 169.09-1 0
        500 http://ftp.uk.debian.org sid/non-free Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.0.8776-4 0
        500 http://ftp.uk.debian.org etch/non-free Packages

drokmed · #88 Post by **drokmed** » 2008-02-29 18:18

bluesdog wrote:Currently unavailable in Lenny

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$ apt-cache policy nvidia-kernel-source
nvidia-kernel-source:
  Installed: 169.09-1
  Candidate: 169.09-1
  Version table:
 *** 169.09-1 0
        500 http://ftp.uk.debian.org sid/non-free Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.0.8776-4 0
        500 http://ftp.uk.debian.org etch/non-free Packages

It's unavailable before you install the nvidia drivers (from unstable). Afterwards, it works.

drokmed · #89 Post by **drokmed** » 2008-02-29 18:42

I hope you experts are still watching this thread

2 things:

1. This how-to works great!

NOTE: Need to update this how-to again. The nvidia drivers are now in unstable. They are no longer in experimental. (as of today anyways)

I just followed the instructions, installing the nvidia drivers "the debian way". I'm running Lenny, and it worked great. The machine is a Compaq F756NR laptop, nvidia MCP67 motherboard w/ GeForce 7000M.

2. I can't seem to change my default resolution from 1024x768 to 1280x800.

The original xorg.conf had both "1280x800" and "1024x768" in it. I deleted the 1024 entry, but I have a feeling I need to run an update utility to force it to use the new resolution. I'm hesitant to tinker with it until after I ask your advice.

The Configure KDesktop doesn't even show the screen info:

http://72.91.54.192/apache2-default/1024x768.png

Here's the xorg.conf

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compaq:/etc/X11# cat xorg.conf
# xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc104"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
        Driver          "vesa"
        BusID           "PCI:0:18:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Generic Video Card"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Modes           "1280x800"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Thanks for reading

bluesdog · #90 Post by **bluesdog** » 2008-02-29 19:39

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Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
        Driver          "vesa"
        BusID           "PCI:0:18:0"
EndSection

It appears you're still using the vesa driver.

If nvidia-kernel module and matching nvidia-glx installed ok, either edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually, replacing 'vesa' with 'nvidia', or run nvidia-xconfig

drokmed · #91 Post by **drokmed** » 2008-02-29 19:56

bluesdog wrote:replacing 'vesa' with 'nvidia'

woohoo! That was it

Thanks

hurtz · #92 Post by **hurtz** » 2008-03-12 02:18

Fresh install of Lenny here, how is it done? Missing nvidia-kernel-source.

bluesdog · #93 Post by **bluesdog** » 2008-03-12 02:52

As noted previously, nvidia-kernel-source and nvidia-glx are currently unavailable from Lenny.

$ apt-cache policy nvidia-kernel-source
nvidia-kernel-source:
Installed: 169.09-1
Candidate: 169.09-1
Version table:
*** 169.09-1 0
800 http://ftp.uk.debian.org sid/non-free Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
1.0.8776-4 0
750 http://ftp.uk.debian.org etch/non-free Packages
$ apt-cache policy nvidia-glx
nvidia-glx:
Installed: 169.09-1
Candidate: 169.09-1
Version table:
*** 169.09-1 0
800 http://ftp.uk.debian.org sid/non-free Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
1.0.8776-4 0
750 http://ftp.uk.debian.org etch/non-free Packages

Temporarily add sid repositories to /etc/apt/sources.list in order to install the required packages. The sid version of xorg may also be required, but basically the entire procedure is unlikely to bork your system.

Once you've created and built the module, restore your /etc/apt/sources.list to Lenny only repos.

If you don't wish to 'mix' your system, your only alternative at this time is to use the nVidia script method, with the binary available from the nvidia site.

boz · #94 Post by **boz** » 2008-03-12 16:47

bluesdog wrote:If you don't wish to 'mix' your system, your only alternative at this time is to use the nVidia script method, with the binary available from the nvidia site.

This worked really well for me. If you're using Lenny-upgraded-from-Etch and you had the nVidia stuff installed the Debian way on your Etch install, you'll need to remove the nvidia stuff (nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel, iirc) from your system startup (using update-rc.d)...if you don't do that, your X will fail to start each time you restart your system.

hurtz · #95 Post by **hurtz** » 2008-03-12 18:42

bluesdog wrote:Temporarily add sid repositories to /etc/apt/sources.list in order to install the required packages. The sid version of xorg may also be required, but basically the entire procedure is unlikely to bork your system.

Thanks. Thats what I did but stopped when I saw all the xorg dependencies that were about to be downloaded.

So even after reading all 7 pages of this thread, I'm still not sure why anyone would bother installing nvidia drivers the 'Debian' way if I'm going to run into situations like this:

boz wrote:This worked really well for me. If you're using Lenny-upgraded-from-Etch and you had the nVidia stuff installed the Debian way on your Etch install, you'll need to remove the nvidia stuff (nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel, iirc) from your system startup (using update-rc.d)...if you don't do that, your X will fail to start each time you restart your system.

Isn't that what we're trying to avoid by doing it the Debian way in the first place?

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