Latest Nvidia Driver In Linux Mint – 1666 days old

[[ GK ]]

I finally got the latest Nvidia driver compiled, installed and working in Linux Mint 5.

I followed the instructions here, and it worked perfectly for my GTX 280.

[Grogan]

Hey, that's great. Now you can enjoy.

I see a step missing there though... the installation of the correct kernel source for your running kernel. Had you done that previously? Or does Mint install enough of the source tree with your kernel to compile external modules? (Ubumspew never used to)

[[ GK ]]

Nope, I did not install kernel source beforehand. Mint must have had it already. I was on a fresh install, and only did what that tutorial said.

[Grogan]

Then that was pretty easy. Good of them to install enough kernel headers to get that done.

[[ GK ]]

By the way, Gro, I did try Slackware. I was also able to install the same driver by following Nvidia's directions. I was just lost in Slackware, though. No hand holding there.

Also, KDE was acting really strange. When I hovered over the KDE panel, it would flicker very badly for a second, then settle down.

[Grogan]

No, there's not a lot of hand holding, but it's actually quite a simple distro to administer if you are willing to learn how to do things the real way. That's not to say there aren't good configuration utilities, but they are either command line or ncurses based menu style.

As for the KDE glitch, that might have been launch feedback (bouncing busy cursor) and/or panel icon zooming. You should always turn off that crap in the KDE control center because it can cause problems.

[Zema Bus]

I installed Slackware again a few years ago, and was surprised to find they had gone to a regular installer. When I originally played around with Slackware, about 10 years ago (both regular and ZipSlack), it was necessary to individually download and install all the packages - X, fonts, window managers, etc. There was a great sense of accomplishment in doing that, and actually having it work in the end.

[Grogan]

Umm, Slackware hasn't been that way since maybe 9 years ago. Although, you can still do it that way to this day if you want to. Download boot floppies, create them with rawrite, install packages from a directory, whatever you want.

I remember slackware when it was like that. My first try was Slackware 3 around 1996. Someone sent me all the files on IRC chat, using DCC send. It was about 50 megs. I got it to sort of boot, but I had some corrupted packages and I ended up just never going back to it. The next time I tried Slackware was Slackware 7.0, which was marvelous.

[Zema Bus]

Umm, Slackware hasn't been that way since maybe 9 years ago. Although, you can still do it that way to this day if you want to. Download boot floppies, create them with rawrite, install packages from a directory, whatever you want.

I remember slackware when it was like that. My first try was Slackware 3 around 1996. Someone sent me all the files on IRC chat, using DCC send. It was about 50 megs. I got it to sort of boot, but I had some corrupted packages and I ended up just never going back to it. The next time I tried Slackware was Slackware 7.0, which was marvelous.

Ah, yeah, that's basically what I said - it was about 10 years ago, which was why I was surprised to find it wasn't that way no more when I last went back to it - did I say something off base?

[Grogan]

Just being "surprised" that a few years ago it was a full distribution installer from a CD set.

You could have ordered a CDROM set from cdrom.com in those days anyways and it would have had all the packages for the installer. (CDROM drives generally weren't bootable back then so you'd have made the boot disk and root disk on floppies)

Most people still had dialup, so downloading ISO files wasn't really common.

[Zema Bus]

Just being "surprised" that a few years ago it was a full distribution installer from a CD set.

You could have ordered a CDROM set from cdrom.com in those days anyways and it would have had all the packages for the installer. (CDROM drives generally weren't bootable back then so you'd have made the boot disk and root disk on floppies)

Most people still had dialup, so downloading ISO files wasn't really common.

I'm not sure we're on the same page yet? By a few years ago, I was referring to about 2005 or 2004, I was on DSL then and dowloaded the ISO. The installer didn't have much of a GUI, no mouse support or anything, but it did all the basics - hardware detection, partitioning, package selection, video setup, bootloader etc. It looked a lot like the W2K/XP installer in it's plain simplicity. But the first time I played with Slackware was probably about 1998 or 97, and at that time I definitely was on dialup. And there was no installer then, I remember at the Slackware website I was directed to an FTP mirror where you could download the individual packages in archives. Seems like it took me 2 weeks before I was to the point of having X up and running, and that was without any extra apps. I don't think there were even ISO's yet then? Or maybe that's when they first appeared - seems like I remember seeing them but not knowing what they were, but maybe that was a few years later, in 2000 maybe. I can't remember how I got the whole ball of wax rolling, I don't think I used my CD drive at all to install it at that time. As a matter of fact I don't even think I had a burner yet back then (1998)

[Grogan]

Yes, we were on the same page. In 2004/2005 it was most unsurprising that there was a full distribution CD set with bootable CDROM.

When I said "in those days" I did not mean a few years ago, I meant back when it was individual packages. You could have ordered the set on CDROM. (but you'd have had to make your bootdisk and rootdisk)

Slackware always had an installer. You had to boot with a boot disk and root disk that loaded your kernel and installation environment. You typed "setup" to start the installer. You had to direct it to where you stored the packages though.

The installer hasn't changed that much. It's still the same ncurses based menus and you can still install it the old fashioned way by pointing it to a directory on a hard disk,

[floppybootstomp]

I have downloaded the latest Nvidia drivers for Linux Mint, I have 32 bit version 177.82 and it's sitting in my home directory.

I copied, pasted and printed the details from the link GK gave in his first post and have attempted to install the drivers.

I'm quite sure the drivers that came with Mint were never installed, I went through some confusing stuff to do with a wallet and Nvidia drivers but couldn't make any sense of that at all.

So I assumed all I had to do to install the drivers was shut down X, whatever that is.

So in the konsole I entered sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop as instructed in that link and was told it's an invalid command.

Tried to install the Nvidia drivers anyway by entering sudo sh NVIDIA* and was told I needed to shut down X.

So looks like I'm snookered on two counts so far, no dvd playback and no Nvidia drivers installed, it's really annoying me.

As ever, any help/advice apreciated.

And I have tried, believe me, I really wanted to do this thing by myself.

Not that I understand any of these commands, all I can do is search and mimic.

[Grogan]

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

Should have been a valid command, if typed correctly. It would have dropped you to a plain command shell.

There's also a way to force the Nvidia installer to install anyways even if
X is running (You can reboot afterwards)

sudo sh NVIDIA* --no-x-check

You do so at your own risk... it could crash or hang the system, installing with X running. (but likely it will be fine)

However, Mint comes with a tool called Envy (EnvyNG) that will automate the installation of the Nvidia driver for you. You should see it there in your menus somewhere. See about trying that, it would make your life easier.

[[ GK ]]

Yes, EnvyNG should be easier, but make sure it's up to date. At the time I posted this thread, EnvyNG didn't have the Nvidia driver for the GTX 280 I have, so I was forced to install it manually.

You can also rename the Nvidiabullshitfilename.run file to something easy to type, like Nvidia.run. It sure makes life easier when you have to type that in the terminal.

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, thanks. Noted.

I'm wondering about my download now but the iso md5 sum checked out ok.

I was surprised DVD playback wasn't enabled from the off as well.

I downloaded this distro in September.

[Grogan]

Yes, EnvyNG should be easier, but make sure it's up to date. At the time I posted this thread, EnvyNG didn't have the Nvidia driver for the GTX 280 I have, so I was forced to install it manually.

He doesn't have a GTX 280 and I'd recommend that he stick with the distro's recommended methods.

There's also probably a decently versioned driver in the repository that would be fine for him... Nvidia-DKMS. Should be easy to find in Synaptic.

You can also rename the Nvidiabullshitfilename.run file to something easy to type, like Nvidia.run. It sure makes life easier when you have to type that in the terminal.

You can, but you can also just use the wildcard in the command like shown and you don't have to type the full filename. I leave the filename intact so I know what version it is.

[Grogan]

In fact which rig is this? The one with the 9800 GTX, or the old one with the 6800 AGP card? If it's the old one, an older driver might work better. (See Synaptic for Nvidia-DKMS or DKMS-Nvidia packages... I forget the exact names)

[[ GK ]]

I agree Gro, he should use the easy way, it that'll work for him.

Also, I didn't realize that about the wildcard. That's good to know.

[Grogan]

I always have two of them in my common junk directory (one for my 32 bit Linux system and one for my 64 bit).

So I do things like sh NV*x86_64* or sh NV*x86* depending on which OS I'm installing it in. I always keep the latest for each OS there (needed every time I do a kernel build)

[floppybootstomp]

I scrapped the socket A machine, the 6800 AGP card is sold.

These are the specs of the machine I'm working with:

Asus M2N sli Deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon AM2 XP6400+ 3.2Ghz dual core CPU
Noctua NH-U12F CPU Cooler with 2 x 120mm fans
2Gb Corsair XMS DDR2 6400C5 memory
BFG Nvidia 8800GTS 640Mb Video card
Creative Audio X-Fi Sound Card
Sata II Caddies For Primary drive x 3 housing:
250Gb Samsung SATA II Hard Disk (Win XP)
160Gb Maxtor SATA II Hard Disk (Linux Mint V5.0)
160Gb Maxtor SATA II Hard Disk (Earmarked for another distro)
Storage Hard Disks:
320Gb Samsung SATA II Hard Disk
750Gb Samsung SATA II Hard Disk
Western Digital 120Gb SATA I Hard Disks x 2
Pinnacle Analogue PCI TV Tuner Card
Dazzle Platinum USB Video/Audio interface breakout box
Antec Sonata Case
Corsair 650W Non Modular PSU
Plextor 800A 18 x DVDRW PATA
Asus DVD-ROM PATA
A Floppy Drive
Logitech corded G5 Laser Mouse
Logitech flat compact keyboard, corded
Samsung 22” 2232BW Glossy Black Pebble Monitor
NAD 7140 30W x 2 receiver & a pair of hi fi bookself speakers.
HP Photosmart 7960 Inkjet Printer

I've noted all the comments and instructions, I'll give it a try. Same with the libdvdcss folder.

I did say earlier 'X, whatever that is'

I think I'll make an educated guess 'X' is simply the GUI, yes/no?

[floppybootstomp]

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

Should have been a valid command, if typed correctly. It would have dropped you to a plain command shell.

I did type it correctly and I tried it again. All I got was 'invalid command' or something similar, it wouldn't work.

So I tried this:

There's also a way to force the Nvidia installer to install anyways even if
X is running (You can reboot afterwards)

sudo sh NVIDIA* --no-x-check

You do so at your own risk... it could crash or hang the system, installing with X running. (but likely it will be fine)

It appeared to install well, told me it was rebuilding the kernel but all looked good.

When I re-booted, I briefly glimpsed the word 'ERROR' in the lines of text that run prior to start, and it won't start, basically, it's fubarred.

So I'm having no luck at all with this distro -I wonder why.

In September I d/l PC Linux OS 2008 Gnome and it runs fine as a live CD, I really like it.

But I can't get it to install. It writes the partitions on the target HDD, I log out and back in again, choose to parttiton the main partition and..... nothing, bugger-all, zilch. I've tried it several times, waited twenty minutes or so but nothing happens.

That's a damn shame cos it looks good.

So I thought I'd d/l Mandriva 2009 64 Bit. Twice now I've downloaded it, each time has taken almost two hours to get 4.2Gb and both times the md5 sum verification has failed.

I honestly think Linux and I were not meant to work together.

PC Linux OS KDE 2007 ran fine, maybe I should go back to that.

I really am bloody well upset about this, I was finally going to run Linux seriously but it just hasn't worked out, so far. But I haven't given up hope, Linux Mint V6 and Suse final version 11 out soon, maybe one of those will work for me.

[Fingerle]

Just loaded Mint-6 RC1 on the old notebook....

You can disable GDM in services which is in the control center. Scroll down to services.
Fire that up, If not logged in as root unlock it, find and uncheck the box for graphical display manager. System might lock-up when it tries to kill GDM, (Panther-4 did anyway) if it does, Ctrl-Alt-Del the sucker.

System will reboot without gdm and you can install the drivers.

Now reboot after the driver install, log-in (You'll still be running command line) type startx
Gnome should fire up. go back to services and reenable GDM.

[floppybootstomp]

Just loaded Mint-6 RC1 on the old notebook....

You can disable GDM in services which is in the control center. Scroll down to services.
Fire that up, If not logged in as root unlock it, find and uncheck the box for graphical display manager. System might lock-up when it tries to kill GDM, (Panther-4 did anyway) if it does, Ctrl-Alt-Del the sucker.

System will reboot without gdm and you can install the drivers.

Now reboot after the driver install, log-in (You'll still be running command line) type startx
Gnome should fire up. go back to services and reenable GDM.

I have some idea what you mean, I follow what you're saying, but in truth I probably don't have the know-how to do that.

All I want is a distro that does what I tell it to, responds to common commands and doesn't totally fuck my head up and make me waste hours of time just trying to install some simple drivers.

[Fingerle]

Ubuntu and i'ts offshoots are the only Distros that have been a PIA getting the "not in the repos" video drivers installed.

[floppybootstomp]

Ubuntu and i'ts offshoots are the only Distros that have been a PIA getting the "not in the repos" video drivers installed.

That's as may be, but it doesn't help me.

All I want is something that works without me needing too much of a bachelors degree in programming.

I've been close to it, never fully, I thought that distros may have matured so that at last I could run one without too many problems.

It would appear not.

Can anybody suggest another distro that may suit?

[dolittlejerry]

Flopps have you tried pclinuxos yet. I was impressed because my logitech mx 1000 work right after install. I like the KDE flavor but each his own. I'm not using it now though, they don't have a 64 bit version. I'm still trying to get suse running the way I want.

[floppybootstomp]

Flopps have you tried pclinuxos yet. I was impressed because my logitech mx 1000 work right after install. I like the KDE flavor but each his own. I'm not using it now though, they don't have a 64 bit version. I'm still trying to get suse running the way I want.

See post # 22

But basically - yes.

One is great but is 18 months old, the other is new but I can't seem to install from live CD.

[[ GK ]]

Just loaded Mint-6 RC1 on the old notebook....

You can disable GDM in services which is in the control center. Scroll down to services.
Fire that up, If not logged in as root unlock it, find and uncheck the box for graphical display manager. System might lock-up when it tries to kill GDM, (Panther-4 did anyway) if it does, Ctrl-Alt-Del the sucker.

System will reboot without gdm and you can install the drivers.

Now reboot after the driver install, log-in (You'll still be running command line) type startx
Gnome should fire up. go back to services and reenable GDM.

When I was installing the Nvidia driver, I did all the steps while logged in as root. Not running a command as root, but actually logging into the root account. That just seemed easier, to me anyway.

[Fingerle]

I prefer being logged in as root when doing configuration type stuff.

[Grogan]

So I presume that X (the GUI) won't start anymore. This may be because it stuffed up your xorg.conf file. It would have made a backup of it first. If you can boot by any means (try booting in recovery mode... a.k.a. single user mode)

Do that, log in as root (might automatically dump you to a root prompt)

cd /etc/X11
ls *xorg.conf*

There should be some renamed xorg.conf file there. Determine the filename. Rename (mv) your old one out of the way:

mv xorg.conf xorg.conf.fucked

mv xorg.conf.beforenvidiaxconfig xorg.conf

(or whatever the backup filename is)

ctrl-alt-del (to reboot)

If that gets you back in, try looking in the Synaptic repository for Nvidia drivers, or use that EnvyNG tool.

[floppybootstomp]

Thanks G, I'll give that a try. If no luck, I think I'll try a fresh install.

I ain't giving up just yet.

I should do this stuff during the day or early evening, not at midnight when I've had a few and if I can't get my own way start acting like a spoiled brat

I shall persevere

[floppybootstomp]

I booted into recovery mode and was presented with 4 choices, one of which was 'Attempt to repair X Server' or similar. So I did that and it repaired itself.

I then used the EnvyNG tool to install the Nvidia driver just in case it hadn't installed previously. It appeared to install ok but there was a warning at the end saying several items could not be authenticated. Is that anything to worry about?

Where or how do I look to check Nvidia drivers have been installed successfully and are running ok?

I followed your instructions with the libdvdcss setup and the konsole text at the end was this, looks successful to me:

Libraries have been installed in:
/usr/lib

If you ever happen to want to link against installed libraries
in a given directory, LIBDIR, you must either use libtool, and
specify the full pathname of the library, or use the `-LLIBDIR'
flag during linking and do at least one of the following:
- add LIBDIR to the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable
during execution
- add LIBDIR to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable
during linking
- use the `-Wl,--rpath -Wl,LIBDIR' linker flag
- have your system administrator add LIBDIR to `/etc/ld.so.conf'

See any operating system documentation about shared libraries for
more information, such as the ld(1) and ld.so(8) manual pages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
make[3]: Nothing to be done for `install-data-am'.
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/src'
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/src'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/src'
Making install in test
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/test'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/test'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-exec-am'.
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-data-am'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/test'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/test'
Making install in doc
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/doc'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/doc'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-exec-am'.
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-data-am'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/doc'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9/doc'
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9'
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9'
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-exec-am'.
make[2]: Nothing to be done for `install-data-am'.
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9'
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tony/libdvdcss-1.2.9'
tony@Andromeda ~/libdvdcss-1.2.9 $

So I'm wondering now where do I go from here? I shall try and figure it out.

Also, do I have to install any extra codecs?

My thanks again for your help.

[floppybootstomp]

It appears the Nvidia drivers have not been installed, I checked and was told to run Nvidia-xconfig so:

tony@Andromeda ~ $ nvidia-xconfig

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

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Device section "Configured Video Device" must have a Driver
line.


ERROR: Unable to write to directory '/etc/X11'.

tony@Andromeda ~ $



So, not working and I can't install libdvdcss either (see other thread).

All in all, not having much luck with this.

[Grogan]

You need to have root credentials to run nvidia-xconfig (use sudo nvidia-xconfig). That's a system location and users do not have write access.

Try that first (it may be that it just couldn't write the necessary changes), but it's possible that Envy installed a version too old to recognize a ubuntu bullshit xorg.conf file (from xorg 7.4 with an automatic configuration instead of a proper one)

You have successfully compiled and installed libdvdcss.

[floppybootstomp]

You need to have root credentials to run nvidia-xconfig (use sudo nvidia-xconfig). That's a system location and users do not have write access.

Try that first (it may be that it just couldn't write the necessary changes), but it's possible that Envy installed a version too old to recognize a ubuntu bullshit xorg.conf file (from xorg 7.4 with an automatic configuration instead of a proper one)

You have successfully compiled and installed libdvdcss.

I came back to this, I think this text is self-explanatory, looks like I'm not going to be able to install these drivers:


tony@Andromeda ~ $ sudo su root
[sudo] password for tony:
Andromeda tony # nvidia-xconfig

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

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Device section "Configured Video Device" must have a Driver
line.

Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Andromeda tony #


Two other things, I appear to have USA keyboard settings but I'm sure I chose UK keyboard on setup.

And each time I boot it wants me to open the KDE_Wallet and I have to enter the password for it. I don't know if that's relevant.

[Grogan]

OK, try this:

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

You'll see a very bare bones X server configuration file with stupid shit like "Configured Video Device" like placeholders instead of real configuration.

For Section "Device" make it look something like this:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "NVIDIA Device"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Save the file.

Don't run nvidia-xconfig because it will probably bugger you.

Restart the machine and enjoy your Nvidia driver.

[floppybootstomp]

Still not working:

Selecting previously deselected package gedit.
Unpacking gedit (from .../gedit_2.22.3-0ubuntu1_i386.deb) ...
Setting up gedit-common (2.22.3-0ubuntu1) ...

Setting up libgtksourceview2.0-common (2.2.2-0ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libgtksourceview2.0-0 (2.2.2-0ubuntu1) ...

Setting up python-gtksourceview2 (2.2.0-0ubuntu2) ...

Setting up gedit (2.22.3-0ubuntu1) ...

Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Andromeda tony # gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
No protocol specified
cannot open display:
Run 'gedit --help' to see a full list of available command line options.
Andromeda tony # sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
No protocol specified
cannot open display:
Run 'gedit --help' to see a full list of available command line options.
Andromeda tony #


I can't find the synaptic repository, btw, I did find 'Adept Manager' which has a list of software packages, is that one and the same thing?

Also, I had to install gedit, as is probably apparent from the above copied text.

[Grogan]

Fuck... use another editor then. You must have a GUI text editor somewhere on the system. It's just that Gedit is the Gnome standard text editor. I've never seen a Gnome installation without it.

Can you open a file manager with superuser (root) privileges from the Administration menu and then go find /etc/X11/xorg.conf and right click and Edit?

I don't have Mint, I can't advise on exact details, but you should have Synaptic package manager somewhere in your menus. Probably under Administration. But you don't have to use Synaptic, any package manager that connects up to their repositories will do.

P.S.
Oh shit, the reason gedit isn't working is because you're trying to do it while su'd to root (doesn't have your display variable). Type exit in that shell so you are your normal user

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[floppybootstomp]

Ah, ok, will do, I've got the XP disk in atm so bear with me.

The version of Mint I'm using has KDE btw.

I've tried PC Linux OS 2008 Gnome and I can't get online with it.

I've also tried Mandriva 64 Bit 2009 and can't get online with that either. Mandriva told me I needed some firmware to make my wireless nic card woirk and hinted I'd have to pay for it. Wtf?

Mandriva also wouldn't open my other hard drives to look at contents, I'm tempted to say it's a crock of crap but I won't because I'm thick as a brick when it comes to this shit.

So far, Mint (based on Ubuntu) has been the best distro I've used with this system. Probs with Nvidia drivers and DVD playback so far but it's fast, the graphics are crisp and clear, Office and online works great and it's knocked spots off the other two I've tried.

I see other people having success with Ubuntu as well. Ok, it has quirks that go against the open source ideal, but I can understand why people like it.

I'm following these commands, parrot style and I am really grateful for your help G but I keep asking myself 'why do that?' and 'what's it doing?'.

I'd like to understand, not just keep asking for help - and that is what is so fucking frustrating.

I guess only in time and anyway, following these instructions, I am, slowly, starting to get a glimmer of understanding.

It's all good, lol

Anyhoo, I will try again, but 23:00 hours has come and gone, I've not got a lot to do tomorrow, so I shall try then.