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#1 2004-04-20 20:04:01

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Installing Nvidia drivers

Hi,

I installed Arch Linux two days ago, and coming from Gentoo it was great not having to compile for hours before I had a working system - I have a feeling I'm not going back anytime soon.

My only problem so far is that I can't install the Nvidia graphics drivers. It says that the kernel sources aren't properly installed (can't find file /lib/modules/2.6.5/build/include/modversions.h or something like that), so it can't compile the right headerfiles for the drivers to be installed.
I tried looking for a pacman package containing the kernel-sources, but it doesn't seem to exist. I also read, that the default kernel26 package for kernel 2.6.5 should fix the problem, but it doesn't.
What do I need to do to make it work? I really don't want to leave Arch Linux...

Thanks in advance
   /Bew

PS.: Is this the right place to ask this question?

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#2 2004-04-20 22:02:56

tmadhavan
Member
From: Wales :D
Registered: 2004-03-26
Posts: 441

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

If you check the AL wiki here, there are instructions about downloading the full kernel source and whatever else needs to be done.

Nothing too complicated.

Hope that helps,
T.

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#3 2004-04-21 07:11:35

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Thanks, will definately try that when I get home - *sigh* 5 more hours to go...

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#4 2004-04-21 12:59:27

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

It didn't work. sad I did exactly as the guide said, but I still got the same error when I tried installing the drivers. I also tried building a kernel using the kernel.org sources, but that didn't work either.
Any suggestions on whats wrong? It seems it's the files in /lib/modules/2.6.5 that aren't the right ones, but I don't know what to do about that.

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#5 2004-04-21 13:38:54

Mr Green
Forum Fellow
From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Have you got nvidia in rc.conf...?

When you ran nvidia installer did it work..?

do you use KDM/GDM ?

Its difficult to know what is wrong..please show what you did then we may be able to help

Above all do not Panic  smile

Mr Green


Mr Green

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#6 2004-04-22 09:44:12

tmadhavan
Member
From: Wales :D
Registered: 2004-03-26
Posts: 441

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Yeh, someone WILL help you get it sorted, don't despair!

So, the drivers aren't installing at all? You can run the installer, and then you get the errors?

Did you do

uname -r

and get the exact same kernel source?

I'm not really too hot on compilation issues, unfortunately. But, if you're just using stock Arch Linux packages... should be OK. Probably a problem with the kernel source you downloaded, rather than Arch? Hope it is!

Believe me, you don't want to leave Arch. I loved Gentoo and didn't think I'd ever change. Arch is soooooooooo much easier (just doesnt have that funky purple boot screen big_smile ). If you get the compilation sorted, I can give you a hand setting it up if you need.

Good luck, and keep asking people who know better big_smile

Thom.

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#7 2004-04-22 11:08:47

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Mr Green wrote:

Have you got nvidia in rc.conf...?

No, but as the drivers won't install, I shouldn't be able to load it as a module. I think... ?

When you ran nvidia installer did it work..?

Yes, it worked - when it got to the part about not having the right kernel headers for this kernel (uname -r shows 2.6.5) I asked it to build them (like I've done many times before when installing these drivers), but it told me that the file modversions.h (I'm pretty sure it was) doesn't exist in '/lib/modules/2.6.5/build/include/linux' or something along those lines.

do you use KDM/GDM ?

I use GDM with the Arch-theme.

Above all do not Panic  smile

I'll try not to, thanks. wink

I've tried searching for the file the installer can't seem to find, but it doesn't exist on my system...

tmadhavan wrote:

Probably a problem with the kernel source you downloaded, rather than Arch? Hope it is!

I hope so too, I just don't see how it could be - I downloaded the kernel2.6.5 complete sources from kernel.org and compiled. Is there a special compile command for compiling kernel headers? If there is, that might be the problem, as I just used

make

to build the kernel and then copied the right files to '/boot' and edited Grub.

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#8 2004-04-22 11:43:54

Mr Green
Forum Fellow
From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

All I can say is post what you did ie commands from terminal ...

did you shut down X before running installer sounds silly I know but the info we have the more we can help

HTH

Mr Green

Do not give we have all been there  smile


Mr Green

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#9 2004-04-22 12:30:58

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Alright then, I'll try:

1. Moved the Arch-kernel sources from /usr/src/linux-2.6.5 to /usr/src/linux-2.6.5-arch
2. Downloaded the kernel 2.6.5 sources from kernel.org and unpacked them to /usr/src
3. Copied my old .config to the new sources directory and did 'make'.
4. Copied Kconfig, bzImage and System.map to /boot and edited grub with the right entries. Gave them the names 'vmlinuz-2.6.5-r1', 'Kconfig-2.6.5-r1' and 'System.map-2.6.5-r1'.
5. Changed to a virtual console (running 1024x768 btw) and killed the X-server
6. Typed in 'init 3' (didn't seem to make any difference as I tried one without too)
7. Ran './NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run' (I've had nothing but troubles with the 5328 drivers on my previous install)
8. I accepted the license agreement
9. It asked if I wanted to compile the right headerfiles for the driver, I hit yes.
10. It errored out, telling me that the file modversions.h wasn't found where it was expected.

This is pretty much what I did. I appreciate your help,
/Bew

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#10 2004-04-22 12:45:15

tmadhavan
Member
From: Wales :D
Registered: 2004-03-26
Posts: 441

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

I'm sure I didn't actually recompile my kernel when I installed the drivers. I just used the original kernel, and used the complete kernel source only to compile the nvidia driver. At least, I think that's what happened. On the Wiki there's no compilation stage for the kernel, and if I recall, I used that explicitly to sort out my nvidia drivers.

Maybe something odd happened with the kernel compile? Have to ask someone more knowledgable about that.

Incidentally, the 5336 drivers have been fine for me with Arch.

Thom

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#11 2004-04-22 13:15:36

i3839
Member
Registered: 2004-02-04
Posts: 1,185

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Make sure that the symlink /lib/modules/2.6.5/build points to the kernel source, and that source has the same version as your running kernel.

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#12 2004-04-22 13:26:18

Mr Green
Forum Fellow
From: U.K.
Registered: 2003-12-21
Posts: 5,893
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Have you tried :

NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run

drivers for 2.6 kernels?

these will work as already been said & I use then myself.....

Mr Green


Mr Green

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#13 2004-04-22 14:38:11

tpowa
Developer
From: Lauingen , Germany
Registered: 2004-04-05
Posts: 2,322

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

have you tried my package
you can find it in my tur
ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/tur/tpowa
it's the 5336 driver
under new packages you can find my latest package builds
the newer version changes only the doc and type of installation tomorrow are the new packages out
bye

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#14 2004-04-22 20:03:44

reBew
Member
Registered: 2004-04-20
Posts: 7

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

A big 'thank you' to all of you for trying to help me, It's nice to see a friendly and helpful community. smile And a special thanks to you tpowa for solving my problem - now Arch Linux is complete for me... at least until my next problem arises.

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#15 2004-04-28 17:45:39

galen
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2003-07-02
Posts: 135
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

have same problem here, just monitoring this thread, thanks for the help
:?


Off to using Peanut and Slackware, no hard feelings but I need my CD to burn, PDA and scanner to connect and arch won't do it.

[img]http://www.flightsimhq.org/images/war-is-bushit_s.jpg[/img]

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#16 2004-04-28 20:41:56

galen
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2003-07-02
Posts: 135
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

sorry I have no solution to offer yet for kernel 2.6.5 and nvidia

I have a Mx400 video card
AMD duron1000 CPU

NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run
4380.xx.run and 44xx.run installer files choke on the missing /lib/modules file mentioned above in the thread

but the supplied package for arch does install
but it does not work

my xf86config reflects the new driver  'nvidia'
and Load 'glx'
and the kernel module 'nvidia' is loaded during boot from the rc.conf script
but
glxgears is only 720fps and gltron is way too slow.


Off to using Peanut and Slackware, no hard feelings but I need my CD to burn, PDA and scanner to connect and arch won't do it.

[img]http://www.flightsimhq.org/images/war-is-bushit_s.jpg[/img]

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#17 2004-04-29 05:12:05

tpowa
Developer
From: Lauingen , Germany
Registered: 2004-04-05
Posts: 2,322

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

have you tried my package
you can find it in my tur
ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/tur/tpowa
it's the 5336 driver
the installer only works if you are not running X
but that's mentioned while installing

does the nvidia module load?

if yes then it sounds like a wrong linked libGL.so.1 to mesa or something else
check /usr/lib/libGL.so.1
then if it's linked to mesa remove libGL.so.1 and reinstall the nvidia driver

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#18 2004-04-29 11:18:17

tmadhavan
Member
From: Wales :D
Registered: 2004-03-26
Posts: 441

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Yup, I had that problem, I just remembered.

When I first installed the nvidia drivers (not tpowa's package), some files in /usr/lib were incorrectly symlinked. I deleted the original files, and made sure that the files (I think lib.so.1 and lib.so) were linked to the files that had the nvidia version in the name, i.e. lib.so.5336 or whatever.

For some reason, Arch decided to reimplement the original (faulty) symlinks, and I had to change them a few times, and then for some reason it gave up trying to be right, and accepted my manual symlinking!

No idea why, but it's all working fine now big_smile

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#19 2004-04-29 19:03:21

galen
Member
From: Canada
Registered: 2003-07-02
Posts: 135
Website

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

solution found.

somehow I was using lilo instead of grub. (I plead temporary insanity!)
used grub, installer worked

make sure you are booting via grub


Off to using Peanut and Slackware, no hard feelings but I need my CD to burn, PDA and scanner to connect and arch won't do it.

[img]http://www.flightsimhq.org/images/war-is-bushit_s.jpg[/img]

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#20 2004-05-01 06:32:48

uberGeek
Member
From: Near Chicago
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 65

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

Thank you for that pkg, worked quite well!

Update:  It worked until I rebooted!  After a boot, if I "startx" I get::<code>
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Sat May  1 15:21:07 2004
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config"
(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0):  *** Aborting ***
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.</code>

However, if I pacman -u the package again, and then X Window starts just fine.

I know I could track this down, but I don't have the two hours right now, so if anyone could provide a bit more input I would be greatful.  I suspect I'm missing a link, or a line in a config file.

Thank you.


carb $ now; uname -a; uptime
Sun 03Jul11 14:54:25 CDT -0500
Linux carb 2.6.17-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 7 09:15:53 CEST 2006 i686 Pentium III (Coppermine) GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
14:54:25 up 1463 days,  9:24,  1 user,  load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00

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#21 2004-05-04 20:27:36

tpowa
Developer
From: Lauingen , Germany
Registered: 2004-04-05
Posts: 2,322

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

if you use my package
have you entered nvidia as module in rc.conf?
this is needed else it won't work

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#22 2004-05-21 05:03:19

uberGeek
Member
From: Near Chicago
Registered: 2004-01-07
Posts: 65

Re: Installing Nvidia drivers

I suspect that's it.  When I get to the machine again, in a week, I'll check that first.  Thank you for the help!  I did see it mentioned above, and probably would have tried it eventually.


carb $ now; uname -a; uptime
Sun 03Jul11 14:54:25 CDT -0500
Linux carb 2.6.17-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jul 7 09:15:53 CEST 2006 i686 Pentium III (Coppermine) GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
14:54:25 up 1463 days,  9:24,  1 user,  load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00

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