You are not logged in.

#1 2010-08-08 18:06:33

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

[Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

I'll keep it short and simple. I got this laptop, an Acer Aspire 7520.
Everything works. Except the graphics in Arch.
I've had to fall back on using nouveau instead of the nvidia driver - maybe it is or isn't better, but I can't get the nvidia one to work.
When installing Arch, when the time comes to test X, is fails with the error that it can't load the .ko module. Can be reproduced also by trying to run 'modprobe nvidia' as root.

Given that my attempts to try and put up with Vista just came to a stop with it's rather poor excuse for a network manager being incapable of getting an IP address from the DHCP server, I'd like to get this sorted.

Oh, almost forgot. The laptop is 64-bit capable - but with approx 2GB of RAM, even though it's a dual core, the benefits of running a 64-bit OS on it probably wouldn't show up. So it's a 32-bit Arch instead.
Besides, Arch64 is a pest when it comes to stuff not made for x86_64.
Anyway.
That's the problem. Is there a fix for this, which doesn't involve using a different driver?
Thanks,
Grem.

Last edited by Gremnon (2010-08-08 22:37:23)

Offline

#2 2010-08-08 18:23:19

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

You have a fully updated 32-bit Arch with an nvidia card, right? What card is that? There are IIRC 3 nvidia drivers, you have to pick the right one.

Edit: Do you have lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko? Maybe the file isn't there?

Last edited by karol (2010-08-08 18:30:00)

Offline

#3 2010-08-08 18:36:00

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Fully up to date, as it was installed using Net as the source rather than the install media.
The card, as far as I'm aware, uses the 'nvidia' package. lspci gives me this about it:

00:12.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C67 [GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M] (rev a2)

Which with a little poking around on the Nvidia website, leaves me fairly certain 'nvidia' is the correct one.

And looking at the error message, I do believe that's what it tells me, the nvidia.ko file isn't there... which strikes me as strange, since I know I installed 'nvidia' and 'nvidia-utils' exactly the same as I have on other systems. though they used the 173 series drivers, but in theory, that shouldn't make too much difference - if the nvidia packages are installed, shouldn't that .ko file exist?

Offline

#4 2010-08-08 18:42:06

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

nvidia-173xx drivers use nvidia-173xx-utils.
Installing nvidia means getting two files: /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau_blacklist.conf and /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko - that's it.

Try reinstalling the drivers and check if you have that file, then try to modprobe it.

Offline

#5 2010-08-08 18:43:27

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

I know the 173 ones us their own utils package, my point was that despite the differences in versions, if the 173 version works fine on one system just by installing it, shouldn't the plain 'nvidia' and 'nvidia-utils' work just as trouble-free?
Will try reinstalling and get back to you.

Offline

#6 2010-08-08 18:47:39

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Gremnon wrote:

I know the 173 ones us their own utils package, my point was that despite the differences in versions, if the 173 version works fine on one system just by installing it, shouldn't the plain 'nvidia' and 'nvidia-utils' work just as trouble-free?
Will try reinstalling and get back to you.

Yes, it should be straightforward.
Please be sure to remove all nouveau packages before installing nvidia.

Offline

#7 2010-08-08 19:43:45

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

I haven't yet rebooted - having performed this in a graphic environment, so I could still access these forums - but I've removed all Nouveau packages, installed 'nvidia' and 'nvidia-utils', and run 'modprobe nvidia' as root. (using sudo, actually, but as root gives the same result)
The result is as follows:
FATAL: Error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko): No such device

Edit: This may be because I haven't updated /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf, actually, but I'm not entirely certain what to put in there. I'm still not used to the xorg.conf.d system.

Last edited by Gremnon (2010-08-08 19:44:47)

Offline

#8 2010-08-08 19:54:58

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device0"
    Driver        "nouveau" #Choose the driver used for this monitor
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen0"  #Collapse Monitor and Device section to Screen section
    Device        "Device0"
    Monitor       "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth  24 #Choose the depth (16||24)
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes     "1440x900_60.00" #Choose the resolution
        # Modes     "1024x768_75.00" #Choose the resolution
    EndSubSection
EndSection

This is the one I use on my nvidia box.

What kernel are you using? 'uname -r' should be enough.

Offline

#9 2010-08-08 20:02:59

hokasch
Member
Registered: 2007-09-23
Posts: 1,461

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

After the failing modprobe, check if dmesg has more descriptive errors.

Offline

#10 2010-08-08 20:55:30

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

This is what is currently in the 10-monitor.conf file:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "Monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device0"
    Driver        "nouveau"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen0"
    Device        "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection    "Display"
        Depth    24
        Modes    "1440x900_60"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

To change it to nvidia, I'm unfortunately at a loss for what to put in exactly.

'uname -r' returns:
2.6.24-ARCH
I use the stock kernel. I haven't felt adventurous enough to try making my own custom one yet, which is one of the reasons I went off Gentoo. They can claim it's easy all they like, my only attempt on Gentoo didn't work in the slightest.
Anyway.

Unless I'm looking in the wrong place, running 'tail /var/log/dmesg.log' both before and after modprobe shows absolutely no difference at all. Nothing is added to it in the slightest.

Offline

#11 2010-08-08 20:57:52

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

"2.6.24-ARCH"?!
Are you sure it's not 2.6.34-ARCH?

Offline

#12 2010-08-08 21:03:24

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Oops.
My bad. It is indeed 34. That was a typo on my part.
Sorry.

Offline

#13 2010-08-08 21:05:56

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

If you want to keep the 10-monitor.conf file, change the driver from nouveau to nvidia and check if you're using the correct resolution and refresh rate.
I've installed nvidia instead of nouveau and it seems to work w/o 10-monitor.conf - it uses 20-nvidia.conf.

Offline

#14 2010-08-08 21:13:49

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Even with that in place, the problem still remains that modprobe still gives me the error I reported in post 7

Offline

#15 2010-08-08 21:16:38

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Try removing 10-monitor.conf.

Edit: Run 'nvidia-xconfig' - it will create xorg.conf but may help.

Last edited by karol (2010-08-08 21:18:59)

Offline

#16 2010-08-08 21:26:26

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

I don't really like the idea of having an xorg.conf again, it was working quite well without, and if they're trying to phase it out...
Again though, if I understand how it works correctly, doesn't the xorg.conf just get called to figure out what needs to be loaded? And wouldn't it too suffer from the same inability to load the nvidia.ko with the same error?

Offline

#17 2010-08-08 21:37:51

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

While you're trying to modprobe nvidia, is the nouveau module loaded? From the way you're describing things, it is. So of course loading nvidia won't work, the nouveau module is still holding the graphic card.

What you need to do is remove the "Device" section from xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf (delete the four lines, or alternatively you can get rid of the entire file, there's nothing important in it) and then reboot.

Offline

#18 2010-08-08 21:41:11

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Gremnon wrote:

I don't really like the idea of having an xorg.conf again, it was working quite well without, and if they're trying to phase it out...

They're not phasing it out, it's still there with the explicit purpose to hold user configuration. You don't need it in this case though, because the nvidia-utils package has installed the configuration you need in xorg.conf.d/20-nvidia.conf

Just do what I said in my previous post - adjust or remove 10-monitor.conf and then reboot.

Last edited by Gusar (2010-08-08 21:41:58)

Offline

#19 2010-08-08 22:29:43

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Now that's truly strange

It worked, but I don't quite understand why just rebooting solved the fatal error it was reporting.

Thanks all the same.

Offline

#20 2010-08-08 22:34:15

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Gremnon wrote:

Now that's truly strange

It worked, but I don't quite understand why just rebooting solved the fatal error it was reporting.

Thanks all the same.

You need to reboot after changing the drivers or manually unload the old and load the new ones :-)

Please mark the thread as solved.

Last edited by karol (2010-08-08 22:36:07)

Offline

#21 2010-08-09 09:45:18

Gusar
Member
Registered: 2009-08-25
Posts: 3,605

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Gremnon wrote:

It worked, but I don't quite understand why just rebooting solved the fatal error it was reporting.

As I said, the nvidia module couldn't get loaded because the nouveau driver was still holding the graphic card. What would have equally worked is quitting X, unbinding nouveaufb from the console and then rmmod-ing nouveau. But a reboot was the simpler thing to do.

Offline

#22 2010-08-09 09:52:29

Gremnon
Member
From: UK
Registered: 2010-03-12
Posts: 43

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

I hadn't thought of that. I'd gotten too used to not having to restart for everything, unlike Windows where everything seems to need a restart, which is utter madness, and a damn inconvenience.
I've experimented with KSplice on occasion as well, but found it's been a little unstable on Arch for my liking. A truly rebootless system, regardless of what was changed, would be nice, but undoubtedly difficult to achieve.

Offline

#23 2010-08-09 09:58:13

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: [Solved] NVidia Drivers on an Acer Aspire 7520

Gremnon wrote:

I hadn't thought of that. I'd gotten too used to not having to restart for everything, unlike Windows where everything seems to need a restart, which is utter madness, and a damn inconvenience.
I've experimented with KSplice on occasion as well, but found it's been a little unstable on Arch for my liking. A truly rebootless system, regardless of what was changed, would be nice, but undoubtedly difficult to achieve.

And I assumed you know how the drivers / modules work so I omitted the reboot step from my posts.
I think you can manually unload one module and load another, so the reboot wasn't strictly forced, but I usually reboot after making major changes, just in case I forgot about a switch here or there. The sooner I find out my box no longer boots / works correctly, the better.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB