I tried installing the nvidia driver thru zypper but somehow it’s gone
horribly wrong. I added the NVidia repo and then installed the packages
I needed:
x11-video-nvidiaG02
nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop ← I think this should have been default
After rebooting, my X system won’t even come up; I get a blank screen.
So off to failsafe. Once I get to the command line prompt I noticed one
of messages while it was booting up said something about my
xorg.conf.init not existing and please provide one. But I never had an
xorg.conf or xorg.conf.init to start with. If I run sax2 it just
freezes. So now I’m not sure what the next step should be except for a
re-install.
I don’t even have an xorg.conf file to get back to the default driver.
Any troubleshooting advice will be greatly appreciated.
I had the same problem tonight and manged to change the graphics drivers several times until I got the correct one.
The correct package depends on your graphics device. So it the gfxG02 did not work, it was probbably the wrong one. There is also a default driver which does not use all capabilities of your graphics card but maybe works until you know which one is the correct one.
I tried quite a few and now everything seems to work ok … not knowing if it coud be better.
If you can access Internet in safe mode you should look on the NVIDIA web site for the correct driver.
On 12/6/2009 4:26 PM, akkuleer was rumored to have said:
> Hi again,
>
> I had the same problem tonight and manged to change the graphics
> drivers several times until I got the correct one.
> The correct package depends on your graphics device. So it the gfxG02
> did not work, it was probbably the wrong one. There is also a default
> driver which does not use all capabilities of your graphics card but
> maybe works until you know which one is the correct one.
> I tried quite a few and now everything seems to work ok … not knowing
> if it coud be better.
> If you can access Internet in safe mode you should look on the NVIDIA
> web site for the correct driver.
>
> Greets!
>
>
My graphics card is a geforce 8400 which the G02 covers; please correct
me if I’m wrong. I’m installing thru zypper and there’s only 3 packages
to choose from and I’m pretty sure I’ve choosen the right one.
The thing that’s annoying is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to
recover from this except to re-install. There should always be a fall
back! Before there was a xorg.cong file that I could edit from the cl,
but with 11.2 the xorg.conf seems to have been made obsolete. Is this a
feature or a bug?
The easiest way I’ve found to install either the nvidia or ati drivers is to go into yast, add the repo, then run yast online update, click next, then even if no updates show, the nvidia or ati drivers will be automatically downloaded, installed, configured, and be working properly after a reboot.
In this case with no working X, just press 3 at the boot splash screen when you reboot to login to level 3. Login as root, run sax2, click ok, then reboot and do the above.
On 12/7/2009 1:56 AM, john44 was rumored to have said:
> The easiest way I’ve found to install either the nvidia or ati drivers
> is to go into yast, add the repo, then run yast online update, click
> next, then even if no updates show, the nvidia or ati drivers will be
> automatically downloaded, installed, configured, and be working properly
> after a reboot.
>
> In this case with no working X, just press 3 at the boot splash screen
> when you reboot to login to level 3. Login as root, run sax2, click ok,
> then reboot and do the above.
>
>
Ok, I booted to level 3 and checked to make sure I had the correct
nvidia packages. I have the following installed:
question: how do i know if my kernal is default or desktop? Does it
matter either way?
Anyhow, I then ran an online update and at some point I got a blank
screen. Just like when I run sax2! From this point I can only reset the
pc. Something is messed up here.
On 12/7/2009 10:16 AM, caf4926 was rumored to have said:
> if you can’t boot to the desktop, boot to the console/text login
> Login as user and do this:
> uname -a
>
> Post result. But it should be clear enough. Mine is like this:
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> uname -a
> Linux LENOVO 2.6.31.5-0.1-default #1 SMP 2009-10-26 15:49:03 +0100 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
>
> --------------------
>
>
> As you can see I use the default.
>
> if have the same then you have the correct packages. But if it says
> desktop or PAE, you don’t have it correct
>
>
Ok, I think mine is desktop (why is it that instead of default?), so
that means the I had it right the first time, but somehow it still
didn’t work.
In previous releases, I could have edited the xorg.conf file and set the
driver back to nv, but there’s no xorg.conf file to edit. I tried “sax2
-r -m 0=nv” but I still get the same blank screen. How do I reset my
display back to something that functions without re-installing?
You say, ‘I think mine is default’
We need to know for sure!
But if as you have described and I read correctly, you have actually tried both. Earlier you quoted:
x11-video-nvidiaG02
nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop
And I assume you tried default because you were thinking that was what it should be.
Anyway, if you are sure you have tried both. Get to a login and become su and try running sax2 -r
Failing that you could download the driver from nvidia. remove the driver you currently have and the repo. Now install it manually. You need to copy or save the driver file to your /home/username*
Then follow this:
Alright so here is how to install the nvidia driver manually, in case the one in the repo doesn’t work or u just want to use the latest.
Go to Yast>Software>Software Management
Search for and install if you don’t have these:
make
gcc
kernel-source
Now download the latest Nvidia driver:
Place the file in your /home/username
Now restart and at the boot screen, pause the boot by moving the down button, then move back up and clear any text in the boot arguments by holding backspace. Then just type the number: 3
At the login
Login with your username and password
Now switch to super user with su
and root password
*Now remember you can use the {TAB} key to auto complete
so type:
sh NVIDIA{TAB}
and the whole file name should auto complete
eg: sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.36-pkg1.run
Follow the installer and let it compile the kernel module for you.
Say Yes to everything
Use TAB to move around
reboot
On 12/7/2009 12:26 PM, caf4926 was rumored to have said:
> You say, ‘I think mine is default’
> We need to know for sure!
>
> But if as you have described and I read correctly, you have actually
> tried both. Earlier you quoted:
> x11-video-nvidiaG02
> nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop
>
> And I assume you tried default because you were thinking that was what
> it should be.
>
> Anyway, if you are sure you have tried both. Get to a login and become
> su and try running sax2 -r
Yes, I’ve tried both, and sax2 -r doesn’t work either. When I try I get
the message below multiple times and then a blank screen.
ISaX: could not import file: /var/cache/sax/files/config at
/usr/sbin/isax line 199.
Not sure if that is useful or not.
When I initially installed the packages thru zypper, there was a message
that the installation failed or something. I don’t remember exactly, but
I know it was not a good message. I don’t think it’s the driver I just
believe the setup is not correct.
I will try a few things before I abort and re-install. First I’ll
attempt to un-install the nvidia packages and then re-install. If that
fails, I’ll download the new driver and install manually.
Now, if I do decide to re-install, what’s the correct way of installing
thru zypper? Do I have to update the system first, because I didn’t this
time and I’m wondering if that mucked things up.
On 12/7/2009 1:46 PM, caf4926 was rumored to have said:
> I’m afraid I’m off to bed now. But I’m not sure what you mean about
> re-install (not the whole OS??). This is not necessary!
On 12/7/2009 2:16 PM, Jonathan R was rumored to have said:
> Please list the repositories you have.
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> zypper lr -d
> --------------------
>
> and then the rpm’s
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> rpm -qa nvidia
> rpm -qa kernel
> rpm -qa kmp
> --------------------
>
>
> So we are checking the rpm’s for nvidia, kernel, and the kernel modules
> (kmp). Then we match them up with each other.
>
> Keep in mind that there is no xorg.conf anymore since X11 is hot
> pluggable. Did you run nvidia-xconfig?
>
> On mine, it looks like this, but then I installed the default kernel,
> along with the desktop kernel.
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> rpm -qa nvidia
> nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop-190.42_2.6.31.5_0.1-8.2.x86_64
> nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-default-190.42_2.6.31.5_0.1-8.2.x86_64
> x11-video-nvidiaG02-190.42-9.1.x86_64
>
> --------------------
>
>
> Please also specify the make and model of your nvidia card, and run as
> root
> Code:
> --------------------
> lspci | grep nVidia
> --------------------
>
> **
>
>
Thanks! I’m at the office right now, but will post the results later
tonight when I’m at home.
zypper in x11-video-nvidiaG02 nvidia-gfxG02-kmp-desktop
then I did init 3 (stop xserver) and then init 5 (start xserver). I don’t know why it worked this time. I can only speculate that the first time I did it I hadn’t updated my system yet, however this time my system was updated (I had ran zypper up earlier). So I guess the lesson here is to update system first before installing nvidia driver.
Thanks again to everyone for your patience and advice!
It’s probably better not to make matters even more confusing by having more than 1 kernel installed (Unless there is a specific reason), I use Default on my Laptop because it works better. My box uses Desktop. I would delete the one you are not using.
If you have finally sorted it - well done!
On 12/7/2009 9:26 PM, caf4926 was rumored to have said:
> It’s probably better not to make matters even more confusing by having
> more than 1 kernel installed (Unless there is a specific reason), I use
> Default on my Laptop because it works better. My box uses Desktop. I
> would delete the one you are not using.
> If you have finally sorted it - well done!
>
>
Yeah, I’m not sure how I got both on there. Does it hurt to have both
installed? How would I go about removing the default kernel safely?
