I’m new to this whole linux thing, so excuse me if anything doesn’t make sense. I’ve installed opensuse 11.0 but cannot get the graphics to work properly. I have a Geforce 8600m gt.
When I first installed opensuse and tried to run it the splash screen would come up and appear to load normally. Then the whole screen went black, I could move the mouse but nothing appeared. If I went into safe mode it loaded alright, but if I tried to change the resolution the same thing happened.
I installed the nvidia drivers from the website, version 173.14.12 I think. I couldn’t get the yast method to work. It always gave me an error when I selected the software, saying there was no matching kernel available or something to that effect. I was able to install it through the terminal using sh nvidia-linux-etc -k $(uname -r)
With that installed, whenever I tried to boot up in normal mode I got an error message about being unable to load kernel module ‘nvidia.ko’. When I try changing the resolution in safe mode, the log gives me a similar error about being unable to load the kernel module. I once tried switching back to the nv drivers with switch2nv, and I got the same blackscreen with mouse error I had earlier.
Like I said I’m very new to linux. I’ve done a lot of searching but have had no luck finding a solution. I tried that sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia command, gave me an error about not being able to start the xserver I think.
Anyways, any help would be appreciated. I should also note that I briefly had Ubuntu installed on here a few months back, and that worked fine after the installation.
Hi
If you haven’t installed the kernel-source and base development, you
won’t be able to compile the driver. Use the default one called nv
instead until you can install the above.
Sounds like you installed the ones from the repository on you original
install and now there has been a kernel update, modules need to be
installed that match.
I tried switching back to the nv drivers but am still having the same issue. If I try to change the resolution or boot up in anything but safe mode, the screen goes black. Briefly a pointer that looks like a circle with an x inside appears, and then the normal cursor appears. I can move it fine, and judging by the size of the cursor the resolution seems to have changed, but everything else is black. Trying to ctrl-alt-f1 back to the terminal doesn’t work either.
This also happens after I run the sax2 -r -m 0=nv line.
I tried using KDE3 instead of gnome, and when that started it gave me a message about my screen not giving x and y dimensions, or something to that effect, and if I wanted to adjust it manually. I tried adjusting the resolution and had the same issue.
Any ideas? I’m using opensuse 11.0 on an asus f8sv
I had the same error message. The error message due to the fact you have not updated the kernel. Make sure that you run the online update, update the kernel before installing the Nvidia drivers.
If you have installed the Nvidia drivers, please delete the Nvidia drivers, run the online update. Reboot your computer and then install the Nvidia drivers. It will work…
Malcom, I tried different terminals (F2-F6) and it didn’t seem to make a difference. I switch to run level 3 before using the sax2 command. The DISPLAYMANAGER and DEFAULT_WM values were what you predicted.
When I ran the zypper se |grep nvidia command, it gave me a list of the nvidia driver stuff in the repository, 8 in total (3 kernels and x11-vidia-nvidia, and then the same for the legacy drivers). With an i appearing next to nvidia-gfxG01-kmp-pae and x11-video-nvidiaG01.
Roman, I followed your advice, and it seems to have helped somewhat. After I reinstalled the drivers, opensuse would boot into the black desktop with the cursor instead of giving me the xserver error. So I suppose thats a step forward.
Is it possible this isnt a driver issue at all but rather a screen issue? I’ve seen a few things that hint at the screen isn’t being properly detected. And when I looked at the xorg.config file everything related to the screen appeared to be just default values. It was listed as Monitor[0] and prefered resolutions of 800x600 etc. Computer is an asus f8sv if it helps
Hi
A few things I do on this machine, fall back to the default kernel as I
only have 1GB of RAM in this notebook, the other is ensure the nvidai
repository is disabled and uninstall the nvidia rpms if I’m using the
proprietary driver.
If you are going to use the proprietary driver I would recommend
removing the installed rpms.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.16-0.1-default
up 2:08, 0 users, load average: 0.13, 0.05, 0.09
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version:
Boy, there sure is a rash of ATI and Nvidia display problems lately. I can’t help but wonder if a lot of it is related to kernel updates not being compatible with previously installed drivers.
All the more reason to learn to use the ATI and or Nvidia installers rather than the repo RPM drivers, which only work for the specific kernel version they were designed for.
Hi
I would agree with you there, I tried it once, and have always used the
‘Hard Way’ which to me is by far the easiest. I think the issue for new
users is getting their heads around using the command line.
–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.16-0.1-default
up 3:05, 0 users, load average: 0.00, 0.04, 0.18
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version:
I forgot to mention the “nvidia-gfx-kmp-pae” gfx driver kernel module belongs to a different kernel. If you want to find the name of the kernel installed on your laptop, use the following steps:
Hey guys, thanks for all the help. I finally got it working, and I just wanted to leave a quick note for anyone else who might stumble across this.
It turned out to be a problem with the bios in the end, not the driver. As far as I can tell somehow the monitor wasn’t being detected properly. I updated the bios and everything worked
Again, thanks for all the help! If nothing else I’ve learned a lot about opensuse trying to fix this.
