Driver for GeForce GFX 550 t on a 64-bit 11.4

plesset · April 29, 2011, 12:24pm

It seems to me that the default driver in the Nvidia repository does not support my card (GeForce GFX 550 ti). Does anyone have any recommendation on how to proceed?

Thanks!

openSUSE 11.4 64-bit (Gnome)
Intel Core i7-2600 3.8GHz Turbo2.0, Quad Core, 8MB cache, 8xHT, 5GT/s BUS
GIGABYTE PH67A-UD3-B3 Sandy Bridge 2xPCI-E2.0
8GB DUAL DDR3 1333MHz Mushkin

please_try_again · April 29, 2011, 12:40pm

If you mean GeForce FX 5500, you need to install x11-video-nvidiaG01 instead of x11-video-nvidiaG02.

plesset · April 29, 2011, 12:46pm

Thanks, but unfortunately it is really a GTX 550 ti card.

It seems to be supported by the 270.41.06 version of the driver (NVIDIA DRIVERS 270.41.06 Certified). The repository has an older version, 260.XX.XX I think

please_try_again · April 29, 2011, 1:26pm

That’s right. Don’t install from repo in this case. You have to install/compile the latest driver yourself. There is a script by jdmcdaniel3 which can help: LNVHW - Load NVIDIA (driver the) Hard Way from runlevel 3

martin_helm · April 29, 2011, 1:23pm

plesset wrote:

>
> It seems to me that the default driver in the Nvidia repository does not
> support my card (GeForce GFX 550 ti). Does anyone have any
> recommendation on how to proceed?
I guess you mean the GeForce GTX (not GFX) 550 ti (this is what exists in
the driver selection at nvidia.com).
It shows 270.41.06 as valid driver version for it, of course I do not know
if the current standard driver from the nvidia repository which has version
260.19.44 supports it. I do not have this card.
So in the worst case you have to install the 270.41.06 the “hard way” (which
actually is not hard).

martin_helm · April 29, 2011, 1:27pm

martin_helm wrote:

> So in the worst case you have to install the 270.41.06 the “hard way”
> (which actually is not hard).
>
Sorry I forgot to copy the link
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_the_hard_way

please_try_again · April 29, 2011, 2:02pm

May I suggest we stop calling this method “the hard way”? Because every time someone refers to it, he adds “which actually is not hard” … that actually sounds silly. lol!

martin_helm · April 29, 2011, 2:46pm

please try again wrote:

>
> May I suggest we stop calling this method “the hard way”? Because every
> time someone refers to it, he adds “which actually is not hard” … that
> actually sounds silly. lol!
>
Yes please, I know it sounds silly that I add “it is not hard”. I have no
good idea how to call it, may something like “the classical way” or so.

phanisvara · April 29, 2011, 3:21pm

On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 18:16:51 +0530, martin_helm
<martin_helm@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

> please try again wrote:
>
>>
>> May I suggest we stop calling this method “the hard way”? Because every
>> time someone refers to it, he adds “which actually is not hard” … that
>> actually sounds silly. lol!
>>
> Yes please, I know it sounds silly that I add “it is not hard”. I have no
> good idea how to call it, may something like “the classical way” or so.
>

how about “the manual way,” as opposed to automati, via the repos?

–
phani.

martin_helm · April 29, 2011, 3:32pm

phanisvara wrote:
>
> how about “the manual way,” as opposed to automati, via the repos?
>
>
I simply added now a comment to the wiki page discussion
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB_Talk:NVIDIA_the_hard_way
and asked.

phanisvara · April 29, 2011, 3:44pm

On Fri, 29 Apr 2011 19:02:57 +0530, martin_helm
<martin_helm@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

> I simply added now a comment to the wiki page discussion
> http://en.opensuse.org/SDB_Talk:NVIDIA_the_hard_way
> and asked.

[off topic:] good idea, but i don’t have much faith in the wiki operators
/ team / committee, who- or whatever manages oS wikis these days. wikis,
as i understand the idea, are supposed to dynamically change, with editing
input from perhaps not all, but many users. here some (s)elected gremium
defines policies that nobody seems to understand, and any input needs to
be applied for in a more bureaucratic than useful way…i only use oS
wikis if a google search sends me there; don’t even try to find anything
otherwise.

–
phani.

plesset · April 29, 2011, 4:19pm

Yes, it turned out to be quite easy - thanks to you both for the help. As usual the problem has more to do with finding the relevant information amongst the chaos these forums tend to be.

Basically I just executed the proper driver executable after downloading it and installing the kernel-devel. After that I did the

 modprobe nvidia

and restarted the xdm and nothing else. The

NO_KMS_IN_INTITRD

was already set to yes and there was a nvidia.conf file under /etc/modprobe.d with a

blacklist nouveau

I hope that is enough? At least I have rebooted a couple of times without any problems

Now, back to doing science - onwards and upwards!

please_try_again · April 29, 2011, 4:41pm

It’s enough for now … until the next kernel update. Then you’ll have to recompile the module. To avoid trouble at this point, you can use the modautocompile service: automatically recompile kernel modules after kernel update. I wrote it originally to be used with the ATI driver (same problem). Now it is not necessary anymore for the ATI driver. I still use it for the virtualbox module. I know that some people use it to recompile the nvidia module, but I still don’t know the command. Basically, this script can recompile any module which has to be recompiled after a kernel update. You just have to write the module name and the command used to compile it in a configuration file. The service checks if the module is missing - which will be the case after a kernel update - and recompiles it before X get started.