Dual Nvidia cards problem

English Hardware
#1

Hi,

I am running SUSE 11.0 with 32 bit kernel 2.6.25.20-0.5-pae, X.Org X Server 1.4.0.90 and KDE 3.5 on a Quad core machine with 4gb of memory.

I have the following video cards installed:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G71 [GeForce 7950 GT] (rev a1)
04:03.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV18 [GeForce4 MX 4000] (rev c1)

running the NVIDIA (proprietary) driver version 96.43.13.

The reason I am running the 96.xx version is that this version is the one which supports the NV18 card.

I have two monitors connected to the G71 and one connected to the NV18 for a total of three monitors.

This combination works with a few problems.

Attempting to run glxgears generates the following output:

X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 78 (X_CreateColormap)
Serial number of failed request: 12
Current serial number in output stream: 18
libxcb: WARNING! Program tries to lock an already locked connection,
which indicates a programming error.
There will be no further warnings about this issue.

Attempting to run any wine program (for example winecfg) generates the following:

X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 78 (X_CreateColormap)
Serial number of failed request: 93
Current serial number in output stream: 114

vlc also generates the same type of error (when attempting to play a movie):

VLC media player 1.0.1 Goldeneye
???] x11 video output error: X11 request 78.0 failed with error code 8:
BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 78 (X_CreateColormap)
Serial number of failed request: 18
Current serial number in output stream: 19

I can run all of the above in a VNC session (localhost:1) with the vncviewer window open in X session :0. Of course glxgears is very slow, but it does run. The video is a bit choppy in the VNC sessions no matter which program is run.

If I use the default kernel (not pae) I can run the latest NVIDIA driver for the G71 card and use the nv driver for the NV18. This works well (none of the above problems, glxgears very fast), as long as the system does not crash. Attempting this with the pae kernel results in X hanging at startup with a message “setting up interprocess communications”. The log does not show anything.

The default kernel crashes a lot, plus I would like to add more memory, so I need to run pae.

Attempting any combination of drivers and the two cards fails completely with the 64 bit kernel, so it cannot be used (with 3 monitors).

Attempting to use the nv driver with both video cards (with pae) also results in X hanging at startup with a message “setting up interprocess communications”. The log does not show anything.

It makes no difference if Xinerama is on or off, it makes no difference if TwinView is on or off.

I have tried SUSE 11.1 with similar results. I have not tried Gnome or another window manager, but do not see why that would change anything.

I would like to be able to do one of the following:

  1. run any combination of drivers with both cards under 64 bit
  2. run the latest NVIDIA (for G71) and nv (for NV18) under pae
  3. run the NVIDIA 96.xx drivers for both cards under pae without the above problems.

Any help or ideas on where else to look or how to attack this greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

#2

I would suspect for things to run properly, you need the same video cards installed. There is probably a conflict in the way the dissimilar cards work.
Try first using only one video card installed at a time and see if it works. If each works on its own, you know you need two similar cards.

#3

Thanks for the reply, but no, that does not make sense.

It works fine with the 32 bit default kernel. With the 32 bit PAE kernel (which is how I am running it now) it works, but some applications have issues.

#4

I haven’t played too much with nVidia cards, but do they not have a separate module for the pae kernel like ATI do?
Also, try compiling it for your system from the source from the nVidia site.

#5

They do not have separate drivers for PAE. I have downloaded and installed the drivers from the nVidia site. The installation process includes compilation for the specific kernel.