Hi, I’m new at Linux so apologies for the foolishness in advance.
I recently used Yast to update drivers for my Quadro NVS 290 card. When I did this Yast informed me that my current kernel (2.6.27.54-0.1.1) was incompatible with the latest version of the Nvidia driver, but that the Nvidia drivers could be installed if the kernel was replaced with version 2.6.27.7-9.1. I chose this option (there was a good reason for doing this I swear), but since then, the x server refuses to start using the Nvidia drivers; boot ends at the command line. I’ve tried obvious things like reinstalling the drivers, but this doesn’t change anything. If I try starting sa2 from the command line with, it fails to start and refers me to sax.log. I look at this, and the relevant part of the log seems to be this:
(II) Loading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates//drivers/nvidia_drv.so
(II) Module nvidia: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: X.Org Video Driver
FATAL: Module nvidia not found.
(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA: system's kernel log for additional error messages.
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Unloading /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/updates//drivers/nvidia_drv.so
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(II) LoadModule: "kbd"
So please, any ideas how to get the display drivers working again?
I really think that it is time you consider doing an upgrade to openSUSE 11.3 or at least 11.2, though support for11.2 will be gone in under 3 months. I always suggest you find out how to load the nVidia driver the Hard Way, outside of YaST. It is possible to update your kernel, even using openSUSE 11.1 using a script file I have wrote.
I spotted the option to downgrade the kernel on my 11.1 system and was wary of applying it just to update the nVIDIA driver via the repos.
I did take the precaution of downloading the nVIDIA driver from the nVIDIA site, so that I could install it ‘the hard way’ should that prove necessary. I also keep a few old versions just in case.
In your shoes, I’d uninstall the repo nVIDIA stuff, go back to the latest kernel, then install nVIDIA ‘the hard way’. OK, you’ll have to do this from the command line in a terminal, but YaST can be used that way. Maybe use the ‘nv’ driver temporarily to get a GUI if the console makes you nervous?
Surely, given a choice, it’s better to have the latest kernel than the latest graphics driver. The former tends to be patched for security and performance; the latter may only be adding support for other cards …
I went ahead with the rollback of the kernel for test reasons; I wanted to install the Nvidia driver on a colleagues computer that was only using the software renderer, but Yast wouldn’t do that without replacing the kernel. I decided to test that on my system first, with a “what’s the worst that can happen?” attitude. Probably shouldn’t take advice from soft drink commercials.
Normally I’m perfectly happy to let Suse take care of itself, doing a full OS upgrade is something I certainly don’t have time for. X is working ok using the software renderer at the moment, if no better solution presents itself I’ll try the “hard way” install at some point.
Me neither, 11.1 is on my home machine and I’m happy with it.
Just be clear, when I proposed ‘going back to the latest kernel’ I meant doing so using YaST on openSUSE 11.1 … not building something scary from source!
You might want to consider doing this soon, before it gets harder to use/find the 11.1 repos when support ends at the end of 2010.
Install the “Linux Kernel Development” pattern through Yast, uninstall NVIDIA packages. Then install the NVIDIA driver “the hard way”, or, maybe better phrased, “manually”. You’ll be fine for now. But bear in mind that support for 11.1 stops, it’s already announced.
Turns out this was resolved fairly easily: I was already running the latest kernel, and I recently checked the Nvidia drivers available from the Nvidia depository via Yast, and found that they were compatible with this kernel. Installed them, and everything is working fine. So thanks and well done to whoever is responsible for keeping stuff up to date.