In a previous message, Terry Eck wrote:

John, What version of SuSE are you using?

8.2

Have you looked at the HOWTO for SuSE Linux users concerning the Nvidia Installer? There is a link to it on the nvidia site. I'm using SuSE 8.2 and had to follow the instructions for that version. Terry

Yes, and I'm following the instructions. It's the compile step that's failing and I've never seen any advice over this except "install kernel sources", which I have. John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Valley of the Kings: ransack an ancient Egyptian tomb but beware of mummies!

On Sun, 2004-03-07 at 06:08, John Pettigrew wrote:

In a previous message, Terry Eck wrote:

<snipped>

Now I've found the problem - I was looking at the wrong set of instructions for SuSE 8.2. Strangely, there are 2 sets, only one of which mentions the need for the "make cloneconfig && make dep" stage. Having done this, the driver reported a successful build and install.

Thats because you're still following the wrong instructions from the sounds of it :).

However, trying to use this driver in any way (e.g. running sax2 or starting an X session) caused the screen to corrupt (a few blue lines in the bottom inch of the screen) and the computer to crash terminally - unlike any other crash I've seen, it actually required me to reset the PC and fsck to catch corruptions.

WTF is going on here?

Do the proper install for 8.2 may help. Did you perchance do "sh nvidia-installer###.sh --extract-only"? This is fine for 8.1 where the newer installer does not work. Doing sh nvidia-installer###.sh (### conforms to the other bits that go with the drier) will installer the installer, which can then be launched via nvidia-installer. I would try nvidia-installer -f which is for it to force an update. If you still have problems with corruption (the software sort, not the SCO sort!) then "lspci" will help. Dmesg will be hard if you're getting hard locks. Was having issues setting up my brothers computer, from 5000 miles away...3D just kept saying disabled under /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status (can "cat" this, cat /proc/driver/nvidia/agp/status) and was frustrating as hell, then under "dmesg" agpgart was stating that the SiS host 0746 was unsupported and to try a switch (cannot remember off hand), upshot of this...It works sometimes, but NvAGP, the nvidia driver does not at all. So, try again with the install, the way SuSE 8.2 is meant to be done, then if you have issues we'll take it from there...Right now, I am writing to SiS asking for better Linux support, they can surely spare an engineer to contribute patches and information on their chipsets... Matt

John Pettigrew wrote:

In a previous message, Matthew Johnson wrote:

...

On Sun, 2004-03-07 at 06:08, John Pettigrew wrote:

...

However, trying to use this driver in any way (e.g. running sax2 or starting an X session) caused the screen to corrupt (a few blue lines in the bottom inch of the screen) and the computer to crash terminally

Do the proper install for 8.2 may help. Did you perchance do "sh nvidia-installer###.sh --extract-only"? This is fine for 8.1 where the newer installer does not work.

Nope (and, in any case, the 8.1 advice is to use the rpm version):

init 3 sh NVIDIA****.run

The installer then runs automatically and I select the "compile a module" option because there is none available from NVIDIA's website. This apparently builds successfully and the installer quits.

Attempting to run sax2 after this (using e.g. the recommended 'sax2 -m 0=nvidia') causes the crash, as (IIRC) did going to runlevel 5 after using switch2nvidia instead of sax2. Given the nasty consequences of this problem, I'm not that keen on trying lots of different things out unless I'm reasonably sure they'll work.

John

sax2 isn't necessary and doesn't run, you only needed the switch2nvidia or replace Driver "nv" with Driver "nvidia" in /etc/X11/XF86Config. The README file for the latest driver does not mention sax2, it was mentioned with older drivers, so it pays to read and heed the instructions for each driver, that covers the "unless I'm reasonably sure they'll work" end of the business. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and keen Flyer Linux Only Shop.

In a previous message, Matthew Johnson wrote:

By the way you mentioned switch2nvidia was that just it? or did you mean switch2nvidia_glx?

The former - what's the difference between these commands?

Also 3Ddiag is worth running, it checks to make sure everything is set right with libraries etc.

Haven't got that far - need to get past the driver crashing the box first!

How is this going anyway John?

Not really had a chance to play further - as I said, the fact that each attempt takes the box down, requiring a reset and fsck means that it eats 25 minutes or so for each time I try it. What it looks like to me is that that, for some reason, the driver is building something that's broken, because it invariably crashes my box when I try to use the nvidia driver (whether that's running sax2 [crashes as soon as it tries to bring up the gui] or issuing 'switch2nvidia' and 'init 5'). John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Knossos: escape the ever-changing labyrinth before the Minotaur catches you!

In a previous message, Matthew Johnson wrote:

Boot into init 3 (from memory just type init 3 as a boot option in grub, when you see the grub splash screen on startup, simply type init 3).

I've been switching to runlevel 3 after a boot to 5, but that shouldn't matter, should it?

Did you install the SuSE 8.1 rpm's?

Nope - I'm running 8.2 and the instructions are to use the nvidia installer not the RPMs.

What kernel version are you running again?

2.4.20-105 John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Valley of the Kings: ransack an ancient Egyptian tomb but beware of mummies!

In a previous message, Matthew Johnson wrote:

On Mon, 2004-03-08 at 12:34, John Pettigrew wrote:

...

In a previous message, Matthew Johnson wrote:

...

Did you install the SuSE 8.1 rpm's?

Nope - I'm running 8.2 and the instructions are to use the nvidia installer not the RPMs.

Good, thought you said you accidently followed the 8.1 instructions.

No - that was someone else's suggestion :-)

Take it was working fine and dandy before?

Nope - I've had problem with the nvidia driver before and I've been using the nv driver. However, previously, I've been able to reach a desktop with nvidia (albeit only at 1280x1024, which was why I've been using nv - I'd rather have my 1600x1200 desktop without 3D!). John -- John Pettigrew Headstrong Games john@headstrong-games.co.uk Fun : Strategy : Price http://www.headstrong-games.co.uk/ Board games that won't break the bank Knossos: escape the ever-changing labyrinth before the Minotaur catches you!

On Sat, 2004-03-06 at 12:33, Carlos E. R. wrote:

The 2004-03-06 at 14:08 -0000, John Pettigrew wrote:

...

However, the nvidia installer fails when compiling the driver, complaining that nvidia.o can't be found and that this is probably because my kernel sources don't match the kernel.

Did you remember to run "make cloneconfig dep" on the kernel sources? Specially, after a YOU kernel update with reboot.

Don't need to reboot in my experience. Doing make cloneconfig dep in the kernel source directory should be sufficient. Ctrl-Alt-F1, log in as root and type init 3. Take it you have not had the nvidia module running before? If so, check with lsmod, if one is running (I doubt it) remove with modprobe -r. Then go ahead again with the install...Is it via nvidia-installer --update. nvidia-installer -A gives a lot of different options that you can use. Matt

The 2004-03-06 at 13:20 -0800, Matthew Johnson wrote:

...

Did you remember to run "make cloneconfig dep" on the kernel sources? Specially, after a YOU kernel update with reboot.

Don't need to reboot in my experience. Doing make cloneconfig dep in the kernel source directory should be sufficient.

Read again, carefuly: "after a YOU kernel update" If you update the kernel binary (and sources), you need to reboot to make the new kernel active. If, after a kernel update you run "make cloneconfig", the sources configuration wil match the old kernel (the one in memory, active), not the new updated one. -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson