Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

Chris Forzetting

2 Nov 2006 2 Nov '06

06:25

hi all ~ I have an HP Pavillion dv6105us laptop, AMD Turion64, with a GeForce Go 6150, dual booting with Media Center and SuSE 10.1. Tired of no GL or 3D support in the dummy suse drivers, I have tried three different methods to install the real drivers, and they all caused the same problem. I have tried: YAST, 'tiny-nvidia-installer', and a direct rpm run, following the howto that the nvidia site points to, with the same result. I made sure I was in runlevel 3. Each time I installed the drivers, the install seemed to go without a hitch, no errors or crfashes, but after rebooting, X tries to start, and all I get is a blank screen. Crashing X shows an error about no screens being available. I don't know enough to directly configure the X server, and sax won't load. I'm going to image the disk before trying it again, since I have had to reinstall each time (the newbie curse). Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, -- Chris Forzetting, Tech and Trainer _________________________________________________________________ " 'Think as I think,' said a man, 'or you are a toad.' And after I had thought of it, I said, 'I will then be a toad.' "

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Dave Howorth

2 Nov 2 Nov

10:38

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

Chris Forzetting wrote:

...

hi all ~

I have an HP Pavillion dv6105us laptop, AMD Turion64, with a GeForce Go 6150, dual booting with Media Center and SuSE 10.1.

Tired of no GL or 3D support in the dummy suse drivers, I have tried three different methods to install the real drivers, and they all caused the same problem. I have tried: YAST, 'tiny-nvidia-installer', and a direct rpm run, following the howto that the nvidia site points to, with the same result. I made sure I was in runlevel 3. Each time I installed the drivers, the install seemed to go without a hitch, no errors or crfashes, but after rebooting, X tries to start, and all I get is a blank screen. Crashing X shows an error about no screens being available. I don't know enough to directly configure the X server, and sax won't load. I'm going to image the disk before trying it again, since I have had to reinstall each time (the newbie curse). Any help would be appreciated.

I have had better luck with nvidia's program nvidia-xconfig (see http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/1.0-8776/README/chapter-03.h...) than with sax. I run 9.3 and it works fine. But some people are having problems with the nvidia drivers and recent updates of 10.1. Search the list archives for 'nvidia' for more info. HTH, Dave

Carlos E. R.

13:10

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Thursday 2006-11-02 at 10:38 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:

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Chris Forzetting wrote:

...

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available. I don't know enough to directly configure the X server, and sax won't load. I'm going to image the disk before trying it again, since I have had to reinstall each time (the newbie curse). Any help would be appreciated.

Simply, in text mode, edit this line in the file "/etc/X11/xorg.conf": Section "Device" Identifier "Device[nvidia]" Driver "nvidia" ... Change with: Driver "nv" and start X with "startx" in the user's command line. That should work.

...

I have had better luck with nvidia's program nvidia-xconfig (see http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/1.0-8776/README/chapter-03.h...) than with sax.

Not to forget: http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3

...

I run 9.3 and it works fine. But some people are having problems with the nvidia drivers and recent updates of 10.1. Search the list archives for 'nvidia' for more info.

- -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFSe5CtTMYHG2NR9URAiGIAKCEKJqIRS57l0QmEHbmKVWOiwjVCgCfX8VY e+rCfytzH0ij5zvImjYiEkQ= =9d9O -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Patrick Shanahan

13:46

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

* Carlos E. R. [11-02-06 08:13]:

...

Simply, in text mode, edit this line in the file "/etc/X11/xorg.conf":

....

...

Not to forget:

http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3

also quickly in runlevel 3, /usr/bin/switch2nv and no editing necessary. -- Patrick Shanahan Registered Linux User #207535 http://wahoo.no-ip.org @ http://counter.li.org HOG # US1244711 Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2

Dave Howorth

14:04

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

Patrick Shanahan wrote:

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* Carlos E. R. [11-02-06 08:13]:

...
Simply, in text mode, edit this line in the file "/etc/X11/xorg.conf":

....

...
Not to forget:

http://www.suse.de/~sndirsch/nvidia-installer-HOWTO.html#3

also quickly in runlevel 3, /usr/bin/switch2nv and no editing necessary.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you on this occasion. For two reasons. First, AFAICT, the OP is still trying to install the nvidia driver, not the nv driver. So I think the instructions you both gave are inappropriate. Second, the OP says he has followed the *suse* instructions (as at the URL above or rather at the equivalent for AMD64) without success. I also had no success that way. I did have success when I followed the *nvidia* instructions and used the *nvidia* installation and configuration tools instead of the *suse* ones (yast, sax2). Again, I am on 9.3 so YMMV. Cheers, Dave

Carlos E. R.

15:22

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Thursday 2006-11-02 at 14:03 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:

...

...
also quickly in runlevel 3, /usr/bin/switch2nv and no editing necessary.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you on this occasion. For two reasons.

First, AFAICT, the OP is still trying to install the nvidia driver, not the nv driver. So I think the instructions you both gave are inappropriate.

He said that the nvidia driver did not work, and that he had to reinstall the whole system because sax would not start - presumably to uninstall the commercial nvidia driver and put back the nv open driver and try again. Thus, I don't think my advice was incorrect. Also, Patrick's advice is correct in that situation, but if it weren't, there is also the corresponding switch2nvidia script. We were both giving advice about how to undo the not working change to nvidia. How to get the commercial driver going will go next when the OP replies and we have more info.

...

Second, the OP says he has followed the *suse* instructions (as at the URL above or rather at the equivalent for AMD64) without success. I also had no success that way. I did have success when I followed the *nvidia* instructions and used the *nvidia* installation and configuration tools instead of the *suse* ones (yast, sax2).

The thing is that the instructions in the nvidia page points SuSE users to read the link I posted. Those instructions are correct, and give more than one way to do it. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFSg0rtTMYHG2NR9URAu3rAJ9wctvIHwOOGHNsKaGjmIMmJ+prVQCeKFlQ oDozpVmoafXjnVoTyuPa3w0= =Lq8v -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Dave Howorth

15:41

New subject: SPAM: Re: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

Carlos E. R. wrote:

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The Thursday 2006-11-02 at 14:03 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:

...

...
Second, the OP says he has followed the *suse* instructions (as at the URL above or rather at the equivalent for AMD64) without success. I also had no success that way. I did have success when I followed the *nvidia* instructions and used the *nvidia* installation and configuration tools instead of the *suse* ones (yast, sax2).

The thing is that the instructions in the nvidia page points SuSE users to read the link I posted. Those instructions are correct, and give more than one way to do it.

Those suse instructions are self-contradictory (I posted earlier about that), which hardly makes them correct. I agree they describe two different ways of doing it, but neither of them worked for me. yast does not install the current version of the driver. Both ways in the suse instructions say to use sax2, which both I and the OP found that does not work. OTOH, following nvidia's instructions and ignoring suse's instructions did work for me. The installer installs the latest driver and the nvidia configure script does work, in my experience. My essential point is that if suse users ignore nvidia's recommendation to go to the suse site, and instead just follow the instructions on nvidia's site about how to use the nvidia tools, everything works and you end up with a current nvidia driver installed and working. Or at least it did for me. Since there are several different ways and the OP has tried both suse ways and failed, I am simply suggesting that it's worth trying the nvidia way. Cheers, Dave

Carlos E. R.

16:30

New subject: SPAM: Re: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Thursday 2006-11-02 at 15:41 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:

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I agree they describe two different ways of doing it, but neither of them worked for me. yast does not install the current version of the driver.

And very rightly so. SuSE policy has always been to use the version available at shipment date. If you want the newest, use the other, manual, method.

...

Since there are several different ways and the OP has tried both suse ways and failed, I am simply suggesting that it's worth trying the nvidia way.

Perhaps. I don't know exactly what driver he has tried to install and how, but never mind. Notice that the NVidia driver can configure X by itself (last install question, default is "no"). And it worked for me when I tried in 9.3 recently and also in 10.1 - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Made with pgp4pine 1.76 iD8DBQFFSh0HtTMYHG2NR9URAmnUAKCNB6hxQxkcRf/9TlF/7dhDg7BSxwCcCpyO a/oB+DJYLC3WGyFxs4QUv2E= =gOH8 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Chris Forzetting

6 Nov 6 Nov

00:22

New subject: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

Carlos E. R. wrote:

...

The Thursday 2006-11-02 at 14:03 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:

...
...
...
also quickly in runlevel 3, /usr/bin/switch2nv and no editing necessary. Sorry, but I have to disagree with both of you on this occasion. For two reasons.

First, AFAICT, the OP is still trying to install the nvidia driver, not the nv driver. So I think the instructions you both gave are inappropriate.

He said that the nvidia driver did not work, and that he had to reinstall the whole system because sax would not start - presumably to uninstall the commercial nvidia driver and put back the nv open driver and try again. Thus, I don't think my advice was incorrect.

Also, Patrick's advice is correct in that situation, but if it weren't, there is also the corresponding switch2nvidia script.

We were both giving advice about how to undo the not working change to nvidia. How to get the commercial driver going will go next when the OP replies and we have more info.

...
...
Second, the OP says he has followed the *suse* instructions (as at the URL above or rather at the equivalent for AMD64) without success. I also had no success that way. I did have success when I followed the *nvidia* instructions and used the *nvidia* installation and configuration tools instead of the *suse* ones (yast, sax2).

The thing is that the instructions in the nvidia page points SuSE users to read the link I posted. Those instructions are correct, and give more than one way to do it.

Thank you all who posted on this topic. Unfortunately, trying the nvidia install script and then the configuration of xgl found on http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/17174.html had no better results than when I installed the drivers using yast and then tiny-nvidia-install script. In all cases, the installation proceeded without any error messages, but when starting X the screen goes blank. the system is still going, because I can type my pw and log in and hear the startup sound for KDE. If I kill the X server, there are no "no suitable screens found" errors. I did have an "access to your display is denied" error when entering this command: sax2 -V 0:1280x800@60 to try to force the video mode. I have an nvidia geforce Go 6150 which is not on the supported hardware list on the nvidia site, though very close models are both up and down a numeric list. Thanks to your posts, I can get back to nv without reinstalling, but it does not look like I will be able to get any real power from this card under linux. :( oh, well... Thank you for your responses.

...

--

Chris Forzetting, Tech and Trainer _________________________________________________________________ " 'Think as I think,' said a man, 'or you are a toad.' And after I had thought of it, I said, 'I will then be a toad.' "

Matthias Hopf

10 Nov 10 Nov

16:33

New subject: [opensuse] Re: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

On Nov 05, 06 16:22:21 -0800, Chris Forzetting wrote:

...

I have an nvidia geforce Go 6150 which is not on the supported hardware list on the nvidia site, though very close models are both up and down a numeric list.

Thanks to your posts, I can get back to nv without reinstalling, but it does not look like I will be able to get any real power from this card under linux. :( oh, well...

Please open a bug report with all your findings. Seems like you stumbled over a problem with a pretty new card (didn't know of 6150 upto now). So there's probably a bug lurking in the driver / in the installation process, which more people could fall into. http://en.opensuse.org/Bugs:X Matthias -- Matthias Hopf __ __ __ Maxfeldstr. 5 / 90409 Nuernberg (_ | | (_ |__ mat@mshopf.de Phone +49-911-74053-715 __) |_| __) |__ labs www.mshopf.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Digvijoy Chatterjee

8 Jan 8 Jan

06:43

New subject: [opensuse] Re: [SLE] Nvidia drivers cause blank screen loading X

...

I have an HP Pavillion dv6171cl laptop, AMD Turion64, with a GeForce Go 6150, dual booting with Media Center and OpenSuSE 10.2. I was able to load the nvidia proprietary driver 1.9746 with 3-D Accln etc..i booted the kernel with an extra param called noapic , and then sax2 -m 0=nvidia did the trick for me.. if required i can share the xorg.conf etc..I am not a gaming freak but

I dont know if u had any luck with this , but for the almost same laptop as yours , playing something as trivial as chromium on this card tells me it wont be long before ...i change. nvidia.ko running Nvidia is awesome...wish they would open source the code.. Thx Digz On 11/10/06, Matthias Hopf wrote:

...

On Nov 05, 06 16:22:21 -0800, Chris Forzetting wrote:

...
I have an nvidia geforce Go 6150 which is not on the supported hardware list on the nvidia site, though very close models are both up and down a numeric list.

Thanks to your posts, I can get back to nv without reinstalling, but it does not look like I will be able to get any real power from this card under linux. :( oh, well...

Please open a bug report with all your findings. Seems like you stumbled over a problem with a pretty new card (didn't know of 6150 upto now). So there's probably a bug lurking in the driver / in the installation process, which more people could fall into.

http://en.opensuse.org/Bugs:X

Matthias

-- Matthias Hopf __ __ __ Maxfeldstr. 5 / 90409 Nuernberg (_ | | (_ |__ mat@mshopf.de Phone +49-911-74053-715 __) |_| __) |__ labs www.mshopf.de --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

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participants (6)

Carlos E. R.
Chris Forzetting
Dave Howorth
Digvijoy Chatterjee
Matthias Hopf
Patrick Shanahan