Help with Nvidia VGA cards

[ambertone]

Hi all,

I am having all sorts of problems with getting an nVidia VGA card to work on either Bianca or Bea. I've tried 6800's, 5500's, GeForce MX440 and even an old GF2 and TNT.

I've tried all the variants of drivers available through Add / Remove software.
I looked on the nVidia site but the instructions given did not work. (or the operator has no idea what he is doing

Some help in real simple terms would be appreciated.

Rod
PS installed Ubuntu "Fiesty" and they all work fine but I prefer to use Mint for reason of DVD playback.

[marcus0263]

Hi all,

I am having all sorts of problems with getting an nVidia VGA card to work on either Bianca or Bea. I've tried 6800's, 5500's, GeForce MX440 and even an old GF2 and TNT.

I've tried all the variants of drivers available through Add / Remove software.
I looked on the nVidia site but the instructions given did not work. (or the operator has no idea what he is doing

Some help in real simple terms would be appreciated.

Rod
PS installed Ubuntu "Fiesty" and they all work fine but I prefer to use Mint for reason of DVD playback.

What specifically is you nvidia card?

Run

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lspci

post the output

If you've got an older nvidia card you'll need to install the legacy drivers.

envy usually works brilliantly

[marcus0263]

AAAAh forgot I was dealing with an Ubuntu base and forgot the sudo, correction

sudo lspci

should get an output similar to this

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00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV40 [GeForce 6800 Ultra] (rev a1)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82547EI Gigabit Ethernet Controller
03:02.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy (rev 03)
03:02.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Audigy Game Port (rev 03)
03:02.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Creative Labs SB Audigy FireWire Port
03:03.0 PCI bridge: Hint Corp HB6 Universal PCI-PCI bridge (non-transparent mode) (rev 11)
03:04.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec AIC-7892A U160/m (rev 02)
04:08.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. IEEE 1394 Host Controller (rev 46)
04:09.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
04:09.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 41)
04:09.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 02)

[ambertone]

Hi there, how do I copy and paste the display of the terminal? Control "C" does not work.

Rod

[ambertone]

OK, got it.

You possess a mind not merely twisted, but actually sprained.
rob@rob-desktop:~$ sudo lspci
Password:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82865G/PE/P PCI to AGP Controller (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev c2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801EB/ER (ICH5/ICH5R) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5500] (rev a1)
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

[nick]

Hi
Link here for GeForce FX 5500
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=33142
For the 6800, have you tried CTRL/ALT/F1
then type sudo envy? This will install the Nvidia drivers,
If you still have no joy type
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Back up your xorg.conf file first! its in etc /X11
It could be a chipset problem rather than a driver
problem.
Nick

[ambertone]

Thanks Nick,

I'll have a play with it in the morning and see how I go. Just as a matter of interest I have a PIII-1400 on a Gigabyte GA-6IEML mobo with all the same issues.

I also tried on a Compac P4 with an Intel 845 based mobo and same rubbish. I'm beginning to thing nVidia and Linux do not mix as nothing seems to work from a lowly TNT through to a 6800.

Is ATI a better option or is this an Ubuntu / Mint problem?

Rod

[ambertone]

Hi Nick, just read the link in your post.

The one thing I can't understand is that the most basic thing a computer needs is a working display, something I would imagine (if I was responsible for a distro) that would just work without putting the user through hoops.

Getting VGA cards to work on Linux would be the number one issue that ruins it.

I hate to say it but in this case Microsoft Windows is so easy, "setup.exe" and your VGA card works.

Why can't Linux distros get this basic thing to work?

Rod

[nick]

Hi
Not to sure what the problem is? have three computers running with Nvidia cards on Linux and no problems.(and not for many years)
Did you try the Envy command? If you follow instructions it should automatically download and install driver.
Typing sudo envy is as easy as setup.exe
But do not forget the Ctrl/ALT/F1 which will take you to a "blank screen"
Another method to try is to install Automatix,
follow instrutions here:
http://getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php? ... .28Edgy.29
then once it is installed, run and tick "install Nvidia Drivers"
You are trying this on an installed system and not a live disc?
What is you monitor?
Nvidia drivers generally work in Linux and have done for along while I tend to find Ati more problematical
Nick

[scorp123]

Control "C" does not work.

Control+C is "break". You use that command to abort a running program

[ambertone]

Hi Nick, sorry to show frustration. I'll give your instructions a go today and report back.

Appreciate your help very much.

Rod

[ambertone]

OK, yes Mint is fully installed and the monitor is a 19" IBM G97.

Ctl, Alt F1 does nothing.

I typed "sudo envy" into a terminal box and it gave the option to install nvidia drivers, selected that option and the screen just went black with a flashing cursor.

Any ideas?

Rod

[ambertone]

Hi all,

for some reason "envy" does not work on my system.

I used the following method and rebooted the machine and the driver is working:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-common
sudo nvidia-xconfig

Thanks for your help as it put me on the right path.

Rod

[marcus0263]

Hi all,

for some reason "envy" does not work on my system.

I used the following method and rebooted the machine and the driver is working:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx nvidia-kernel-common
sudo nvidia-xconfig

Thanks for your help as it put me on the right path.

Rod

ctrl + shft + alt + f2

[ambertone]

Sorry, ctl + sht + alt + F2 does nothing.

Rod

[marcus0263]

Sorry, ctl + sht + alt + F2 does nothing.

Rod

MMM I do know Gnome has issues sometimes trying to switch term's when in X.

go and open gnome-terminal and

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sudo init 3

This will kill X and bring you into multi user mode without X and you'll still have networking. So once there run

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envy

This will download, compile install and write to xorg.conf, then reboot your system

Better yet, when you're at run level 3 (after doing init 3) do

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sudo su

You'll then be in root, then

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envy