Nvidia Graphics Drivers - Install Guide

[Monsta]

I tried the method suggested by proxima-centauri to install a driver for my GE Force 9500 GT graphics card in Linux Mint 11

There must be a very good reason to completely ignore jockey-gtk tool and to use the tutorial for the wrong Mint edition...

[mgh]

I am also stuck at the command line.

I followed instructions in the 1st post of this discussion. When that bombed my system,
I did: sudo dpkg-reconfigure nvidia-kernel-dkms
and then did sudo nvidia-xconfig

That did me no good. I am still stuck at the command line.

What else can I try?

Thanks for any help.

PS. I have not tried removing nouveau

[proxima_centauri]

Assuming the steps or equivalent were followed to my second post in this topic.

Try removing nouveau

Code: Select all

    apt remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau libdrm-nouveau1

[mgh]

Man! That did not do it either, still stuck at terminal.

Would it hurt to start all over? Follow all the steps again (of course this time I will be at command line, not in terminal)?
Any other ideas?

Thanks for the response.

[Darcy]

I have followed the instructions 3 times, yet I cannot get past the command line blinking cursor.
I found that that binutils file (2.21 installed) does meet Nvidias requirements (2.9.5) to install the 290.5 driver. How much difference would this make?

[GregE]

A couple of suggestions

You could try the traditional Debian way in an LMDE install using module assistant

http://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers

Plus many people are having NVidia issues with the latest 3.2 kernels, try booting from an older kernel then try and fix the nvidia driver.

[lqua]

Thanks, grraf, your procedure worked flawlessly on my freshly installed and fully updated 64-bit LMDE 12.

As a result, I now have Nvidia's 280.13 drivers installed. Good enough for something entirely pain-free!

[mgh]

I wish I could say the same! I do not know what I screwed up, but I was stuck at command line, and none of the solutions I tried from there did anything at all.

I finally gave up on Mint, and I have been using Mint since version 5. I installed Ubuntu, choose F6 when booting off of live CD, disable nomodeset, let Ubuntu do its thing, and I did not have to install any additional drivers after that, on first boot after install, I had my native display resolution.

I am glad others are finding the solution for NVIDIA drivers, and I appreciate the attempts here to help me out.

[CapitalG]

TL:DR;

For the newer nvidia cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... chips.html

install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx build-essential nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

For older cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... dix-a.html

install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx-dkms nvidia-glx-legacy-173xx build-essential
nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

For ancient cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... dix-a.html

Install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-legacy-96xx-dkms nvidia-glx-legacy-96xx build-essential
nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

When done, execute nvidia-xconfig in terminal. After a reboot, the driver is installed.

Code: Select all

sudo nvidia-xconfig

* Full credit to fnkbss; copied from http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/331

EDIT:
Suggested to remove or blacklist the default nouveau driver after nvidia driver installation. (Thank you Elmacus for the recommendation)

Some users have reported trouble with removing the nouveau driver, and I recommend performing the blacklist only.

To blacklist:

Code: Select all

sudo echo blacklist nouveau > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

Removal (in terminal):

Code: Select all

apt remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau libdrm-nouveau1a

worked perfectly if there is a kernel upgrade though will it break it?

[neon_overload]

worked perfectly if there is a kernel upgrade though will it break it?

The benefit of using the DKMS package (nvidia-kernel-dkms) is that when you upgrade your kernel, it should automatically trigger a re-compile of that DKMS module for the new kernel if necessary, just like it did when you installed nvidia-kernel-dkms for the first time.

So the system should keep ensuring that there's a module compiled for your installed kernels, all by itself. DKMS is cool that way.

[joebobwilson]

grraf's suggestion together with removing neavou worked perfectly for me. Simple and painless. Thanks!

[Adelante]

Doing this made all the difference for me. In great shape now. Thank you.

Assuming the steps or equivalent were followed to my second post in this topic.

Try removing nouveau

Code: Select all

    apt remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau libdrm-nouveau1

[LMNewb]

TL:DR;

For the newer nvidia cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... chips.html

install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-dkms nvidia-glx build-essential nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

For older cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... dix-a.html

install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-legacy-173xx-dkms nvidia-glx-legacy-173xx build-essential
nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

For ancient cards listed in http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... dix-a.html

Install the following packages through Package Manager or terminal:

Code: Select all

apt install nvidia-kernel-legacy-96xx-dkms nvidia-glx-legacy-96xx build-essential
nvidia-settings nvidia-xconfig

When done, execute nvidia-xconfig in terminal. After a reboot, the driver is installed.

Code: Select all

sudo nvidia-xconfig

* Full credit to fnkbss; copied from http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/331

EDIT:
Suggested to remove or blacklist the default nouveau driver after nvidia driver installation. (Thank you Elmacus for the recommendation)

Some users have reported trouble with removing the nouveau driver, and I recommend performing the blacklist only.

To blacklist:

Code: Select all

sudo echo blacklist nouveau > /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

Removal (in terminal):

Code: Select all

apt remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-nouveau libdrm-nouveau1a

I followed this. However, it now takes several minutes for my computer to boot. I keep getting a error message:

"ata3: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)"

This times out after over a minute or two, and the boot proceeds normally. Can this be fixed? If not, is there a way to revert the install of the nvidia binaries? Thanks!

[toomuchcoffee]

Hmm...

Code: Select all

troll@lair ~ $ inxi -G
Graphics:  Card nVidia GF104 [GeForce GTX 460] X.Org 1.11.4 Res: 1680x1050@60.0hz
           GLX Renderer Gallium 0.4 on NVC4 GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.11.2


I don't know what the F is that (Gallium??), all I know is that I have some screen corruption.. and I thought LMDE shipped with the latest Nvidia drivers? Hmm...

edit:

Never mind, steps on the first page worked, no longer have screen corruption, pheww .

[zerozero]

I followed this. However, it now takes several minutes for my computer to boot. I keep getting a error message:

"ata3: COMRESET failed (errno=-16)"

all the hits i can find in google point to something else but this nvidia drivers install (the fact that you see it at the same time might be a coincidence)
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/256637
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/668392
https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/vi ... c_id=26379
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-hardware-18/is-this-normal-operation-for-a-sata-hot-swap-825331/

[craigevil]

Debian User Forums • View topic - Nvidia driver - Debian way, custom (or not) kernel. - http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=10812

Or just be lazy and use smxi to install Nvidia.

[powerhouse]

@proximacentauri:

Thanks for providing this simple, concise tutorial for installing the proprietary nvidia driver. After some unsuccessful attempts trying different tutorials, this one worked right away, with only one modification:

Instead of apt install ... I had to use apt-get install ...

Reference: LMDE 12 Cinnamon/Mate, April 2012 release using the 290... Nvidia driver for a PNY Quadro 600 card.

Important: I think that in my previous attempts the nouveau driver messed up the Nvidia proprietary driver install. In the end I was left with a text only environment, but your tutorial and the blacklisting of the nouveau driver worked out of the box and fixed the problem.

[gychang]

thank you so much, my desktop is just beautiful. Running debian-xfce.

gychang

[merc1973]

Quick question, should I Blacklist as soon as the nVidia driver is installed or wait after reboot?

[proxima_centauri]

Quick question, should I Blacklist as soon as the nVidia driver is installed or wait after reboot?

Right after installation.