GeForce3 problem: No X screen

[dakshi]

Hi all,

I dowloaded the latest NVIDIA drivers and installed it on my Mandrake 8.2 box.

However, when I try to start X windows, I don't
see anything except a small dot at the top left
corner of my screen. From that point I can't do
anything, including change to another virtual
terminal. I have to reboot using Ctrl-Alt-Del
(which I discovered by chance). I followed the
instructions given in the README with the
drivers. Somebody, help me please!

Hardware info:

Motherboard: ECS K7S5A
Chipset: SiS 735
Processor: Duron 1GHz
Memory: 512MB SDRAM

If I change the driver in the XF86Config-4 to

Driver "nv"

I get X-windows at least. However, I want to
use Nvidia's drivers to use OpenGL.

Here is my XF86Config-4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

# File generated by XFdrake.

# ************************************************** ********************
# Refer to the XF86Config(4/5) man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "Files"

RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.

FontPath "unix/:-1"

EndSection

# ************************************************** ********************
# Server flags section.
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "ServerFlags"

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><BS> server abort sequence
# This allows clients to receive this key event.
#DontZap

# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> mode switching
# sequences. This allows clients to receive these key events.
#DontZoom

# This allows the server to start up even if the
# mouse device can't be opened/initialised.
AllowMouseOpenFail

EndSection

# ************************************************** ********************
# Input devices
# ************************************************** ********************

# ************************************************** ********************
# Keyboard section
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "AutoRepeat" "250 30"

Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"

EndSection

# ************************************************** ********************
# Pointer section
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/usbmouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection



Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.
Load "dbe"

# This loads the Video for Linux module.
Load "v4l"


# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.

SubSection "extmod"
#Option "omit xfree86-dga"
EndSubSection

# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules

Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
EndSection


# ************************************************** ********************
# Graphics device section
# ************************************************** ********************

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic VGA"
Driver "vga"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA GeForce3 (generic)"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
Driver "nvidia"

# Uncomment following option if you see a big white block
# instead of the cursor!
# Option "sw_cursor"

Option "DPMS" "on"
EndSection



# ************************************************** ********************
# Screen sections
# ************************************************** ********************


Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "NVIDIA GeForce3 (generic)"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x400"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
Screen "screen1"

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

--------------------------------End of XF86Config-4--------------------------------------

I have also attached the log captured with
startx -- -verbose 5 -logverbose > err 2>&1


Please help me!

Dakshi

[ragnarw]

Doesn't it come up at all or does it simply take minutes and minutes until it does ?
I thought the same in my install until I found out it took a veeery long time for the driver to be loaded.
Check out this thread to see how I solved it : http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?threadid=10590

[dakshi]

It just sits there, I can't even change the
virtual terminal to login from another console.
However, its not dead. I can type C-A-Del
at any time and this reboots the system.
At one time, I left it running for 15 mins with
no change in status.

[dakshi]

I tried this option in XF86Config-4 and it didn't
work. I left it for 2 hours and no change. However, it
is not dead, I can reboot by doing C-A-Del.

Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP, TV"

Help guys!

[konos]

I had difficulties getting the nvidia drivers to work on my system too, being Suse.
I didn't see a white dot, but instead coloured blocks.
Maybe the problem is the same, for me it was AGP modes.

You could try adding an Option to the "Device" section in XF86Config for the Nvidia card.

Option "NvAGP" "0"

worked for me.
It means that you will be working in AGP 1x mode, but it seems that for my system that is all the driver can handle.

[dakshi]

Nope, even

Option "NvAGP" "0"

did not work.

I also downloaded the version 1.0-3123 and
tried with that too. Same results: a small dot
at the top left corner of the screen.
C-A-Backspace does not exit the Xserver,
nor can I change the virtual terminals. All I
can do is C-A-Del to reboot the machine.

[dakshi]

Looks like NVidia does not know the answer
to these questions nor do they care!

No one from NVidia has bothered to answer
many questions in this forum. And posts from
users who are having problems are just being
ignored! Is this the way NVidia wishes to treat
its users? I tried emailing them directly using
the address given in the README, and not a
squeak from them!

Having used an ATI Rage Pro card for a couple
of years now with absolutely no problems,
including 3D/OpenGL, I thought I would give
NVidia a try, especially since I knew that they
provided linux drivers! However my confidence
has been misplaced, and I am disappointed.
I probably would have been better off going
with ATI. Definitely not a good picture for
NVidia. But then, they don't seem to care!

[bwkaz]

You most definitely would not be better off going with ATI. ATI released one Linux driver (granted, that works with everything up to their 9700), and then sat on it. If you aren't using glibc 2.2, or aren't using XFree86 4.1 or 4.2, you might as well not even bother.

And if you aren't using an RPM distro, same thing -- don't bother.

Anyway, does 4363 help you at all?

I notice a TON of people having issues with the SiS 735 chipset... I suppose that might have something to do with it, too, though I don't know how to fix that.

[konos]

Dakshi,
Could you post again the log from X startup, the first post was missing the file.
Maybe there are some clues in there.
Also what model of card are you trying?

I know how frustrating it is to have a system that just won't start X.
Maybe us forum readers can work it out.