Can't get X up under RH7.3

[idgl]

I purchased an ASUS A7N266-VM motherboard with a 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon processor. This motherboard has an nVidia 220D GeForce MX integrated GPU.

startx gives the dreaded message:

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVdriver kernel module!

I upgraded my RedHat 7.3 kernel from 2.4.18-3 to 2.4.18-5 successfully.

I installed the rpms NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2960.rh73up.athlon.rpm and
NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2960.i386.rpm as recommended by NVchooser.sh
Both compiled and installed without error.

nv_check.sh runs successfully.

/var/log/messages has the following lines after running startx:

Jul 29 08:25:47 laing2 modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module char-major-10-134
Jul 29 08:25:47 laing2 kernel: nvidia: loading NVIDIA NVdriver Kernel Module 1.0-2960 Tue May 14 07:41:42 PDT 2002
Jul 29 08:25:47 laing2 kernel: NV0: RmInitAdapter failed

RmInitAdapter comes as part of the object file Module-nvkernel, i.e no source to look at.

Where do I go for more information?
:confused:

[volt]

have you tried putting:
alias char-major-195 NVdriver into your /etc/module.conf ?

[Thunderbird]

Each new linux kernel version you install requires a new NVdriver. NVdriver needs to be recompiled for the new kernel. You can't use the kernel module from the rh 7.3 rpms since that one was compiled for 2.4.18-3. (you can use the rh 7.3 glx rpm)

You will need to compile the tar.gz / src.rpm version of the kernel module.

On the other hand you confuse me a little since you are saying:
I installed the rpms NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2960.rh73up.athlon.rpm and
NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2960.i386.rpm as recommended by NVchooser.sh
Both compiled and installed without error.

That last line is the line that confuses me. You are saying that you used the rh7.3 rpms but on the other hand you say that you compiled the rpms. If you compiled them you won't have rh7.3 rpms (I mean rpms named NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2960.rh73up.athlon.rpm).

[idgl]

I have 'alias char-major-195 NVdriver' in my /etc/modules.conf
I don't understand the message "modprobe: Can't locate module char-major-10-134" in /var/log/messages

[Thunderbird]

Don't look at that "char-major-10-134" line it is not related to the NVdriver.

Are you really using a NVdriver compiled for 2.4.18-5? I don't think you did.

[idgl]

Sorry Thunderbird, I misled you. After buiding the 2.4.18-5 kernel of course I installed the source rpms for NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2960 and NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2960 - these both installed without any make errors. Sorry I forgot that - tried too many things one after the other till I got confused.
The NVdriver module inserts fine with no unresolved symbol messages but when I startx I get the `Failed to initialize the NVdriver kernel module!' message and the system log has the RmInitAdapter failed message.
I am wondering if some of my kernel options could be the cause of the problem.

[Thunderbird]

Perhaps something else is related to it then. The next step would be to check if /dev/nvidiactl, /dev/nvidia0 .. exist. Likely they don't exist.

[idgl]

`ls /dev/nv*` yields:

/dev/nvidia0 /dev/nvidia1 /dev/nvidia2 /dev/nvidia3 /dev/nvidiactl

I attach my kernel config file just in case my problem lies there. Any suggestions gratefully received.

[Thunderbird]

Can you check the permissions and so on on /dev/nv*? (please paste the output from ls -l /dev/nv* here)

[Thunderbird]

Another thing did you already try to use RH's own official 2.4.18-5 kernel? If so does it have the same problems? (it looks like you build one from source)

[idgl]

Originally posted by Thunderbird
Can you check the permissions and so on on /dev/nv*? (please paste the output from ls -l /dev/nv* here)
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 0 Jul 29 15:58 /dev/nvidia0
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 1 Jul 29 15:58 /dev/nvidia1
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 2 Jul 29 15:58 /dev/nvidia2
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 3 Jul 29 15:58 /dev/nvidia3
crw-rw-rw- 1 root root 195, 255 Jul 29 15:58 /dev/nvidiactl

Looks OK?

[idgl]

Originally posted by Thunderbird
Another thing did you already try to use RH's own official 2.4.18-5 kernel? If so does it have the same problems? (it looks like you build one from source)

Yes I did build the 2.4.18-5 kernel from source.
I have installed the kernel-2.4.18-5.athlon.rpm and booted the /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.18-5 that came with it and insmod NVdriver fails with unresolved symbols.
When I reboot with my compiled 2.4.18-5 kernel the
NVdriver module inserts fine.

[Thunderbird]

While RH's athlon kernel is the same version number it still is a different kernel. For some drivers (including nvidia's) using a module on a different kernel then on which it was compiled gives unresolved symbols.

[blaisorblade]

I've compiled the kernel module against my running kernel, but I experience the same problem. I'm using an Aladdin TNT2, with the lspci -v output I send as attachment. It has M1621/1533(North/South) ALi chipset. The problem is not related to any version mismatch, neither to a problems with files in /dev: it's a problem of the driver with the PC. If you search in this forum rm_init_adapter rminitadapter (space separated, so it is an "OR"), you will get four threads(at this moment) with people having this problem. My distribution is a RH 7.3 with a custom compiled 2.4.19 kernel.

[Cheshiremackat]

Ok I know it is not really an answer to your question but I have essentially the same setup ('cept I have the XP1700+) and I am running 2.4.18-3 and have no problems.... do you really need the upgraded kernel?

_C

[idgl]

After three months I solved my NV0: RmInitAdapter failed problem. It was not the RH7.3 kernel. It was not the NVdriver module.
It was the BIOS. I have an A7N266-VM motherboard which includes an nVidia 220D GeForce MX Integrated GPU. The BIOS setup includes a VGA Shared Memory Size parameter which was set to 8MB. Setting it to 16 or 32MB solves the RmInitAdapter failure. I don't know if this is helpful to people with other motherboards.

[blaisorblade]

I also have an integrated board and I also have set it with 8 mega of memory! I'll test as soon as possible this. Thanks a lot for your help!! I hope it will be useful! About the upgraded kernel, I'm going to test this(using the stock RH one), too.

[idgl]

Glad to be of service blaisorblade. After setting the VGA shared memory size to greater than 8MB I have got X up under both RedHat 7.3 and 8.0 `out of the box' as it were. Installed both in text mode and then used NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.tar.gz and NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.tar.gz with 'make install' to get an NVdriver module that WORKED.