Geforce2 driver help

[doom]

ok...
I recently got redhat 7.3 distro and tried to download the linux drivers for my geforce 2 mx400 off the nvidia site. My friend who happens to have been using linux since 94' sent me this file to overwrite in the kernel. When i rebooted my system i saw two Operating systems pop up in the dual boot screen. i tried both of them, logged into my account and i only hade the linux shell. I had lost the gui somehow, so then i went back to win2k. Now a week later im back on redhat and want your help on which drivers i should get. here are some of my system specs just incase:
1.8p4
256rdram
40gighd
geforce2mx400
sorry kinda in a hurry, if u need anymore info on my system just reply, i would really appreciate someone's help.

[Andy Mecham]

Please download and run NVchooser.sh from the driver page. It will tell you which files you should use.

--andy

[doom]

how is this spose to help?
I do have the two files that i needed to download, i just havent extracted them yet.

Here are the files i already have, just tell me if it is safe to extract them.

NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.i386.rpm
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.rh73up_2.4.18_10.i386.rpm

[Andy Mecham]

Your comment Now a week later im back on redhat and want your help on which drivers i should get. lead me to believe you didn't know what files to download. What problem are you running into? Have you looked at the installation instructions in the README?

--andy

[Andy Mecham]

Here are the files i already have, just tell me if it is safe to extract them.

If that's what NVchooser.sh recommended, then those are the files you should install. The GLX package is fine; not knowing which kernel arch you have installed, I can't tell you if the kernel package is correct.

--andy

[doom]

what would u recommend i should do??

...btw how do i check which kernel arch i have on already, before i install these files.

[Andy Mecham]

...btw how do i check which kernel arch i have on already, before i install these files.

You can check arch a number of ways - 'uname -a' is the easiest. If you (or your distro) installed the kernel via RPM, you can try 'rpm -q --qf %{ARCH} kernel'. In any case, you should download and run NVchooser.sh to verify you have the right files.

Please make sure you've read and understand the README's installation instructions before installing.

--andy

[doom]

its
Redhat 7.3
2.4.18-3
i686
does this mean i have downloaded the wrong files?

[Andy Mecham]

Probably. Download and run NVchooser.sh (from http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_1.0-3123) to determine the correct files.

--andy

[doom]

well the NVchooser helped somewhat

[doom]

which glx driver should i get??
GLX RPM NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.i386.rpm??

and if so will it work with
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.rh73up_2.4.18_10.i686.rpm
file??

[Andy Mecham]

Yes.

From the README:

"The NVIDIA_GLX rpm, however, is not dependent upon the kernel version".

--andy

[doom]

must i read all the entire readme file?

All i need to know is how which kernel and GLX file to get, correct?
or do i need to edit the XF86Config-4, as what a friend told me to do. Please someone simplify this for me.

btw, when i keep editing the XF86Config-4 file i keep on losing gnome and all i have at startup is the black console.

[doom]

Can someone please help me out!?

[Andy Mecham]

doom:
All i need to know is how which kernel and GLX file to get, correct?

There are five steps to installing your drivers.

1) Download the appropriate drivers. This is where NVchooser.sh comes in. According to your earlier posts, it told you to download
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-3123.rh73up_2.4.18_10.i686.rpm and NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-3123.i386.rpm - these are the files you should have.

2) Exit X. If you're using a grapical login manager (xdm, gdm, etc), you'll need to drop to runlevel 3. You can do this by switching to a new VT (ctrl-alt-F2), logging in as root, and typing 'telinit 3'.

3) Install the RPM files. Please see (sec-02) INSTALLING THE NVIDIA_KERNEL AND NVIDIA_GLX PACKAGES of the README for directions on how to install via RPM.

4) Edit your XF86Config-4 file to load the 'nvidia' driver. Section (sec-03) EDITING YOUR XF86CONFIG FILE has directions on how to do this.

5) Restart X. I'd recommend testing by 'startx' in runlevel 3, rather than rebooting. Once you're satisfied that X works, you can either change back to init level 5 ('telinit 5') to restore your graphical login, or simply reboot your machine.

--andy

[doom]

thanks for your help.

This is kinda off topic but for someone to do a dual boot with rh and windows do u need to have grub and lilo off?

Ok nevermind, i got it to work :)