X crashes w/ 3123 drivers

[edj]

NVIDIA RIVA TNT2. 32 MB.
Installed NVIDIA_kernel & _GLX 3123 from source. 2.4.17 kernel. Checked the FAQ, the PDF file w/ installation instructions, the list of installed components, etc. Ran nv_chooser before installing. Ran nv_check after. Everything checked out OK. However ---

Booting into runlevel 5, at the point that kdm starts, the screen just flashes on and off - i.e., the console screen, not the kdm. /var/log/messages has:

localhost kernel: nvidia: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 NVdriver Kernel Module 1.0-3123 Tue Aug 27 15:56:48 PDT 2002

and

localhost kdm[1809]: Server for display :0 terminated unexpectedly

kdm [] : Display :0 is being disabled (restoring too fast)

Any help appreciated. Thanks.

[bwkaz]

What happens when you boot to runlevel 3, and do a startx manually?

After you do that, if the problem isn't obvious, then post your /var/log/XFree86.0.log and whatever config file that log says X is using (it'll be one of the first few lines).

[lesser]

Sounds familiar, I had the same problem using Mdk 9.0. For me, the solution was in the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file, which I edited according to the instructions of the pdf (p 26):

a Find the relevant Device section and replace the line:
Driver "nv" (or Driver "vesa")
with
Driver "nvidia"
b In the Module section, verify that you have:
Load "glx"
c Remove the following lines, if they exist:
Load "dri"
Load "GLcore"

After this edit, X started with a nice NVIDIA logo before the desktop appears, and is stable for up to 20 minutes (no joke unfortunately). I'm still workiing on that, but as I am an absolute newbie, all help is welcome....

[edj]

Ahh, yes - XFree86.0.log. Sorry, forgot to say. I hesitate to post the entire XF86Config-4 and the log - too long. Perhaps the following from /var/log/XFree86.0.log will suffice. These are the only errors reported:
========================
II Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o

No symbols found in this module

EE Failed to load /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o

EE Unload module "nvidia"

EE Failed to load module "nvidia" (load failed, 0)
==========================

lsmod does show the NVdriver.

Thanks.

[Andy Mecham]

From the README:


Q: When I start X it fails and my XFree86 log file contains:

(II) LoadModule: "nvidia"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o
No symbols found in this module
(EE) Failed to load /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o
(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (loader failed, 256)
...
(EE) No drivers available.

A: The nvidia_drv.o X driver has been stripped of needed symbols;
some versions of rpm (wrongly) strip object files while installing.
You should probably upgrade your version of rpm. Or, you can install
the NVIDIA_GLX package from tar file.

Does this help?

--andy

[edj]

I did read the README, but skipped over that part about rpm's because I installed from source. Then, it occurred to me upon reading your post that I used checkinstall, a nice prog that creates rpms from source files. Checkinstall strips by default. So, I just removed the rpm stuff and ran good old "make install." Alls' right with the world now. Thanks again.