How Long...?

[RayMon]

I'm wondering if it's normal for X to take longer to load after installing nVidia's Linux drivers. They work as expected, but it takes about 10 seconds or so before the nVidia logo pops up after the boot messages disappear, which means about 10 seconds of having to stare at a completely black screen before anything shows. With the nv driver that comes with X, the waiting time is significantly lower.

Is this normal behavior? I've been using the nVidia drivers for some time now, through a few versions, two graphics cards, and a few Linux distros/versions (RH 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and Mandrake 9.0), but I still get the same thing.

[RayMon]

Anyone?

[chrono86]

i'm not sure, but it's probably due to the x server testing all the possible mode configurations before choosing a good one for your monitor and video card. If you have a video card with lot of vesa modes then it might take a little while. This may be true, but it doesn't work completely because it should do the same with the xfree86 nv driver. anyway, try making your own modeline in the screens section (i forget the syntax but there is a program made by an xfree86 engineer called gtf that does it ALL automatically). It's just an idea, since you seem so eager for some sort of answer ( iget the same way).
-rian

[bwkaz]

It is a known issue with MX series cards, and IIRC, that is the problem -- the probing of all possible modes. I believe that changing VertRefresh to just a single number in XF86Config(-4), instead of a range, helps, but I don't remember for sure. You might also have to change HorizSync as well -- HorizSync should be VertRefresh times the number of scanlines (the vert. resolution), divided by 1000. For example, if you're running 1280x1024 at 60Hz, the VertRefresh would be 60, and the HorizSync would be 1024*60/1000, which is 61440/1000, or about 61.5. The reason the /1000 is needed is that the HorizSync numbers are in kHz.

At least, I'm fairly sure that's the way you calculate the horizsync. Not positive though...

[RayMon]

Ah, yeah I have a GF 4 MX 440... I probably should've mentioned that. Alright, I'll give your suggestions a go, thanks guys.

[nutball]

It seems "normal" to me. Normal in the sense that it always does it, and seems to work OK otherwise.

[RayMon]

No luck, I tried the modeline utility and created a modeline in XF86Config-4 for the resolution/refresh rate I regularly use linux in (1024x768@85kHz) without any noticable results, as well as keeping the VerticalRefresh to a single value.

Well, even if I can't get rid of that pause, it's something I can deal with since the drivers work just fine. Heck, I've been dealing with it for over a year now :)