NVDIA and console mode

[spurnelle]

I downloaded the latest kernel source, the compilation is correct and X mode work fine.
But when I switch to console, the text is unreadable.
beause the system don't switch to texte resolution.

Can anyone help me.

[bwkaz]

Is your kernel using rivafb? Do a cat /proc/fb (AFAIK, this will work in X) to see the driver that's being used -- it should say "<some number> VESA VGA". If it says anything else, you very likely aren't using vesafb for the high-res text console (which isn't actually text mode, btw, it's a VESA standard mode with a BIOS font). vesafb is the only thing that will work with the nVidia X drivers.

[spurnelle]

I don't have a RIVA TNT, I have a GEFORCE 4 MX 420. I don't have some data in /proc/fb

[bwkaz]

Right, but rivafb is the only driver under "framebuffer console" that has anything to do with nVidia, so a lot of people choose it as their console driver. Then they have problems with X.

If /proc/fb is empty, then are you even using a high-res console? Mine, for example, is 160x64 characters -- if yours is just 80x25, then it is indeed just normal text mode, and ignore what I've been saying. :o

Which distro is this, btw?

[bimbo00]

I'm havin' the same problem described above.
My distro is Mandrake 9.0 (installed last night).
When I was using the vesa drivers for my X windows everything worked(well, not exactly :) I couldn't use the acceleration of my GeForce4 = couldn't play TUX )
I tried using my CRT monitor(usually I use an LCD) and it didn't work with it either.
oh and my proc/fb :
before restarting with the new drivers
0 VESA VGA
now, after restarting the PC the /proc/fb is just EMPTY :
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 0 Jan 25 17:46 fb

well that's it if you need more info just ask.

regards,
BimBo

[spurnelle]

My distro is RedHat 8.0 and console run with 80x25 text mode. Actually, I use the Xfree86 nvidia driver GEFORCE 4 generic (vesa) and when use CTRL-ALT-F1, the system change correctly the mode.

[bimbo00]

Well, my console worked when my computer was set exactly as yours :)
my console worked perfectly until installing the nVidia driver for the GeForce. Now with the driver it doesn't after starting X-Windows.
My computer boot in init 3 and the console works( it's not 80x25)
then after logging in and typing startx , X-Windows loads but the console is not accessable anymore. Exiting X-Windows doesn't fix the problem. I can still blindly type startx to get back to X-Windows.

[bwkaz]

Does blindly doing a reset help at all? I've noticed that that will sometimes help after dumping an object file to the terminal, which screws up the character set in some cases, so that the prompt is made up of ASCII graphics characters rather than the normal "[user@host directory]$ " string. Running reset fixes this (well... the majority of the time anyway), so it is remotely possible that it might maybe help with your problem.

I don't know, it's just a guess.

I don't have any other ideas either, unfortunately...

[Mirror176]

sounds like im in the same boat as u guys for the nost part. my unique variation is that i cannot see my console view at all becusse my nec multisync fe771sb monitor reports the frequency as out of range. as mentioned before by others, i can type startx to get back to a viewable screen if i exited it, or switch back to virtual terminal 7 where the xconsole resides if i didnt close it. rebooting also works. i havent tested much more because there isnt much ive wanted to do wothout seeing what im doing. im using slackware 8.1. i thought the previous version of the drivers worked ok so ill probably try going back to them when i get back to linux. in the meantime i have a bit of corruption in my partition table that needs correcting first.

[Mirror176]

oh yea, my console is not a framebuffer, but rather the default fast and low res setting

[bimbo00]

haha
well I have Samsung SyncMaster 171s(LCD) and that's exactly what it does :) And yeah I cannot see my console at all :)

[Zippo]

Well... exactly the same problem. I have a Geforce4 MX440 and a Sony E200 monitor. Once I've started the X (which runs perfectly), I can't use the console (alt-F1, etc) anymore, although I can switch back to X graphic mode. It's impossible to use the virtual consoles because the screen is totaly blank. The monitor itself displays an error "out of scaning range". Should I change some configuration in XConfig or should I ask for support of nvidia people ?? Any suggestions ?
:confused:

[spurnelle]

On NVidia site, the latest RPM for RedHat 8.0 is for kernel 2.4.18-18.0. My kernel version is 2.4.18-19.0. The NVidia drivers must be compiled with special arguments ?

[mczombie]

Im garbling console only if i kill X session with SYSRQ-K in case of X session hanging, after that console become totally messed. I didnt notice any other possibility to reproduce this situation on my desktop linux. Probably setting same (or different) hz setting for console and x can help?

[uuklanger]

Just so you don't feel alone, I am having the same issue with RH 8.0 + the nvidia drives for a GF4 440.

In my situation, I switch from X to text (i.e. CNTRL+ALT+F1 or a shutdown) and I get a "Sync out of range" error on my Samsung SyncMaster 955DF.

If you know of or have come across a solution, please let me know. If I find one myself, I will post it.

Text to X work but switching back to text fails. To get around this for now, the vesa drives that come with XFree86 work fine.

[bimbo00]

work fine?
Have you tried playing a 3D game with that ?
well if you haven't then don't tell me "work fine"

[styxx78]

Just the same here,

First of all I needed to install the drivers from source to get my graphics going, the RPMs pointed to by the NvChooser script refused to work on with my RedHat 8.0 distro.

Now X is running great so I was very happy to see something other than text mode. But now I can't get back to text mode after an X-session, this is very frustrating.

I have a Geforce4 MX440 with a Phillips107E4 monitor.

If anyone finds a solution to this problem please post it here.I was really hoping to wipe XP from my harddisk sometime soon, but until I can get Linux running without these kind of problems this is just not an option!

[bimbo00]

Does anybody know if the GeForce 4 MX 440 would work with the older drivers?
Does anybody have them?

[bwkaz]

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=linux_display_archive

They have them.

[uuklanger]

Originally posted by bimbo00
work fine?
Have you tried playing a 3D game with that ?
well if you haven't then don't tell me "work fine"

I have not done any 3D work. I normally just program and such on this system. I would expect 3D to suck with the VESA drives.

sent an email requesting a bug fix to the email address at the bottom of the README file for installing the drives. No reply yet but I will let you know what they say.

I hope they can fix this issue within the next release or so.

[uuklanger]

Originally posted by styxx78
Just the same here,

First of all I needed to install the drivers from source to get my graphics going, the RPMs pointed to by the NvChooser script refused to work on with my RedHat 8.0 distro.

Now X is running great so I was very happy to see something other than text mode. But now I can't get back to text mode after an X-session, this is very frustrating.

I have a Geforce4 MX440 with a Phillips107E4 monitor.

If anyone finds a solution to this problem please post it here.I was really hoping to wipe XP from my harddisk sometime soon, but until I can get Linux running without these kind of problems this is just not an option!

About the only suggestion I have (unless you are a game player) is to use the VESA drives that come with RH 8.0 until NVidia fixes their drivers.

At the bottom of the README for installing the drives is an email address. I sent them a request to look into this possible bug.

My hope is that it is a configuration option that is missing in the instructions. On my monitor, I get a "Sync out of range" error message and my screen goes to sleep. My hope is that there is a driver option that will tell it to use a lower sync value when switchin out of SVGA mode.

If I get a ticket number I will let everyone know.

[styxx78]

Unfortunately the VESA drivers that came with RH8.0 only seem to work at 800x600 or lower, while I know my monitor is able to do 1280x1024 :(.
So I'd rather live with this problem of not being able to return to text mode for a while than having to work with a low resolution in x.
I'll mail the NVidia people to see if they come up with something. If I find a solution I'll post it here.

[bimbo00]

thanks for doing that :)
it seems that that's about what we can do
or if you wanna play games Windows is still an alternative.
well you have to restart it every 5 min but at least you can play for 5 min :)

I'm expecting the time when my Windows shows me a dialog box that says: "You have moved your mouse. You must restart your computer :)"

[uuklanger]

Originally posted by styxx78
Unfortunately the VESA drivers that came with RH8.0 only seem to work at 800x600 or lower, while I know my monitor is able to do 1280x1024 :(.
So I'd rather live with this problem of not being able to return to text mode for a while than having to work with a low resolution in x.
I'll mail the NVidia people to see if they come up with something. If I find a solution I'll post it here.

You should be able to get a higher resolution then 800x600. My Monitor is running 1280x1024 using these same drivers. I picked a custom monitor from the monitor choices (knowing what my monitor can do) and am running 1280x1024 @ 75Hz using the VESA drivers.

The RH 8.0 X configurator (Display Settings) application thing plays it safe and tryies to prevent you from blowing up your monitor.

Try using a custom monitor setting and see what happens. If it doesn't work, let me know.

[bimbo00]

yeah i have 1280x1024 screen with the VESA driver but yet i can't play the gamess......
and btw it's kind of slower then the accelerated driver not switching to console SUCK