linux newbie having lots of trouble installing drivers

[arash]

Hi,

I recently installed redhat, and it used the generic VESA driver. So i download these nVidia drivers for my GeForce 2 Go:

NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-4191.i386.rpm
NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-4191.rh80up_2.4.18_18.8.0.i386.rpm

and i ran the command: rpm -ivh NVIDIA_kernel....

and I got the error:
"
modprobe: Can't locate module nvidia

Failed to install nvidia.o
%post(NVIDIA_kernal_(rest of file)) scriptlet failed, exit status 1.


Now i dont know the difference between rpm, srpm, and tar.

I am willing to run any installation, as long as it works.

Also, I am assuming I will have to unistall what I have done so far, but I dont know how. If anyone can help, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[bwkaz]

Yeah, uninstall what you have. rpm -e NVIDIA_kernel (but if NVIDIA_GLX complains, then rpm -e it too).

Then, download and run the NVchooser file from the driver download page. It should tell you exactly which files you need.

If it says NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-4191.src.rpm, then you have a choice between that and .tar.gz, either one will work the same way. But in that case, you will need to make sure you have a kernel-source package installed, whose version matches the output of uname -r.

[arash]

Hi,

thanks for your help. I ran NVchooser, and it said I could use the src version. Does that mean I can download the Kernel Source RPM? and just follow the instructions from the manual? thanks!

[arash]

Hi,

I tried running the src version. i entered:

rpmbuild --rebuild NVIDIA....

and I got all these errors...so i am assuming I dont have the kernel source package installed. And I was wondering how to do this?

Will I run into the same errors if I run the tar.gz version?

Thanks

[bwkaz]

Yes, you will run into the same errors with the .tar.gz version.

There should be a kernel-source-x.x.xx-xx.x.x RPM somewhere on RedHat's FTP site. The x's should match what uname -r tells you.

Download that, and every time you update your kernel in the future (using up2date, I assume?), update the kernel-source with it, because you'll have to recompile your NVIDIA_kernel package at the same time.

Anyway, once you download that file, just rpm -ivh it. Then cd /usr/src/linux-<whatever version it is>/configs, and look around for a config file that matches your processor. Copy it to ../.config, cd .., and edit the Makefile. Change EXTRAVERSION=-xx.x.xcustom to EXTRAVERSION=-xx.x.x (i.e. get rid of custom). Then run make mrproper oldconfig dep. Then retry the rpmbuild --rebuild on the NVIDIA_kernel .srpm file.