Problems redhat 8.0 setup

[raincoatpin]

I just installed Redhat 8.0 on my laptop, and want to load the nvidia drivers and get openGL loaded for some graphics programming.

I have had problems with this setup from the start. I did an rpm -i NV*.rpm gives me an error:

Failed to install nvidia.o

error: %post(NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-4191.rh80up_2.4.18_18.8.0) scriptlet failed, exit status 1

if i try rpm -i again it tells me already installed, if i do a --force it tells me the same error. If i try a remove it tells me it doesn't exist. (thats right its already installed and doesn't exist)

if I use nv_check.sh then it tells me to renames somethings and then gets to this point:

Checking /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o...
Your nvidia_drv.o file is missing! Please get this file from the
NVIDIA_GLX package, and install it as indicated in the FAQ, then
run this script again.

I know that something is wrong with the rpm setup, (how do I fix that) and will fixing the rpm problem fix the nvidia_drv.o problem and other problems I have been experiencing.

Any help is greatly appreciated, you can also use AIM to contact me raincoatbobbypin. Thanks


System configuration:
Dell inspiron 8200 laptop
dual boot xp / redhat 8.0
NVidia GeForce 4 440 m
pentium 4:mad:

[vnpenguin]

Try to rebuild firstly your kernel and nvidia driver. May be you need recompile the driver too.
HTH

[bwkaz]

Did you run the NVchooser shell script that nVidia makes available, that tells you which drivers to install? Run it by doing a sh NVchooser.sh, assuming you name it NVchooser.sh when you save it in your browser.

[raincoatpin]

Yes, I did use the NV_chooser, and I am sure that I am using the right *rpm s I have no reason to believe that I am not.

Is it really important that I recompile the kernel will that fix my problem, if that will fix it I will, but I don't really know how. Can you give me some pointers?

[bwkaz]

Well no guarantees on fixing the problem, but if you do rebuild NVIDIA_kernel, just make sure you have kernel-source (that is, source for the Linux kernel) installed. After installing it, edit the top-level Makefile (the one in /usr/src/linux-<version>) and check the EXTRAVERSION = line. If there's a "custom" in that line, get rid of it, save and quit the editor. If there isn't a "custom" in it, quit the editor anyway.

Then, copy the config file that matches your CPU from the configs/ subdirectory, with something like cd configs ; ls, then cp desiredfilename ../.config ; cd ...

Then run make mrproper oldconfig dep to set up the Linux kernel source tree.

Once that's done, the NVIDIA_kernel source package should be simple to install. Just run a make in its directory (... assuming you're using the .tar.gz version, of course).

But the problem above, with not having an nvidia_drv.o file, won't be solved by recompiling the NVIDIA_kernel. For that, you'll have to reinstall the NVIDIA_GLX package. Doing it from .tar.gz will just copy the right files into the right places, so you don't have to worry about removing the old version first (if you install from RPM or .src.rpm, you will have to remove your current NVIDIA_GLX).

[raincoatpin]

How do I know that after I recompile I won't get the script error again? The last thing I want to do is recompile and generate the same problem.

[bwkaz]

The error in nv_check.sh? nv_check is OLD, it was probably written for driver 1541. I think I've got a version somewhere that works with 4191 (and devfs if you're using that)...

Ah, here it is. It's zipped so it'll upload here, there's only one file in it.

But like I said before, an installation of NVIDIA_GLX should fix the (well... that) error in the check script. Redoing your kernel won't.

[raincoatpin]

Ok, I want to thank everyone who has helped me so far, now I have got the nvidia driver loaded and working :). But i have a problem, the graphics are now worse, :(.

When I enter Display settings it is obvious that the computer is not displaying at 1600x1200. It is set for 1600x1200 but when you look at the picture of the monitor it is showing that I am actually not get that resolution :(. This is unforunate because 1600x1200 is my laptops native resolution and now things look terrible. I have adjusted the dpi to the proper numbers and the montor is set on the Dell 1600x laptop display I don't know how to fix this problem. Any pointers?

[bwkaz]

In your "Screen" section in XF86Config, there are a set of Display subsections, corresponding to the different color depths available. There's also a DefaultColorDepth (sometimes just DefaultDepth) line, that tells the X server which depth to use.

Find the subsection whose Depth matches the DefaultDepth above, and change its Modes line.

Add (to the beginning of the line) a "1600x1200" mode. Modes are space-separated.

Now if you don't get 1600x1200 on the next startup of X (restart it after you've made this change -- oh, and keep a backup of the original XF86Config until you know the new one works ;)), then check the log file. It may be that you'll need to write a modeline for that high of a resolution; search around for "modeline generator" or something to see if you can find a program to help with that. Or, check here:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/other-formats/html_single/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO.html#TOOLS

Specifically, the Python online one (at zaph.com) has worked for me. But I'm not convinced you'll need to use it, try it and see.

[raincoatpin]

Thanks for everyones help so far, It is installed I have my laptop running at 1600x1200 and the nvidia is loaded, so that is good.

When i went to compile some code that uses openGL I have errors, I think i need to do a clean install of openGL, I did install Mesa but it didn't fix my problem. How do I get the openGL libs onto my computer? Shouldn't mesa take care of that. Help please!

Thanks