Installation of NVIDIA driver on Suse Linux failed

[th_wm]

Hello,

recently I downloaded the driver NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run on my Suse Linux 9.3 system (AMD - 64 bit processor) and called it by

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run -q

The installation failed with the message

ERROR: The kernel header file
'/lib/modules/2.6.11.4-20a-default/build/include/linux/kernel.h'
does not exist.


How can I solve this problem, that the driver will be installed completely and correctly?


By the way (only for understanding): What means the argument or option -q at the end of the statement
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-169.12-pkg2.run -q


Thanks for all good hints.

Thomas Wiedmann

[NvFuchs]

You have to install the header files for your current kernel.

However, please do _not_ install the driver by hand,
but use the prepackaged drivers available for SuSE.

By the way: you are using a very old version of SuSE Linux.
Please consider upgrading, as for your version there are
probably no recent prepackaged drivers.

As for -q:

" -q, --no-questions
Do not ask any questions; the default (normally 'yes') is
assumed for all yes/no questions, and the default string is
assumed in any situation where the user is prompted for
string input. The one question that is not bypassed by
this option is license acceptance; the license may be
accepted with the commandline option '--accept-license'.
"

Out of the advanced options help of the nvidia installer,
which you can read yourself.

Fuchs

[th_wm]

Is the Linux kernel version 2.6.11.4-20a, installed on my PC, really very old?
I don't like to upgrade the Linux version, because I'm not exprienced with it and the procedure seems to be very risky.

Is there a NVIDIA driver compatible for that Suse linux version?
Where can I get the header files for my current kernel and how are they to be installed?

Thomas Wiedmann

[pe1chl]

In my experience, upgrading a 9.3 system is not too risky. The SuSE updating process is quite reliable.
An update to 10.0 should proceed without trouble and then your kernel will be 2.6.13 which is supported without problem.
However, I think it should probably work on your kernel as well, and you maybe have not installed all the required YaST packages (e.g. kernel-headers or kernel-sources)

[IkBenDeMan]

Yes, download OpenSuSE 10.3 at http://www.opensuse.org/ you'll be happy you did... Tschuessie!