nVidia driver won't install: can't load nvidia.o

[Lord Zoltar]

I'm having trouble getting the nvidia drivers to install. The installer program trys to compile the modules after not finding them on the ftp site, but then fails to load them, complaining about not being able to find the kernel source. But I *have* isntalled the kernel source packages, and they are (as far as I can tell) in the correct location. I'm running slackware9.1 with kernel 2.4.26

Here's the log the installer generated, maybe it will help:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Sun Aug 29 12:23:25 2004

option status:
license pre-accepted : false
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
no precompiled interface: false
no ncurses color : false
query latest driver ver : false
OpenGL header files : false
no questions : false
silent : false
X install prefix : /usr/X11R6
OpenGL install prefix : /usr
Installer install prefix: /usr
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : (not specified)
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp site : ftp://download.nvidia.com

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you li
ke the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel f
rom the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site;
this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for
your kernel.
-> Kernel source path: '/lib/modules/2.4.26/build'
-> Performing cc_version_check with CC="cc".
-> Performing rivafb check.
-> Performing rivafb module check.
WARNING: Your kernel was configured to include rivafb support as
a loadable kernel module.

The rivafb driver conflicts with the NVIDIA driver; the
NVIDIA kernel module will still be built and installed,
but be aware that the NVIDIA driver will not be able to
function properly if the rivafb module is loaded!
-> Cleaning kernel module build directory.
executing: 'cd ./usr/src/nv; make clean'...
rm -f nv.o os-agp.o os-interface.o os-registry.o nv-linux.o nv_compiler.h *
.d NVdriver nvidia.o
-> Building kernel module:
executing: 'cd ./usr/src/nv; make module SYSSRC=/lib/modules/2.4.26/build SY
SOUT=/lib/modules/2.4.26/build'...
Your kernel was configured to include rivafb support as
a loadable kernel module.

The rivafb driver conflicts with the NVIDIA driver; the
NVIDIA kernel module will still be built and installed,
but be aware that the NVIDIA driver will not be able to
function properly if the rivafb module is loaded!

*** Failed rivafb module sanity check, but continuing! ***

echo \#define NV_COMPILER \"`cc -v 2>&1 | tail -n 1`\" > nv_compiler.h
cc -c -Wall -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wp
arentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wno-multichar -Werror -O -fno-common -UDEBUG -
U_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -MD -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -DNTRM -D_G
NU_SOURCE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -DNV_MAJOR_VERSION=1
-DNV_MINOR_VERSION=0 -DNV_PATCHLEVEL=6111 -DNV_UNIX -DNV_LINUX -DNV_INT
64_OK -DNVCPU_X86 -DREMAP_PAGE_RANGE_4 -DNV_CHANGE_PAGE_ATTR_PRESENT
-I. -I/lib/modules/2.4.26/build/include -Wno-cast-qual -Wno-error nv.c
cc -c -Wall -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wp
arentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wno-multichar -Werror -O -fno-common -UDEBUG -
U_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -MD -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -DNTRM -D_G
NU_SOURCE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -DNV_MAJOR_VERSION=1
-DNV_MINOR_VERSION=0 -DNV_PATCHLEVEL=6111 -DNV_UNIX -DNV_LINUX -DNV_INT
64_OK -DNVCPU_X86 -DREMAP_PAGE_RANGE_4 -DNV_CHANGE_PAGE_ATTR_PRESENT
-I. -I/lib/modules/2.4.26/build/include -Wno-cast-qual -Wno-error os-agp.c
cc -c -Wall -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wp
arentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wno-multichar -Werror -O -fno-common -UDEBUG -
U_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -MD -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -DNTRM -D_G
NU_SOURCE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -DNV_MAJOR_VERSION=1
-DNV_MINOR_VERSION=0 -DNV_PATCHLEVEL=6111 -DNV_UNIX -DNV_LINUX -DNV_INT
64_OK -DNVCPU_X86 -DREMAP_PAGE_RANGE_4 -DNV_CHANGE_PAGE_ATTR_PRESENT
-I. -I/lib/modules/2.4.26/build/include -Wno-cast-qual -Wno-error os-interfa
ce.c
cc -c -Wall -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wformat -Wchar-subscripts -Wp
arentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wno-multichar -Werror -O -fno-common -UDEBUG -
U_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -MD -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -DNTRM -D_G
NU_SOURCE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -DNV_MAJOR_VERSION=1
-DNV_MINOR_VERSION=0 -DNV_PATCHLEVEL=6111 -DNV_UNIX -DNV_LINUX -DNV_INT
64_OK -DNVCPU_X86 -DREMAP_PAGE_RANGE_4 -DNV_CHANGE_PAGE_ATTR_PRESENT
-I. -I/lib/modules/2.4.26/build/include -Wno-cast-qual -Wno-error os-registr
y.c
ld -r -o nv-linux.o nv.o os-agp.o os-interface.o os-registry.o
ld -r -o nvidia.o nv-linux.o nv-kernel.o
-> done.
-> Kernel module compilation complete.
ERROR: Unable to load the kernel module 'nvidia.o'. This is most likely
because the kernel module was built using the wrong kernel source files.
Please make sure you have installed the kernel source files for your
kernel; on Red Hat Linux systems, for example, be sure you have the
'kernel-source' rpm installed. If you know the correct kernel source
files are installed, you may specify the kernel source path with the
'--kernel-source-path' commandline option.
-> Kernel module load error: Warning: loading ./usr/src/nv/nvidia.o will taint
the kernel: non-GPL license - NVIDIA
See http://www.tux.org/lkml/#export-tainted for information about tainted
modules
./usr/src/nv/nvidia.o: init_module: No such device
./usr/src/nv/nvidia.o: Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module
parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

[Lord Zoltar]

Well, I recently installed slackware 10.0 (it's a "virgin" install, haven't messed with anything, and YES I installed the source) and thought I'd give the nvidia drivers another chance. I GET THE SAME ERRORS! the module compiles but won't load. I found something in the README this time which looked useful:

"Q: I cannot build the NVIDIA kernel module, or I can build the NVIDIA
kernel module, but modprobe/insmod fails to load the module into
my kernel. What is wrong?

A: These problems are generally caused by the build using the wrong kernel
header files (ie header files for a different kernel version than
the one you are running). The convention used to be that kernel
header files should be stored in "/usr/include/linux/", but that
is deprecated in favor of "/lib/modules/`uname -r`/build/include".
The nvidia-installer should be able to determine the location on your
system; however, if you encounter a problem you can force the build
to use certain header files by using the --kernel-include-dir option.
Obviously, for this to work, you need the appropriate kernel header
files installed on your system. Consult the documentation that came
with your distribution; some distributions do not install the kernel
header files by default, or they install headers that do not coincide
properly with the kernel you are running."

So I tried it. It turns out that with the 6111 installer, the --kernel-include-dir option does not exist, and the --kernel-include-path (which was my next best guess as the next closest option) has been deprecated to --kernel-source-path ("for kernel 2.6 compatibility", whatever...). When I tried using this option, I couldn't even get the installer to compile the module, unless I used the proper path to the kernel source (which the installer was using all along), and then when I did, I got the exact same problems as before.

So it seems to me that the documents are a bit out of date, hmmm?
well, I'm this close to taking my nvidia back to the store, and pluggin the ol' Radeon back in. It never worked well, but at least it worked.

[edit]
failing a fix to this problem (although it needs fixing) I'd be willing to try to install a slightly older version of the driver. Does anyone know where I can get an older GeForce Driver? What would I be missing by not using the latest version?

[zander]

./usr/src/nv/nvidia.o: init_module: No such device
./usr/src/nv/nvidia.o: Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module
parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg


Judging from this error message, the module builds/loads correctly, but fails it's initialization function; please check the output of dmesg for additional information (immediately after the failed attempt to install the driver).