Unresolved symbols from nvidia_drv.o (kernel headers are good)

[FrankPeters]

I purchased a Geforce MX 4000 specifically to use with my home-brew Linux/GNU
system, but so far no joy.

After installing all the libraries, the driver, and the kernel module, XFree86 fails
to start and produces this error message in the log:

(II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libramdac.a
(II) Module ramdac: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.4.0, module version = 0.1.0
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.7
Symbol noPanoramiXExtension from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o is unresolved!
Symbol noPanoramiXExtension from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o is unresolved!
Symbol noPanoramiXExtension from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o is unresolved!
Symbol panoramiXdataPtr from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.o is unresolved!

*** If unresolved symbols were reported above, they might not
*** be the reason for the server aborting.

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting


There is no problem with my kernel headers. They match the running kernel
exactly (I compile the kernel myself). But in this case the unresolved symbols
do not refer to the compiled nvidia.ko module; they refer to the nvidia_drv.o
X driver that is supplied by Nvidia.

Any hints would be appreciated.

The relevant info:

Linux kernel 2.6.8.1
XFree86-4.4.0
Nvidia-1.0-6111-pkg1

Frank Peters

[FrankPeters]

The solution to this problem I have discovered through a
Google search.

The unresolved symbols are due to the fact that my XFree86
was compiled without support for Xinerama. After compiling
again with Xinerama support enabled, the nvidia driver loads
and functions nicely.

But this leads me to suspect that any customization of
XFree86 beyond the standard that is offered by most
Linux distributions may cause problems.

Anyway, I have what I wanted.

Frank Peters

[mctylr]

You were unable to use 'LoadModule Xinerama' in your config?

Or are you saying that your distribution did not include Xinerama as a module?

[LordMorgul]

"home-brew Linux/GNU" probably means it wasn't a distribution that he's using, so nothing would have been included, he needed to configure it himself when compiling. That could refer to 'linux from scratch' or starting from any distribution's available sources.. gentoo/slackware perhaps.

[FrankPeters]

>You were unable to use 'LoadModule Xinerama' in your config?
>
>Or are you saying that your distribution did not include Xinerama as a
>module?

I have a copletely home-brew system, which means I compile
all the programs and write all the init scripts myself. This is
not really difficult, but it does require a lot of free time.

At first, I compiled XFree86 without support for Xinerama because
I simply don't use it and don't need it. Endless customization and tweaking is part of the "fun" of maintaining your own Linux system.

Without the Xinerama libraries, the NVidia drivers apparently
are missing some necessary symbols. After compiling XFree86
again with Xinerama support turned on, the NVidia drivers now
work very nicely.

I don't like to rely on Linux distributions. The automatic installation
does not really allow you to understand the operation of the system.
Only the home-brew method allows the user to assume complete
control. I don't even like the fact that NVidia has an automatic
installation process, but after examing their scripts I was able to
figure out just what was happening and I performed the
installation manually, as is my preference.

Frank Peters