nvidia drivers don't work with newer XFree and/or linux kernel

[gdb]

Hello everybody,

I had SuSE 8.1, standard install and kernel,
successfully got latest RPM from NVIDIA.
Everything works perfectly (TUX, GL-117, BZFLAG....).

I have Siemens Scaleo 600, P4, GForce4 MX 440.

Recently I got new Mandrake 9.1
but still did not succeed with X locking up
as soon as I type startx. I tried several XFConfigs,
one old from SuSE, new driver installer, old rpm based drivers...
nothing helps. For me it seems to be a problem of
new kernel shipped with MDK 9.1 or new XFree 4.3.
I will try older kernel with older modules on MDK.

If it worked perfectly with SuSE 8.1 should not it work
with MDK 9.1???

[alien999999999]

suse needs different configuration than the other distros, I know that mdk9.1 works perfectly with the driver. (the single cpu standard kernel)

is it the same hardware (video card, mobo)?

give us the log file with the right config file.
with a standard config file from mdk with just nv changed to nvidia, it should work perfectly.

what is exactly the problem you have? blocking completely? just exiting? weird lines, characters?

[brewer13210]

Originally posted by alien999999999
I know that mdk9.1 works perfectly with the driver. (the single cpu standard kernel)

I wouldn't go as far as saying that! There are a LOT of people having problems with Mandrake 9.1 and the latest NVIDIA driver. Hopefully it will turn out to be a simple fix as soon as someone figures out what is going wrong. I've tried installing the drivers every which way to Sunday, but after each re-boot I get a black screen and the system locks up.

My system worked fine with Mandrake 9.0 and the NVIDIA drivers that came with it, but with 9.1 I've had to drop back to the XFree 'nv' driver. :-(

[alien999999999]

well, that's the first time I've heard about people that had a working mdk9.0 and a failing mdk9.1. what is your problem? make a new thread and maybe we can help you. or do you already have a thread?

[brewer13210]

Already have a thread, but was unable to solve the problem:

Existing thread

I've also tried the several of the mandrake news groups and the Mandrake Club forum.

[alien999999999]

well, tsubasa is a bit fast when it comes to KT400 mobos
no, your problem is not the same problem that we have, but is in fact the problem that gdb has...

but you mentioned that it had worked before rebooting...
that indicated that the module doesn't load at boot time.

most of the time that comes from shutting down X the wrong way.

in mdk9.1 you should use /etc/init.d/dm stop as root in CTRL-ALT-F1 and restarting it after installation and modification the same way.
/etc/init.d/dm start

do not install in failsafe mode or any other.

there are lots of people with mdk9.1 that can make this work correctly.

If you can get it to work with mdk9.0 you sure as hell can get it to work with mdk9.1.

also try running ldconfig as root,

there have also been known problems with the GLX (conflicting versions, mesa or XFree86 ) so you should check /var/log/messages as well.

[brewer13210]

Alright, step by step:

1) re-config system to normally boot to comand line
2) re-boot
3) log in as root
4) issue '/etc/init.d/dm stop' just to make sure
5) run NVIDIA install script for 1.0-4363 drivers
6) edit XF86Config-4 file (it was fine)
7) issue 'etc/init.d/dm start'
8) X starts w/ NVIDIA splash screen, login screen appears
9) <CTRL><ALT><F1> to stop X
10) issue 'etc/init.d.dm stop'
11) re-boot 'shutdown -r now'
12) system reboots
13) log in as root
14) issue 'etc/init.d.dm start
15) screen flickers a couple of times and system locks solid.

I'm stumped.

Log file is attached.

[gdb]

ok, dear ladies and gentlemen.

Yesterday I proved the dependency of locked up
X and linux kernel used.

For MDK 9.1 i did the following.

1) uninstalled all nvidia stuff
2) installed linux kernel rpm from MDK 8.2 - it was 2.4.18-6mdk
3) rebooted with the older kernel.
4) installed nvidia stuff
5) startx - WOW, works perfectly, xfconfig-4 was not touched.
The SuSE 8.1 distro i mentioned above has vmlinuz-2.4.19...
and also works _perfectly_.

So for me the problem seems to be incompatibility
between nvidia and new linux kernel (2.4.21) from mandrake at least.

[alien999999999]

I know you've been thinking that, but it's probably the way you've installed the 9.1...

I can guarantee you that I've never heard of a single one that it worked with previous mandys and not with the mdk9.1. you can get it to work, the question is only how.

note: ok there's you and brewer, but I'm even quite sure that he can get it to work as well...

[bwkaz]

gdb -- can you attach an X log file from a failed run? It's /var/log/XFree86.0.log, and it gets overwritten every time you start X, so copy it somewhere else after a failed run.

[Kylotan]

Originally posted by alien999999999
I can guarantee you that I've never heard of a single one that it worked with previous mandys and not with the mdk9.1. you can get it to work, the question is only how.

I have the same problem, but with a Geforce 2 MX. Mandrake 9.0 auto-detected it perfectly. Mandrake 9.1 seemed to guess what it was but couldn't configure it, and clicking the 'test' button after configuring it manually causes the monitor to flicker and turn off. Needless to say I can't get into X at all, which I assume is because it never gets configured.

[Laerte]

Same here, MDK 9.0 worked great with the 3xxx.src.rpm drivers, but either them or the new 4xxx new installer works for me on 9.1. All I have now is a bare Mesa config with ~90 fps. I´ll compile the 2.4.20 stable kernel to replace the 2.4.21-buggy-mdk-crap-that-also-killed-alsa-ens1371-support.