NVIDIA: could not open device file /dev/nvidia0 on FC11, driver version 185.18

[redbeard15]

My system:

GeForce 9500 GT
Fedora Core 11
nVidia driver: 185.18.x

I was originally running FC10 and upgraded to FC11. I installed the latest nVidia driver (185.18.36) and had troubles getting it to work. I was running 180.29 and reinstalled that and ran into problems and re-installed 185.18 and actually got it to work.

However, the FC11 upgrade (from FC10) was a big fail. As I was testing out the new OS, I found many OS items not working. Unfortunately, I had to re-install FC11 from scratch.

Now I'm stuck. I've tried nVidia drivers versions 185.18.36, 185.18.14, 180.29, 180.60, all with no luck.

The basic FC install turns SELinux on by default. I caught that and set it to 'permissive' before I re-installed the drivers. Not sure if having SELinux on during my initial driver installs was a problem...

With 185.18.x I see 'NVIDIA: could not open device file /dev/nvidia0' logged when I 'startx'. The end of the /var/log/messages has the following when I 'startx'.

vmap allocation for size 16781312 failed: use vmalloc=<size> to increase size.
NVRM: RmInitAdapter failed! (0x26:0xffffffff:1092)
NVRM: rm_init_adapter(0) failed

I'm currently in the process of re-installing FC11.....

Ideas?

[redbeard15]

Oops, forgot the usual attachments. Here they are.

[conky]

Did you increase vmalloc? The driver readme explains how to do this: http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFre...hapter-09.html

[redbeard15]

Originally Posted by conky

Did you increase vmalloc? The driver readme explains how to do this: http://http.download.nvidia.com/XFre...hapter-09.html

By George, that's it!

Thanks. I had not read that chapter of the doc. I added 'vmalloc=192M' to the kernel command and voila! instant driver load!

Thanks again. problem solved.