Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers!

Wolfgang Klein · 10-25-10, 08:26 AM

Hello,

there are two vga cards in my machine: a "FX 5500" (AGP) and a "GeForce 8400 GS" (PCIe). Both cards are needed because it is a "MultiSeat" machine. (Meaning: two persons can use the machine at the same time.)

Until recently I used the driver 173.14.28 for both of those cards. This works in most of the cases but now I am trying to run a game that crashes and gives me errors concerning GLX when I use the driver 173 for the 8400GS. Only when I use the recent driver 260.19.12 the game starts. So, when I want to play this game, I have to start the machine on text mode, compile the 260 driver and start one X-Session to play. While I am playing, no one else can use the machine, because only the 8400GS card is active. After I finished playing, I have to switch to text mode again and re-compile the 173 driver again to make the other seat functional again.

Is there any way I can make both drivers working at the same time? For example by putting the binaries in different directories and telling xorg where to find the right driver for the right card?

The funny thing is: on http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-d...12-driver.html I am told that the driver 260 still supports the FX 5500. So why does it tell me otherwise when I compile it?

**AaronP** · 10-25-10, 02:21 PM

Multiseat is not supported, and neither is having two different versions of the driver installed simultaneously.

artem · 10-25-10, 03:17 PM

Try running 8400 GS with a binary NVIDIA driver and the other one using nv/nouveau/vesa.

That should work.

Wolfgang Klein · 10-25-10, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AaronP

Multiseat is not supported, and neither is having two different versions of the driver installed simultaneously.

I just read the help page: what about the command line options "--x-module-path", "--x-library-path", "--opengl-prefix" and "--opengl-libdir"? Can these be used to install the second driver in a different place and can xorg be told to use the unusual place to load its files? At least these option pretty much sound like they were made for this purpose.

Excuse me asking the same question twice, but why is the "FX 5500" still listed among the supported devices for the driver 260.19.12 when it say otherwise as soon as you start compiling?

Could this driver be patched in a way that it will support the FX5500 after all?

Wolfgang Klein · 10-25-10, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

Try running 8400 GS with a binary NVIDIA driver and the other one using nv/nouveau/vesa.

That should work.

I tried all three drivers, but none can come up with the correct resolution of the attached monitor (1680x1050).

conky · 10-25-10, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Klein

Excuse me asking the same question twice, but why is the "FX 5500" still listed among the supported devices for the driver 260.19.12 when it say otherwise as soon as you start compiling?

That's a Quadro FX 5500 that's listed on that page as supported, not a GeForce FX 5500.

Wolfgang Klein · 10-25-10, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conky

That's a Quadro FX 5500 that's listed on that page as supported, not a GeForce FX 5500.

Silly me! I really should clean my glasses.

Thanks for showing me my mistake!

JaXXoN · 10-25-10, 10:45 PM

Hi!

The challenging solution would be to use Xen: the host (dom0) passes
the PCI or PCIe card to the guest (domU) where you can run a separate
OS instance with a different GPU kernel driver module:
http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/CoolConfigurations

However, I haven't tried out this setup for ages, so I can't promise this
still works, nowerday

The simple solution for your problem would be to purchase another 8400GS :-)

regards

Bernhard

artem · 10-26-10, 02:46 AM

Wolfgang Klein, driver installation options you've listed are all meaningless.

Two different cards of yours require two different NVIDIA kernel modules. There cannot be two different kernel NVIDIA modules running at the same time. So, the solution I gave you is the only possible or you can buy another identical GPU.

Wolfgang Klein · 10-26-10, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaXXoN

Hi!

The challenging solution would be to use Xen: the host (dom0) passes
the PCI or PCIe card to the guest (domU) where you can run a separate
OS instance with a different GPU kernel driver module:

On the one hand you're right: that would be the most sophisticated way. But on the other hand I think it would also be a little bit of overkill. Letting two people use one PC at the same time doesn't really require running two instances of Linux. Remember: Linux/Unix is a Multi-User-System from the day of its birth!

Quote:

The simple solution for your problem would be to purchase another 8400GS

Yes, I thought about that myself. The only problem is that the 8000 series is not available as AGP, is it?

Wolfgang Klein · 10-26-10, 04:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

Wolfgang Klein, driver installation options you've listed are all meaningless.

So what are they for after all?

Quote:

So, the solution I gave you is the only possible or you can buy another identical GPU.

I am trying to get one of this this drivers to work, but there are still some problems I have not been able to solve yet:

nv can't find a valid mode line because it doesn't recognize the memory on the FX 5500 correctly: only 2048kB are recognized, even if I use Option "VideoRAM" "262144"
vesa somehow interferes with the nvidia driver for the second card and produces are glitches and disturbances
nouveau somehow doesn't recognize the card at all, but I haven't tried all options yet.

Regarding nouveau: http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/TroubleShooting states the nouveau and the nvidia driver don't work together. Maybe that's the reason why I can't get is to work?

Quote:

So, the solution I gave you is the only possible or you can buy another identical GPU.

I really thought about this, but as I told JaXXoN, this is not going to be easy: the 8000 series is not available for AGP and the FX5000 is not available for PCI-Express. So I would have to by 2 new cards, a model that comes in both flavours. This model would also have to be equipped with passive cooling only (no fan), because the machine has to stay silent. Do you know of such a model?

JaXXoN · 10-27-10, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfgang Klein

The only problem is that the 8000 series is not available as AGP, is it?

Please provide more information on your system/mainboard: from what I read,
there seem to be one AGP slot (GeForce FX5500) and one PCIe slot (8400GS).
Are there any other free slots available? (please tell number and types)

In case you have a spare PCI slot, then you may consider purchasing the PCI
version of the 8400GS - although the bandwidth is smaller than as for AGP,
I would still assume that the 8400GS would perform better for most common
tasks than the GeForce FX5500.

regards

Bernhard

10-25-10, 08:26 AM	#1
Wolfgang Klein Registered User Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 39	Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers! Hello, there are two vga cards in my machine: a "FX 5500" (AGP) and a "GeForce 8400 GS" (PCIe). Both cards are needed because it is a "MultiSeat" machine. (Meaning: two persons can use the machine at the same time.) Until recently I used the driver 173.14.28 for both of those cards. This works in most of the cases but now I am trying to run a game that crashes and gives me errors concerning GLX when I use the driver 173 for the 8400GS. Only when I use the recent driver 260.19.12 the game starts. So, when I want to play this game, I have to start the machine on text mode, compile the 260 driver and start one X-Session to play. While I am playing, no one else can use the machine, because only the 8400GS card is active. After I finished playing, I have to switch to text mode again and re-compile the 173 driver again to make the other seat functional again. Is there any way I can make both drivers working at the same time? For example by putting the binaries in different directories and telling xorg where to find the right driver for the right card? The funny thing is: on http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux-d...12-driver.html I am told that the driver 260 still supports the FX 5500. So why does it tell me otherwise when I compile it?

10-25-10, 02:21 PM	#2
AaronP NVIDIA Corporation Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 2,487	Re: Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers! Multiseat is not supported, and neither is having two different versions of the driver installed simultaneously.

10-25-10, 03:17 PM	#3
artem Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 678	Re: Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers! Try running 8400 GS with a binary NVIDIA driver and the other one using nv/nouveau/vesa. That should work.

10-25-10, 10:45 PM	#8
JaXXoN Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Munich Posts: 910	Re: Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers! Hi! The challenging solution would be to use Xen: the host (dom0) passes the PCI or PCIe card to the guest (domU) where you can run a separate OS instance with a different GPU kernel driver module: http://wiki.xensource.com/xenwiki/CoolConfigurations However, I haven't tried out this setup for ages, so I can't promise this still works, nowerday The simple solution for your problem would be to purchase another 8400GS :-) regards Bernhard

10-26-10, 02:46 AM	#9
artem Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 678	Re: Two different cards in one machine -> need two different drivers! Wolfgang Klein, driver installation options you've listed are all meaningless. Two different cards of yours require two different NVIDIA kernel modules. There cannot be two different kernel NVIDIA modules running at the same time. So, the solution I gave you is the only possible or you can buy another identical GPU.