disabling agpgart?

[m_dma]

How do i go about getting the nvidia driver to use NVagp instead of agpgart.

Ive read the readme file and says that i cant use NVagp if agpgart is loaded in the kernel, but doesnt say how to wether check it is or not.

So, how do i go about checking if agpgart is loaded in the kernel? and if it is, how do i go about removing it?

I'm using mandrake 9.2rc1 by the way.
with a Gigabyte 7VT600 (VIA KT600) Mobo & Geforce FX 5200.

The readme file doesnt include the KT600 in the list of chipsets supportd by NVagp but i've been having problems with AGP that are consistent accross both windows and linux (screen goes black for about a second then comes back all &@#$ed up). I can get rid of the problem in windows by installing VIA's 4in1 mobo drivers, so im inclined to think that switching the AGP driver in linux might help. Or is NVagp incompatible with KT600 chipsets?

[XoD]

Everything is in the README file in the NVIDIA driver package.
Don't know if the KT600 is supported... should be like the other KT chipsets though.

[m_dma]

I read the README file!
And on the subject of AGP all it tells me are the XF86Config options and that NVagp cannot be used if AGPGART is loaded into the kernel, it doesnt elaborate as to how i go about checking to see if it is, and how i go about removing it.

[XoD]

You must have a modular linux system: before loading the nvidia kernel module you must remove the agpgart module.
Try this in single user mode before starting x:
#rmmod -r nvidia
#rmmod -r agpgart
#modprobre nvidia
#startx

[Gyokuran]

...or you could just delete the agpgart module - then you wouldn't need to unload it each time.

Or you could recompile the kernel and deactivate agpgart support.

[XoD]

It is really brutal... better rename it and pray than the distro does not stop initializing when loading the agpgart module.

[zander]

Depending on the chipset used, unloading agpgart.o after it has already been loaded may be insufficient. If AGPGART is loaded unconditionally by the distribution, you can either determine the startup script responsible (and modify it) or delete the agpgart.o module; the latter approach may seem drastic, but shouldn't have negative side effects.

[orgeeizm]

ok so main question hasnt been answered...HOW do you tell if AGPART is loaded or not? And how do you tell is NVagp was successfully loaded?


Anyway, you say it worked when you installed your VIAs 4in1 drivers?
I had windows too and i didnt need to do that with my Gigabye7vrxp but i did anyway just for the sake of updating. I DID find out that the Nvidia Installer installs nvidia drivers on your Linux but there are alot of options that werent set that forced me to recompile it and then install it.

What i did was first, i added the -03 and -march=i686 on my nvidia_kernel makefile...but the main thing is that inside os-registry.c you will see an option there is on default, disabled to use VIA's agp 4x but i enabled it since I have a 4x, but you have an 8x so i dont know..I also set it to use max bandwith of agp 4x and not surpass that, it was set to surpass that. Then are also alot of other options such as UpdatekernelAGP which says overrides basic agp setup after AGpart has been loaded.. I didnt enable that cuz i didnt know what it would do..but Anyway, i recompiled and it all works no problems.

There are also alot of options disabled on default such as FastWrites and Sideband addressing so I think maybe last resort for you is to try and modify those options and recompile.

[mr. comment]

[quote]Originally posted by orgeeizm
[b]ok so main question hasnt been answered...HOW do you tell if AGPART is loaded or not? And how do you tell is NVagp was successfully loaded?

lsmod | grep agpart
lsmod | grep NVagp

does NVagp log to /var/log/messages? You could keep an eye on that.

[XoD]

The answer would be:
lsmod | grep agpgart
lsmod | grep nvidia

If you want to use the agp support from the nvidia kernel module, do not load the agpgart module. To check that AGP is properly detected or used, check your log files and /proc/drivers/nvidia content.