geforcefx flickering issue & linux

[andrew-ma]

I have recently purchased a Dell Inspiron 8600 laptop which comes equipped with a GeForceFX 5650 card.

I have reinstalled the software on the machine in order to dual boot Windows XP and Linux. Windows XP has no issues, and works fine.

Linux however, has presented severe problems with setup. The 4496 drivers, (as I'm sure everyone knows by now) do not work with this card.

I have tried using the 4363 drivers, thanks to a lot of the advice offered in this forum, and although X starts the screen "flickers", "quivers" or whatever you want to call it. It sounds very similar to the problem described by NVIDIA here;

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/show...ring+quivering

Note that there is no problem with the latest drivers when using XP, nor is there any problem when using the vesa driver in Linux. The problem only manifests itself when using the software nv or accelerated nvidia drivers

I am using RedHat 9, and I have tried kernels 2.4.20-9, 2.4.20-20, 2.6.0.test9 (with a patched nvidia kernel driver) and also the glibc update from redhat.

I would appreciate any advice people could offer, regarding possible modelines for 1680x1050 resolution, I am currently using

Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087

or driver options which may help (I have tried several combinations).

Cheers,
Andrew.

[alive]

I have a similar Inspiron 8600 and with the 4363 drivers I have none of the problems you describe. I have written a little howto on how I installed Linux on my machine. You can find it here: http://folk.uio.no/staalep/i8600/index.html
[snip from my XF86Config-4]
Section "Modes"
Identifier "16:10"
Modeline "1280x800" 107.21 1280 1360 1496 1712 800 801 804 835
Modeline "1280x800" 123.38 1280 1368 1504 1728 800 801 804 840
Modeline "1280x800" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848
Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
Modeline "1680x1050" 188.07 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1096
Modeline "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103
Modeline "1680x1050" 256.20 1680 1808 1992 2304 1050 1051 1054 1112
#Modeline "1920x1200" 246.59 1920 2064 2272 2624 1200 1201 1204 1253
#Modeline "1920x1200" 282.74 1920 2072 2280 2640 1200 1201 1204 1260
#Modeline "1920x1200" 337.58 1920 2072 2288 2656 1200 1201 1204 1271
EndSection

[marzer]

I have exactly the same problem. I use the nvidia drvier and the display flickers. please let me know if you find a solution.

[marzer]

I tried version 4349 and...it works...no more flicker :-)

[WodanTJ]

Originally posted by alive
I have a similar Inspiron 8600 and with the 4363 drivers I have none of the problems you describe. I have written a little howto on how I installed Linux on my machine. You can find it here: http://folk.uio.no/staalep/i8600/index.html

I can confirm this as of now I'm using the 1.0-5336 drivers and I get that flickering everyone is talking about, but when I used the 4363-drivers it all worked fine.

To reproduce this problem is fairly easy on the i8600 w fx5650:
1. Install debian woody
2. dist-upgrade to unstable
3. compile the 2.6.2-kernel with the config from this friendly norwegian fellow (the url in the quote) Don't forget to install module-init-tools or else modules wouldn't work.
4. install X...
5. download nvidia 1.0-5336 drivers, install it, and use the XF86Config-4 from the sweet norwegian guy

There you go. A flickering system. Tell Nvidia