Just another Mandrake 9.0/Nvidia driver thread...

[DarkM12]

I know there are already a few of these threads floating about but I just didn't want my post to be overlooked. I've been working on getting Mandrake 9.0 to run Nvidia drivers correctly for the last 2 weeks practically.

So to start off....I'm using a GeForce 2 MX400. I dunno if that will matter or not. Yesterday I reinstalled my OS from scratch and began the installation process of the Nvidia drivers immediately. I went with the src.rpm method, rebuilt them, and installed them. (This didn't produce any errors which I was aware of, and I selected the kernel-source rpm to install during the initial OS installation.) I set up my XF86Config-4 file exactly right. I made sure symlinks were pointing to the correct files. I did a 'modprobe NVdriver'. After all that I tried to start X but it threw me back to the console with error messages.

Today I tried some more things that were recommended on this site. I ran md5sum on my rpm's and they checked out OK. I ran nv_check.sh, which told me to do a few things. Basically I had to create a few more character device files (nvidia1,2,3) that were missing. I used the majors and minors which were specifically said in the nv_check script for each file. Then I did a 'chmod 666 /dev/nvidia*' to set the correct file permissions for the new ones I created. This might or might not of mattered. After all this I once again tried to start X and was given the same exact screen with error messages.

The last thing I have done is tried running NVchooser.sh for the hell of it to see what it would say. Oddly enough it tells me to download NVIDIA_kernel-1.0-2960.src.rpm and NVIDIA_GLX-1.0-2960.i386.rpm. Notice the 2960, which is not what I was using. I have been using the latest drivers (3123). I believe the reason for this is simply because this script is old. I opened the script in a text editor and 3123 is mentioned nowhere. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, I will include my XFree86.0.log file as well as my XF86Config-4 file for anyone to view and comment upon. I don't know where to go from here so if anyone can shed some light on things it would be much appreciated.

xfree86.0.log
XF86Config-4

Edit: As far as the NVchooser.sh telling me to use 2960's.....it was an old file and I went to the Nvidia site and got the latest one which told me the same files, only the 3123's which I already have. Any reason it says to use the source RPM for the kernel but the regular GLX file?

[DarkM12]

The only thing I can come up with now is that I'm missing two module files. The ones my XFree86.0.log call "bitmap" and "pcidata". Looking around I've only found one case where a guy said that 'pcidata' is a file that should be in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules called 'libpcidata.a'. I can't find this file anywhere, and I won't just d/l any copy. The Mandrake 9.0 FTP sites don't have seem to have it. What my log calls 'bitmap' could be a file called 'libbitmap.a' but that's my uneducated assumption.

I could be totally wrong but I don't have much to go off of. The information I gathered so far was from a 2001 post referring to a guy with my same problem in Redhat 7.1.

[bwkaz]

That seems to me to be the problem as well. Did X work properly before you installed the nVidia drivers (on a fresh install of Mandrake, with e.g. the "nv" or "vesa" driver)?

[Klaus-P]

Hmmm,

"(EE) Failed to load module "bitmap" (module does not exist, 0)"

This module is the file "libbitmap.a".

Default location is "/usr/X11/lib/modules/font/libbitmap.a"

And you wrote regarding pcidata.

" should be in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules called
'libpcidata.a'. "

Inddeed also this file belongs to X and this path looks correct.

Something is WRONG with your XFree86 installation. Check the XFree86
package dependencies with your preferred install tool.

[DarkM12]

I don't know how to just check dependencies. I usually use the RPM command. Checking HOWTO's and the man page for RPM didn't help either. I've only really been using Linux for about 2 weeks so if you could let me know what to type that'd be cool.

I do have another lead tho, but also another problem. I searched through some rpm's on the install CD and found both libpcidata.a and libbitmap.a in the XFree86-server-4.2.1-3mdk.i586.rpm file. So I tried to install it with the rpm -ivh command and it gave me this error:

error: unpacking of archive failed on file /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/radeon_dri.so;3db86711: cpio: read

I don't know what that means....maybe I just need to use different arguements when unpacking the rpm. Shrug..

[bwkaz]

Do you still have the Mandrake .iso's? If so, you might want to check their md5sums against the md5sums that are posted on the mirrors. My guess is you may have gotten a corrupted .iso file, that's what cpio errors generally mean. Well, either that or your CD drive isn't reading properly.

If you don't have the .iso anymore, then I think you can just run md5sum on /dev/cdrom (after loading the appropriate CD).

[DarkM12]

Well, I was able to check the md5sum's of disk 1 and 2. I don't have the cd 3 iso anymore but it shouldn't matter much. I couldn't find where the md5sum's were listed so I just checked them against the md5sum.90 file that was in the directory of the iso's on the FTP site.

Anyhow, CD 1 FAILED but CD 2 checked out.

Could you recommend a reliable way to redownload the CD 1 iso without corrupting it? I think last time I just downloaded them both through IE. Maybe I should try using CuteFTP or something?

[bwkaz]

CuteFTP might work...

Most of the time (though not always), the program you're using doesn't matter much, though. Most of the time, corrupted downloads are from the connection changing bits in transit -- although that's just in my experience, so it might be worth a shot to try some other program.

If IE decided to download in text mode, that will ruin the files. But since cd 2 is fine, I don't think that's the problem. Hmmm...

[FishTech]

DarkM12,

You can try Get Right, it help me get all 3 Mandrake 9.0 CDs on a 28k connection (the first try) without any errors... And I think You can use it for free as long as You don't mind there advertisements.

Love You!
FishTech

[Klaus-P]

"I searched through some rpm's on the install CD...."

" error: unpacking of archive failed on file /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri/radeon_dri.so;3db86711: cpio: read"

DarkM12, You typed quite well, rpm checks dependencies by default and no dependency
warning had been reported as you wrote. I didn't know that you downloaded
whole CDs. Does this error ALSO occur if you install from your harddrive?
It is possible that during your CD burning process a not
recognized write error happened, ... dust on the surface, etc,...
If you have good internet connection (technically)
it's rather unlikely that a download error occured. I've downloaded sooo
much stuff and also large files 200meg and i NEVER got any trouble.
BTW rpm does also perform md5 tests on the requested package by default, you can
disable it but you didn't.

[Imperito]

Am I the only one who has had no problems?

I got a new laptop with a GF4GO, threw the 'drake CD in, installed it, downloaded the sources, built, made, installed, and everything works just fine.

[DarkM12]

I figure it can be hard to tell if something you downloaded in corrupt sometimes. In my case I was able to install Mandrake and do lots of things and the iso I used to burn the first disk was corrupt. It can simply cause little problems here and there, like me not being able to install Nvidia drivers correctly because it didn't install certain corrupt packages. Nowhere did any error message ever suggest that I could of had corrupt files.

I downloaded a new copy of the CD 1 iso and it checked out with md5sum. I burned it and I compared the burn marks of my new CD and the old.....my old one was about 1/2 cm from the end of the CD, while my new non-corrupt CD I could hardly see a burn mark because it burned about 1mm from the edge. Also going through the install process again I noticed that after checking a bunch of packages on that first screen and going to the individual package selection screen; there were many more packages selected by default than when I used my corrupt CD. Just some wierd things I noticed...

Anyway, I've already reinstalled and had absolutely no problems installing Nvidia drivers. Unreal2003 runs as well as it does in WinXP.