Installing nVidia Video Cards

[kernel831]

Keep in mind that if your particular video card is not in the repo drivers, You might want to just go to the nVidia website and pick up the driver from there.

Just find the correct download page for your particular card, download the linux (.run) file and save it to a directory, End the X session, and run it from the CLI with the same commands: ./NV[tab], or sh NV[tab].

[Plasmator]

I tried both methods (1. nVidia Site & 2. Repo) and both allow me to install the driver.

Then I type startx and everything looks perfect.

The problem once I reboot the driver no longer loads automatically.

I using an 8GB USB Stick with Persistence & kde3 on an hp 8740w (nVidia Quadro 3800M).

What do I change to force the nvidia driver to load on boot?

[Dohnuts]

Thanks very much thread starter, I'd been struggling to install the nVidia drivers on my ion based mini311 for hours till I found your instructions.

[Plasmator]

Finally found a solution to the problem with loading the nVidia drivers on a BT4 R1 Live Usb install. The driver would install successfully but not *load* on reboot.

It was not the 'casper-rw' loop file but 'xorg.conf' being wiped out on boot. Just the way the Live USB/CD install works.

I found a reference somewhere to modify '.profile' to copy the correct 'xorg.conf'. Here's my '.profile' :-

 # remove xorg.conf backup files
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.2*
rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf.b*
 
# get video card from pci scan
PciScan=$(lspci | grep 'VGA');
 
# check for NVIDIA video card and copy xorg.conf
if [[ $PciScan == *'Quadro FX 3800M'* ]]; then
    cp -f /etc/X11/xorg.conf.Quadro.FX.3800M /etc/X11/xorg.conf;
fi;

This allows X to load the correct driver on my laptop and still be dynamic on any other system.

[colt45]

Hope someone can help.

Quick update:
I have 2 monitors connected to a GeForce 7900GTX. (i was only able to use 1 monitor)
i downloaded and installed the drivers from the NVidia website as per the instructions.
Now when i sign on the monitor that i can use has changed.
my desktop is now displayed on the 2nd monitor while the 1st monitor is just blank.

There is no "System > Nvidia" option.
the only thing i can find to do with my display is the icon on the bottom right that gives the option "configure display" but when i click on this is just brings up a blank window.

I'm looking to either get both monitors working (extended desktop, not clones)
or even just use the 1 monitor again. (the one i was using before, so i want to switch it back)

Any help would be great.

[silencekf]

Hello! I have a freshly installed BackTrack 4 R1 to hard drive.
Hardware: Laptop Asus UL30VT with Intel integrated and nVidia GeForce G210M discrete graphics. Right now I do not care about Intel grahics. But I do care to set up the nVidia card.
The steps I've done so far:
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get dist-upgrade

the "lspci|grep nVidia" returns: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [Geforce G210M] (rev a2)

I've downloaded driver from nVidia site and installed in the way explained in this post:

sh NV<tab>
apt-get install nvidia-settings
startx

after using "startx" command it returns the following:
(EE) Nov 19 15:44:43 NVIDIA(0): No display devices found for this X screen.
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

I've attached my xorg.conf file which was created just after installing nVidia driver.

I would appreciate any help on how to get my nVidia card up and running. Thank you!

[sickness]

Have you tried running

fix-vesa

of

 dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

before startx ?

[silencekf]

After running

"fix-vesa"

and

"startx"

it returns:
(EE) Failed to load module "type1" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) No devices detected.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

And after running

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

it returns:
Primary device is not PCI
(EE) No devices deteced.

Fatal server error:
no screens found
giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

I'd appreciate any suggestions about what I could do to fix this. Thank you!

[MattEvans16]

I'm having the same problems as Silencekf, tried on BT4-r1 & BT4-r2

I've installed the drivers (260.19.21) from the nvidia website and after it installs on startx I get:

Fatal server error:
no screens found
giving up.

Even if i revert my xorg.conf back to defaults (the backup) it still gives me a similar error. I have the Asus U30JC with Intel and Nvidia Optimus 310M. The only way I've been able to recover from it was to re-install Backtrack. However, I am not that adept to linux driver troubleshooting.

I have also tried apt-get install Nvidia-glx-177 and Nvidia-Glx-180
It modifies my xorg.conf and I get the error, but I can revert my xorg.conf and recover. I dont think they ever install I get a DKMS-Autoconfiguarion - 'failed' [??] on boot when I go apt-get route.

Any have any solutions to try?

[mixit]

Anyone having the "no screens found" error needs to download and install the nvidia drivers from their site. As of a few days ago, they had version 260.19.29 and this was the first one that eliminated this error for me. I'm using the 330M btw. Make sure to get the driver for Ubuntu 10.10 32-bit. This was the one that worked for me.