Ok, so after reading alot on this board I finally gave Mandrake a try again. I have had a good time with it before, but I have never been able to use the official Nvidia drivers, but this time I got very far - only to fail again :-(

I have done everything in the readme file and everything I have read on this board and other places.

Log out of X with : service dm stop
Change to root with : su root (and then typing password)
Install the drivers : sh NVIDIAxxxxxx.run

Everything then seems to work ok and the program tells me that now I just have to change the xorg.conf file.

I open the xorg.conf file from the terminal as root with either Kate or KWrite and change the "nv" to "nvidia" and change the 3d thing just as it says in the readme and as people have said in the forum. I then save the file and afterwords check it again and it is indeed changed.

I then restart the computer, but I am just presented with at "dos kind of" log in screen. It doesnt go into KDE.

So I try to log in as root and type "startx"

It tries to start but says something like :

Screen found but not configured proporly or some sort.

Does anyone have any ideas, I have never been this close before :-)

Thanks in advance.

Try starting again and pay close attention to those errors, especially the ones beside the double Es. The more you can post what it actually gives the better chance we'll have of resolving it. Did you have any difficuly configuring your monitor before installing the 3d drivers?

I don't know if this still applies, but look for a line in the xorg.conf file that says;

load "glx"

Make sure that there is no hash mark in front of it, so that it reads;

load "glx"

not;

########load "glx"

See if that works.

Originally posted by Dapper Dan:

"Try starting again and pay close attention to those errors, especially the ones beside the double Es. The more you can post what it actually gives the better chance we'll have of resolving it. Did you have any difficuly configuring your monitor before installing the 3d drivers?"

Yes, as a matter of fact I could only get it to run in 800x600 with the generic drivers and not 1024x768 which I used i Windows. I just figured that it had something to do with the generic driver and that the Nvidia driver would solve it.

The wierd part is, that now after reverting back to my old xorg.conf file, all of a sudden I can use 1024x768 but I am pretty sure that I am not using the Nvidia driver as it says "nv" in the file and not "nvidia". How can I find out what I am using?

Originally posted by danleff:

"I don't know if this still applies, but look for a line in the xorg.conf file that says;

load "glx"

Make sure that there is no hash mark in front of it, so that it reads;

load "glx"

not;

########load "glx"

See if that works."

The file has it as you say it should :-) so that shouldn't be it.

Originally posted by Happeren: How can I find out what I am using?


The easiest way to know is if the big Nvidia logo doesn't come up right before kdm, (sign in managaer thing). If it does come up you're running the nvidia 3d drivers.

In your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, if "nv" is listed as your video card driver instead of "nvidia," then you're not running the 3d drivers. Tell us about your monitor. Do you know the vertical and horizontal specs for it?

Were you able to find it in the list, when you ran XFdrake during the install? If not, you may have to put those in by hand. Do you still have the manual for your monitor?

Originally posted by Dapper Dan:

"
The easiest way to know is if the big Nvidia logo doesn't come up right before kdm, (sign in managaer thing). If it does come up you're running the nvidia 3d drivers.

In your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, if "nv" is listed as your video card driver instead of "nvidia," then you're not running the 3d drivers. Tell us about your monitor. Do you know the vertical and horizontal specs for it?

Were you able to find it in the list, when you ran XFdrake during the install? If not, you may have to put those in by hand. Do you still have the manual for your monitor?"

OK I am definately not running the Nvidia drivers then.

My monitor wasn't detected, and I don't know what it is as it is some cheap noname 17". I just installed it as a generic monitor. But I know that the max resolution is 1024x768 and I have used this without errors in Windows allways. Do you think I installed the drivers correctly and that it is my monitor that is the problem?

Thanks for helping out by the way :-)

I can't remember where it is, but in Windows, there is a place you can go that lists hardware. Go there and see what Windows thinks your monitor is, then do a Google for it's specs. Having the right Vertical and horizontal configuration can make all the difference in the world in how your monitor performs in conjunction with your video card.

Originally posted by Dapper Dan:

"I can't remember where it is, but in Windows, there is a place you can go that lists hardware. Go there and see what Windows thinks your monitor is, then do a Google for it's specs. Having the right Vertical and horizontal configuration can make all the difference in the world in how your monitor performs in conjunction with your video card."

Windows also considers my monitor to be a Standard Monitor. So I guess I'm a little bit stuck :-(

But as mentioned I have gotten the screen to run at 1024x768 now, but still using the generic drivers and not the Nvidia drivers. Could it be a problem with the Nvidia driver and Mandrake 10.1? I also have an NForce2 motherboard, but I havent installed the Nvidia drivers for it as the sound and network is working fine with the generic drivers for NForce2, but would it perhaps make a difference if I installed those first?

How much of a difference would it make if I got it to work, it seems to be running ok now with the generic drivers, and there arent really any games for linux (as I understand it) so OpenGL support isn't that important anyway. Still it would be nice to get it working :-)

you need to change "nv" to "nvidia" in /etc/X11/XF86Config then add nvidia to /etc/modprobe.preload before installing the driver.

Originally posted by tripitaka:

"you need to change "nv" to "nvidia" in /etc/X11/XF86Config then add nvidia to /etc/modprobe.preload before installing the driver."

I just installed the drivers easily on my Mandrake 10.1 system.

I edited my /etc/X11/xorg file to make sure Load glx was not commented out.

Added nvidia to the /etc/modprobe.preload file as suggested by triptaka using mc (Midnight Commander).

Rebooted and the driver came up with the quick NVIDIA splash screen, then KDE came up. /etc/XF86Config is automatically altered on reboot, so there was no need to change this file.

See if this works, then we will look at the resolution problem.

I've tried the exact same steps! but it still doesnt work. PLease help.