FC5 NVIDIA won't load at boottime

[frostoftheblack]

I have an Nvidia graphics problem...I have a GeForce 6600, trying to get it to run on a FC5 laptop. It works fine with the kernel 2.6.18-1.2257.fc5, but now I want to use the kernel 2.6.19-1.2288.2.4.fc5.

For some reason the kmod drivers from yum wouldn't work.....So I tried the download straight from NVIDIA. I'm using the 1.0-9755 driver. So I installed the driver, and then I start X, and the Nvidia driver loads - I even get the splash screen. I save the changes to xorg.conf so that the driver is "nvidia". The module is loaded, and it's working fine, I think.

However, whenever I reboot the computer, the nvidia-glx module fails to load (it says it is not present for the kernel 2.6.19-1.2288.2.4.fc5). Then when I check the xorg.conf file after it starts up, it says that the driver is back to "nv", even though I just changed it to "nvidia".
So then I tried killing X (but not restarting) and changing xorg.conf back to "nvidia", and then restarting X, and it works fine again.

I've read lots of the other posts, I just don't know what I'm missing.

[Dies]

You can always set the file the way you want it, then chmod it to prevent it from being written to.

su -
chmod 555 /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[frostoftheblack]

I tried that....but then the X server won't start. I get the blue screen that says "failed to start x server" and then "would you like to diagnose the problem?"

It won't start until I replace nvidia with nv in xorg.conf.

[Dies]

Well you should try re-installing the driver, I think it was JN4OldSchool that had this problem with his setup, so maybe he'll pop in and tell you how he handled it. If not you can try sending him a PM so he sees it.

[JN4OldSchool]

Sorry I'm late...Church...Errrm, yeah...I think you may have a couple things going on here, but as far as the xorg.conf changing to nv you should shut off...lol, I just looked and it's gone for me. But check your running services and if you have anything related to nvidia or nv shut it off, disable it. This is what is causing the change. Short of that you can also "lock" the xorg.conf by using:

chattr +i /etc/X11/xorg.conf

alternatly, use "chattr -i" to unlock.

as far as the rest of your problems...lets just try this first and hope foir the best...

[frostoftheblack]

So I figured out what was wrong.
I took a look at the nvidia-glx script that is in /etc/init.d
For some reason it was trying to load the module from the folder /lib/modules/uname -r/drivers/extras or something like that....the actual folder was in ../drivers/video/nvidia/
Basically I just needed to change that I guess.
Thanks for your help.