Confused about nvidia drivers

[rschumeyer]

I have a Dell Vostro 1500, 15.4" screen and a NVIDIA GeForce 8400M 256M controller.

I'm running Fedora 8, with 2.6.23.15-137.fc8

Currently I am using the default xorg-x11-drv-nv-2.1.6-1.fc8

This "works" in the sense that the screen is usable. But the video performance seems slow. In particular, viewing DVDs is out of the question.

I'm thinking a better driver will help? (At least I've been led to believe this via google)

I have tried many of the suggestions I can find: install this package, install that package, etc. None have worked. By not work, I mean the the screen displays gray with lines...completely useless.

Here are a few packages that seem like I might want to use them. But I have no idea which ones I really want. (And what does PAE mean?)

And there are also divers direct from NVIDIA.

Is this likely to be addressed in F9? If so, I can wait. Otherwise, can someone explain the difference between some of the packages listed below, and suggest which one is appropriate?

kmod-nvidia.i686 169.09-7.lvn8 livna
kmod-nvidia-2.6.23.15-137.fc8.i686 169.09-7.lvn8 livna
kmod-nvidia-2.6.23.15-137.fc8PAE.i686 169.09-7.lvn8 livna
kmod-nvidia-PAE.i686 169.09-7.lvn8 livna
kmod-nvidia-legacy.i686 71.86.04-3.lvn8 livna
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia.i386 169.09-4.lvn8 livna
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-devel.i386 169.09-4.lvn8 livna
xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs.i386 169.09-4.lvn8 livna

[pete_1967]

`yum install kmod-nvidia` the rest gets sorted by Yum.

[leigh123linux]

Try

su
yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs

reboot


And what does PAE mean?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_Address_Extension

[rschumeyer]

I installed the kmod-nvidia rpms, and got the nasty gray/white screen. But that's not all! Restoring my old xorg.conf resulted in the same gray/white screen!

At the moment I'm seeing if I can restore to where I was.

[leigh123linux]

Did you reboot to the newest kernel ?

[rschumeyer]

I installed in, and rebooted to, 2.6.23.15-137

Are those drivers known to work for the 8400M GS?

[leigh123linux]

I installed in, and rebooted to, 2.6.23.15-137

Are those drivers known to work for the 8400M GS?

Yes they are !


Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA GPU Products

For the most complete and accurate listing of supported GPUs, please see the Supported Products List, available from the NVIDIA Linux x86_64 Graphics Driver download page. Please go to http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html, follow the Archive link under the Linux x86_64 heading, follow the link for the 169.09 driver, and then go to the Supported Products List.
NVIDIA GeForce GPUs
NVIDIA GPU product Device PCI ID
GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x0040
GeForce 6800 0x0041
GeForce 6800 LE 0x0042
GeForce 6800 XE 0x0043
GeForce 6800 XT 0x0044
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0045
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0046
GeForce 6800 GS 0x0047
GeForce 6800 XT 0x0048
GeForce 7800 GTX 0x0090
GeForce 7800 GTX 0x0091
GeForce 7800 GT 0x0092
GeForce 7800 GS 0x0093
GeForce 7800 SLI 0x0095
GeForce Go 7800 0x0098
GeForce Go 7800 GTX 0x0099
GeForce 6800 GS 0x00C0
GeForce 6800 0x00C1
GeForce 6800 LE 0x00C2
GeForce 6800 XT 0x00C3
GeForce Go 6800 0x00C8
GeForce Go 6800 Ultra 0x00C9
GeForce 6800 0x00F0
GeForce 6600 GT 0x00F1
GeForce 6600 0x00F2
GeForce 6200 0x00F3
GeForce 6600 LE 0x00F4
GeForce 7800 GS 0x00F5
GeForce 6800 GS 0x00F6
GeForce 6800 Ultra 0x00F9
GeForce PCX 5750 0x00FA
GeForce PCX 5900 0x00FB
GeForce PCX 5300 0x00FC
GeForce 6600 GT 0x0140
GeForce 6600 0x0141
GeForce 6600 LE 0x0142
GeForce 6600 VE 0x0143
GeForce Go 6600 0x0144
GeForce 6610 XL 0x0145
GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE 0x0146
GeForce 6700 XL 0x0147
GeForce Go 6600 0x0148
GeForce Go 6600 GT 0x0149
GeForce 6200 0x014F
GeForce 6500 0x0160
GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM) 0x0161
GeForce 6200SE TurboCache(TM) 0x0162
GeForce 6200 LE 0x0163
GeForce Go 6200 0x0164
GeForce Go 6400 0x0166
GeForce Go 6200 0x0167
GeForce Go 6400 0x0168
GeForce 6250 0x0169
GeForce 7100 GS 0x016A
GeForce 8800 GTX 0x0191
GeForce 8800 GTS 0x0193
GeForce 8800 Ultra 0x0194
Tesla C870 0x0197
GeForce 7350 LE 0x01D0
GeForce 7300 LE 0x01D1
GeForce 7300 SE/7200 GS 0x01D3
GeForce Go 7200 0x01D6
GeForce Go 7300 0x01D7
GeForce Go 7400 0x01D8
GeForce 7500 LE 0x01DD
GeForce 7300 GS 0x01DF
GeForce 6800 0x0211
GeForce 6800 LE 0x0212
GeForce 6800 GT 0x0215
GeForce 6800 XT 0x0218
GeForce 6200 0x0221
GeForce 6200 A-LE 0x0222
GeForce 6150 0x0240
GeForce 6150 LE 0x0241
GeForce 6100 0x0242
GeForce Go 6150 0x0244
GeForce Go 6100 0x0247
GeForce 7900 GTX 0x0290
GeForce 7900 GT/GTO 0x0291
GeForce 7900 GS 0x0292
GeForce 7950 GX2 0x0293
GeForce 7950 GX2 0x0294
GeForce 7950 GT 0x0295
GeForce Go 7950 GTX 0x0297
GeForce Go 7900 GS 0x0298
GeForce Go 7900 GTX 0x0299
GeForce 7600 GT 0x02E0
GeForce 7600 GS 0x02E1
GeForce 7900 GS 0x02E3
GeForce 7950 GT 0x02E4
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra 0x0301
GeForce FX 5800 0x0302
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 0x0311
GeForce FX 5600 0x0312
GeForce FX 5600XT 0x0314
GeForce FX Go5600 0x031A
GeForce FX Go5650 0x031B
GeForce FX 5200 0x0320
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 0x0321
GeForce FX 5200 0x0322
GeForce FX 5200LE 0x0323
GeForce FX Go5200 0x0324
GeForce FX Go5250 0x0325
GeForce FX 5500 0x0326
GeForce FX 5100 0x0327
GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M 0x0328
GeForce FX Go53xx 0x032C
GeForce FX Go5100 0x032D
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 0x0330
GeForce FX 5900 0x0331
GeForce FX 5900XT 0x0332
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 0x0333
GeForce FX 5900ZT 0x0334
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra 0x0341
GeForce FX 5700 0x0342
GeForce FX 5700LE 0x0343
GeForce FX 5700VE 0x0344
GeForce FX Go5700 0x0347
GeForce FX Go5700 0x0348
GeForce 7650 GS 0x0390
GeForce 7600 GT 0x0391
GeForce 7600 GS 0x0392
GeForce 7300 GT 0x0393
GeForce 7600 LE 0x0394
GeForce 7300 GT 0x0395
GeForce Go 7600 0x0398
GeForce Go 7600 GT 0x0399
GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 0x03D0
GeForce 6100 nForce 405 0x03D1
GeForce 6100 nForce 400 0x03D2
GeForce 6100 nForce 420 0x03D5
GeForce 8600 GTS 0x0400
GeForce 8600 GT 0x0402
GeForce 8400 GS 0x0404
GeForce 8600M GT 0x0407
GeForce 8700M GT 0x0409
GeForce 8400 SE 0x0420
GeForce 8500 GT 0x0421
GeForce 8400 GS 0x0422
GeForce 8300 GS 0x0423
GeForce 8600M GS 0x0425
GeForce 8400M GT 0x0426
GeForce 8400M GS 0x0427
GeForce 8400M G 0x0428
GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M 0x0531
GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M 0x0533
GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a 0x053A
GeForce 7050 PV / NVIDIA nForce 630a 0x053B
GeForce 7025 / NVIDIA nForce 630a 0x053E
GeForce 8800 GTS 512 0x0600
GeForce 8800M GTS 0x0609
GeForce 8800M GTX 0x060C
GeForce 8800 GT 0x0611

[rschumeyer]

Ok.

I'm not sure what else to try. Is there any debugging info I could post that would be useful?

[leigh123linux]

Ok.

I'm not sure what else to try. Is there any debugging info I could post that would be useful?


Post


glxinfo

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log |grep EE

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log |grep WW

[pete_1967]

Post your monitor model and specs + your xorg.conf

[rschumeyer]

monitor is 15.4" lcd wxga PnP, max resolution (according to windows) of 1280x800
# Xorg configuration created by livna-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Synaptics" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us+inet"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

[klu]

rschumeyer,
I have been using compaq nx6320 for several years beginnnig with FC5 to currently using FC8. Compiz works fine on my machine thanx to the posts from the community. Just out of curiosity, have you manage to solve your problem with 8600M GS? I was thinking to buy a new laptop with GeForce 8000 series installed but still doing research on its compatibilty. Will hold it for a while until I am really sure it will work with Fedora+compiz. Anyone has suggestions?

Thanks

[Hlingler]

Just out of curiosity, have you manage to solve your problem with 8600M GS? I was thinking to buy a new laptop with GeForce 8000 series installed but still doing research on its compatibilty. Will hold it for a while until I am really sure it will work with Fedora+compiz. Anyone has suggestions?NVidia keeps adding better support/bugfixes for their newer cards/chipsets with every driver release. Read the changelogs. I'm not sure where you'd find them though without installing the drivers. :D Here's the blurb on the latest stable driver from nvidia's website:Linux Display Driver - x86


Version: 169.12
Operating System: Linux x86
Release Date: February 26, 2008

Release Highlights
Improved power management support with GeForce 8 GPUs.
Further improved stability on some GeForce 8 GPUs.
Fixed a bug that broke certain TwinView configurations with TV-OUT on GeForce 8 GPUs.
Fixed a bug that could cause OpenGL to crash in certain cases, e.g. when running Counter-Strike under Wine.
Further improved GLX_EXT_texture_from_pixmap out-of-memory handling.
Fixed a bug that could result in incorrect PowerMizer state being reported.
Improved nvidia-xconfig behavior when updating X configuration files without a "Module" section.
Worked around a problem that caused function key presses on some Toshiba notebooks to result in system crashes.And the brand new one:Linux Display Driver - x86


Version: 173.08
Operating System: Linux x86
Release Date: April 10, 2008

Release Highlights
Added support for the following new GPUs:
Quadro FX 3600M
GeForce 9800 GX2
GeForce 9800 GTX
GeForce 9600 GT
GeForce 9500M GS
GeForce 8400
GeForce 8400 GS
Added support for Quadro FX 5600/4600 SDI and Quadro G-Sync II.
Fixed a problem that caused OpenGL to stop rendering to windows with origins at or beyond 4096 pixels (horizontally) on GeForce 8 and 9 GPUs.
Fixed OpenGL rendering corruption with textures compressed using the DXT5 compression algorithm.
Fixed a regression that caused invalid EDIDs to be detected for the internal display device on some notebooks.
Improved hotkey switching and power management support on some GeForce 8 notebooks.
Fixed a bug that prevented the console from being restored correctly in SLI mode on GeForce 6 and 7 GPUs.
Fixed a problem that caused the synchronization signal polarity to always be positive for DVI devices on GeForce 8 and 9 GPUs.
Fixed a problem that caused TV output on secondary TVs to be black and white on some GPUs.
Restored compatibility with recent Linux 2.6 kernels.V

[klu]

Hlingler

Appreciate your info. I will certainly take that into my consideration. Are you using Nvidia graphics too? If you do, does it work well with compiz? Sorry to ask too many questions, money is really a matter to me. I can't afford to buy laptop just to find that it wouldn't work they way I want it to.

[Hlingler]

Hlingler

Appreciate your info. I will certainly take that into my consideration. Are you using Nvidia graphics too? If you do, does it work well with compiz? Sorry to ask too many questions, money is really a matter to me. I can't afford to buy laptop just to find that it wouldn't work they way I want it to.Not a problem - ask away on matters like this that a search will never answer. Opinions may differ, but here's my spin....

Compaq Presario SR2020NX desktop with on-board NVidia 6150 LE graphics (256 MB VRAM), F8-i386 using the re-packaged REV. 169.12 nvidia proprietary driver from FreshRPMs (because there's no kernel module updates to worry about). Latest Compiz-Fusion packages from the C-F repo by our very own CM Leigh123 (see the thread in the "Guides and How-Tos" forum for where and how to get the goods).

Performance: OUTSTANDING! When my son saw C-F, he had to have it, so he wiped Win* and installed F8, the nvidia driver, and those packages, with little help from me, and is enjoying. Only one little caveat: I had to set C-F to "loose binding" to prevent the infamous nvidia VRAM overflow. No problems since. Be aware that there are minimum requirements to run C-F or any 3D compositing Window Manager(s), but any new nvidia chipset/card using the proprietary driver will certainly be up to the job. C-F recommends 64 MB VRAM minimum, you must have 3D/DRI (Direct Rendering, provided by the nvidia driver), and you must run at 24 bpp color depth.

I personally could care less whether or not nvidia opens up their source code - as long as they continue to support Linux with quality drivers for their products (and they do). Just don't use the self-installing binary drivers from nvidia - get the re-packaged ones in RPM format from Livna, FreshRPMs, or ATRPMs so you can get automatic updates (and avoid other issues with the binary installers).

V

[klu]

Latest Compiz-Fusion packages from the C-F repo by our very own CM Leigh123 (see the thread in the "Guides and How-Tos" forum for where and how to get the goods).
V

I have seen many post by Leigh and they have been very useful though. I have to say when it comes to compiz how-to's his guides is worth to read.


Performance: OUTSTANDING! When my son saw C-F, he had to have it, so he wiped Win* and installed F8, the nvidia driver, and those packages, with little help from me, and is enjoying. Only one little caveat: I had to set C-F to "loose binding" to prevent the infamous nvidia VRAM overflow. No problems since. Be aware that there are minimum requirements to run C-F or any 3D compositing Window Manager(s), but any new nvidia chipset/card using the proprietary driver will certainly be up to the job. C-F recommends 64 MB VRAM minimum, you must have 3D/DRI (Direct Rendering, provided by the nvidia driver), and you must run at 24 bpp color depth.
V

I am sure anyone who sees CF on action will be impressed, I know because I am one of them. :D As for the specs you said I think most up2date laptops like Dell and HP does offer more than 64VRAM. I would say 128 VRAM is the minimum on most of their machine so that basically wouldn't bother me. Other than overflow issue you said everything else is fine. It seems I been worrying too much about the performance issue. :p

Thanks. I'll be visiting the store next week to buy myself new laptop with Nvidia card. Hope it will perform better than my current intel 945GM card.