Help a newb install Nvidia drivers

[brandontheblack]

I don't really know what I'm doing, so I figured I should ask for help. When I tried to run the install file for the driver, it told me I needed to shut down X first.... So after a quick trip to the Internet to find out HOW to shut it down, I tried again. This time it gave me alot more errors, and thankfully saved it to a log file. Here are the contents of that file, hopefully you can help me out! I'm using Fedora Core 6 64 bit(don't know exactly what version) and I'm attempting to install the Version: 1.0-9629 drivers.

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Sun Nov 19 21:43:57 2006

option status:
license pre-accepted : false
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
precompiled interfaces : true
no ncurses color : false
query latest version : false
OpenGL header files : true
no questions : false
silent : false
no recursion : false
no backup : false
kernel module only : false
sanity : false
add this kernel : false
no runlevel check : false
no network : false
no ABI note : false
no RPMs : false
no kernel module : false
force SELinux : default
force tls : (not specified)
force compat32 tls : (not specified)
X install prefix : (not specified)
X library install path : (not specified)
X module install path : (not specified)
OpenGL install prefix : (not specified)
OpenGL install libdir : (not specified)
compat32 install chroot : (not specified)
compat32 install prefix : (not specified)
compat32 install libdir : (not specified)
utility install prefix : (not specified)
utility install libdir : (not specified)
doc install prefix : (not specified)
kernel name : (not specified)
kernel include path : (not specified)
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel output path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : (not specified)
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp mirror : ftp://download.nvidia.com
RPM file list : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you li
ke the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel f
rom the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site;
this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for
your kernel.
ERROR: Unable to find the development tool `cc` in your path; please make sure
that you have the package 'gcc' installed. If gcc is installed on your
system, then please check that `cc` is in your PATH.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

[jhetrick62]

It's simpler to just install the Livna Nvidia kernel module.

Follow this guide as it's pretty comprehensive. http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99285

If you are running an smp kernel, you may have to use the line "yum install kmod-nvidia-smp"

Jeff

[Dan]

jhetrick62 has the right of it. Installing the way you have started will lead to problems. Use the Livna repository and let it sort out the dependencies.

[brandontheblack]

Originally Posted by jhetrick62

It's simpler to just install the Livna Nvidia kernel module.

Follow this guide as it's pretty comprehensive. http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99285

If you are running an smp kernel, you may have to use the line "yum install kmod-nvidia-smp"

Jeff

How do I know if I have an smp kernel or not? I'm just using whatever was on the disc.

[Dan]

No need to worry. Looks like you're running the 64 bit version. SMP is irrelevant.

[brandontheblack]

Originally Posted by TangledWeb

No need to worry. Looks like you're running the 64 bit version. SMP is irrelevant.

Well apparently there is need for worry. It still isn't working. The first 3 lines worked fine:

su -
rpm -Uhv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm
yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
yum update kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia

Then i tried the last line:

service nvidia-glx restart

and that did this:

[root@localhost ~]# service nvidia-glx restart
Disabling nvidia-glx driver                                [  OK  ]
Checking for nvidia kernel module                          [FAILED]
nvidia.ko module for 2.6.18-1.2849.fc6xen kernel not found
Disabling nvidia-glx driver                                [  OK  ]
[root@localhost ~]#

So is there a way to fix this?

[jhetrick62]

I do see a package in the Livna repository for kmod-nvidia-xen so I would do "yum install kmod-nvidia-xen" and "yum update kmod-nvidia-xen" and see if that solves your problem.

Jeff Hetrick

[brandontheblack]

Originally Posted by jhetrick62

I do see a package in the Livna repository for kmod-nvidia-xen so I would do "yum install kmod-nvidia-xen" and "yum update kmod-nvidia-xen" and see if that solves your problem.

Jeff Hetrick

Doesn't work:

[root@localhost ~]# yum install kmod-nvidia-xe
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Setting up Install Process
Setting up repositories
livna                     100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00     
core                      100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00     
updates                   100% |=========================| 1.2 kB    00:00     
extras                    100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00     
Reading repository metadata in from local files
primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================| 223 kB    00:00     
################################################## 737/737
Parsing package install arguments
No Match for argument: kmod-nvidia-xe
Nothing to do
[root@localhost ~]#

EDIT: nevermind, I made a typo. A stupid mistake, yes, but it works once I fixed it. Thanks!
Oh and how do I find out whether my driver is working or not? I still can't change my screen resolution to anything higher than 1024x768.

[brandontheblack]

OK, a simple restart fixed my problem. So for anyone listening out there, the steps to install NVIDIA drivers are as follows:

su -
rpm -Uhv http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-6.rpm
yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
yum update kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
yum install kmod-nvidia-xen
service nvidia-glx restart

Thanks to everyone that helped!

[jhetrick62]

Yes, every little letter and capital makes a difference in Linux!! LOL

Glad that it worked for you and that we could help.

Jeff