nvidia GeForce 4-440 GO driver?

[Frank616]

Edited Jan 12/08 as follows:

OK, after much trial and error, I have found out that this card will NOT support 3D effects. The current 96xx nvidia driver, which is the correct one for this card, and which works fine with Kwin, will not work with compiz. The problem, I am told, is the memory management in the current nvidia driver. I did get 3D to work, but at the expense of the 'black screen' problems reported with this card.

See the following link in the nvidia forum for details. -Frank.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=106008

Original post follows:

************************************


I am installing Fedor 8 on a Dell C840 Lattitude laptop. All is well. I want to install the proprietary nvidia driver for this machine in order to enable compiz, etc, for my daughter, who is 'inheriting' this machine and finds compiz 'cool'.

The card is detected as an nvidia GeForce 4-440 GO. I've looked on the nvidia site (http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us) but I am unable to determine which driver to use. The card is newer than what the legacy driver supports, but the GeForce M/GO driver only lists series 8 or 7. This is a series 4 card. The GeForce driver lists series 8, 7, 6 and FX. My card appears to be 'none of the above.'

I imagine that I should just try one and see if it works. However, if it doesn't, then I'll need a way to recover if the screen is unreadable. So, I have two questions:

Does anyone know which is the correct driver for this machine:

If I try a driver and the screen is unreadable, how to I recover?

Thanks.

Frank.

[bob]

Generally, the Geforce4 series takes the kmod-96xx from Livna. Check out: http://www.firewing1.com/content/view/64/36/

[Frank616]

Bob:

The kmod-nvidia-96xx driver broke the install. Black screen.

I was able to reboot with the previous kernel, which then rejected the mis-matched kernel module, and allowed me to reboot and remove the 96xx driver.

Now that I know how to recover, I guess I'll try another driver and see what happens.

Frank.

[Frank616]

OK, nothing seems to work. Tried the kmod-nvidia 100 series drivers, and it installed the 169 series instead (for some reason) and the X server would not start. Configuring the X server is beyond my current skill level.

Anyone else have experience with this hardware? Can I use the 'stock' driver with compiz and get away with it?

Thanks.

Frank.

[Seve]

Hello:
Your video card is support by the nVidia Legacy drivers
See here for confirmation: http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_32667.html
And if you have the livna repository installed
then, from a terminal
yum install kmod-nvidia-legacy
To view the available packages for F8 32 bit http://livna-dl.reloumirrors.net/fedora/8/i386/
Just make sure it matches your current running kernel
If you are not sure which one you are running, from a terminal
uname -r
and
arch
If you are new to Fedora, it may be easier to install yumex first
su -
yum install yumex
then start yumex from Applications / System Tools / Yum Extender
and use it to search for the matching i686 kmod-nvidia-legacy module.

Seve

[Frank616]

Seve:

Thanks for the info, but maybe I am misreading things here. Bob suggested I use the 96xx drivers, which did not work. Yet, on the page you refer me to, the top of the list says the following:

The 1.0-96xx driver supports the following set of GPUs:

Now, my GPU is indeed in that list. However, are we talking about the legacy drivers, or the 96xx driver here?

In any case, I can certainly give it a try. At worst, it won't work.

Frank.

[Frank616]

Seve:

OK, the legacy driver loaded, but only gives me 800 x 600. The display is 1600 x 1200 native. The KDE utilities do not give me an option of upping the resolution. Do you know a way to do that?

Thanks very much.

Frank.

[Seve]

Hello:
From a terminal, type
system-config-display
and under the Hardware Tab / Monitor Type / Configure
and select
Generic LCD Display
then select
LCD Panel 1600x1200

Select OK, exit and either restart your Xserver or reboot and see how it goes.

Seve

[Frank616]

Seve:

OK, I found it. Kmenu | Administration | Display | Hardware tab | Configure | Show All Available Monitors and from there I chose the Dell 1600 x 1200 LCD panel.

Now, I still can't seem to get Compiz running. Clicking on the Desktop Effects in the Kmenu makes the screen flash, but then I get a little message 'bubble' saying "Desktop Effects Could Not be Enabled."

Does this mean the hardware is too old, or the driver does not support it, or do I have to adjust something else?

Frank.

[Seve]

Hello:
Frank can you open a terminal and and log in as root using
su - (the dash is important)

type and post the output of

cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and
lspci -v

Seve

[Frank616]

Seve:

Here is xorg.coonf:

[root@localhost amy-beth]# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "single head configuration"
        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"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "120"
        Option      "RightEdge" "830"
        Option      "TopEdge" "120"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "650"
        Option      "FingerLow" "14"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "15"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "110"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "20"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.3"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.75"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        ModelName    "Dell 1600x1200 Laptop Display Panel"
        HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
        VertRefresh  59.0 - 85.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

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

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

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

And here is lspci -v:

[root@localhost amy-beth]# lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
        Capabilities: [e4] Vendor Specific Information
        Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 32
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
        I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff
        Memory behind bridge: fc000000-fdffffff
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d8000000-e7ffffff

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #1 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Latitude C640
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at bf80 [size=32]

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM USB Controller #3 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Unknown device 4541
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at bf20 [size=32]

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 42) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=10, sec-latency=32
        I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000ffff
        Memory behind bridge: f4000000-fbffffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801CAM ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02)
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801CAM IDE U100 Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Latitude C640
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
        I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
        I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
        I/O ports at bfa0 [size=16]
        Memory at 50000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Cirrus Logic Crystal WMD Audio Codec
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
        I/O ports at d800 [size=256]
        I/O ports at dc80 [size=64]

00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801CA/CAM AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
        Subsystem: PCTel Inc Dell Inspiron 2100 internal modem
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
        I/O ports at d400 [size=256]
        I/O ports at dc00 [size=128]

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 440 Go] (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 00d5
        Flags: bus master, VGA palette snoop, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 11
        Memory at fc000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
        Memory at dff80000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=512K]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at d8000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 78)
        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 00d5
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
        I/O ports at ec80 [size=128]
        Memory at f8fffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128]
        Expansion ROM at f8000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

02:01.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4451 PC card Cardbus Controller
        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 00d5
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11
        Memory at f8020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=02, secondary=03, subordinate=06, sec-latency=176
        Memory window 0: f4000000-f7fff000 (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: 54000000-57fff000
        I/O window 0: 0000e000-0000e0ff
        I/O window 1: 0000e400-0000e4ff
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

02:01.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4451 PC card Cardbus Controller
        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 00d5
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 11
        Memory at f8021000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Bus: primary=02, secondary=07, subordinate=0a, sec-latency=176
        Memory window 0: 58000000-5bfff000 (prefetchable)
        Memory window 1: 5c000000-5ffff000
        I/O window 0: 0000e800-0000e8ff
        I/O window 1: 0000fc00-0000fcff
        16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001

02:01.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4451 IEEE-1394 Controller (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
        Subsystem: Dell Unknown device 00d5
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
        Memory at f8fff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Memory at f8ff8000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

[root@localhost amy-beth]#

Frank.

[Frank616]

Seve:

I just reread your previous message. I used the KDE root console for the output rather than su - in a regular console. Hope the output is what you expected. I checked su - as well, and it appears to my untrained eye to be the same.

Frank.

[Seve]

Hello Frank:
Thanks
Just wanted to confirm what is going on
BTW Bob and you were correct, as your video card should be supported by the kmod-nvidia-96xx-96 driver package from livna.

At this point we know the the oldest legacy work, however, to support compiz and desktop effects you will need to install the kmod-nvidia-96xx-96 from livna
Being doing some searching and for folks with the same Video Card [GF4 440 Go] there is an option you need to add to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

You need to change the following section of this file
From:

PHP Code:

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


to

PHP Code:

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


Once you make this change and save the file, then using yumex
remove the
kmod-nvidia-legacy
and install the
kmod-nvidia-96xx-96
again, making sure it matches the kernel you have installed.
Once that is complete, open a terminal and type and enter
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and double check that the
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "DFP"
is still there, if so, exit and either restart your Xserver or reboot and see how it goes.

Seve

[Frank616]

Seve:

OK, did as you said. The edited line stayed in xorg.cong. This time the display DOES work with the kmod-nvidia-96xx-2.6.23.9-85.fc8 - 96.43.01-19.lvn8.i686 installed. I get the nvidia splash screen on bootup. However, selecting Kmenu | Setings | Desktop Effects still gives me the information balloon "Desktop Effects could not be enabled".

I assume that something is still missing. I thought I had installed all the compiz packages that applied to KDE.

We are SO close! What more do I need to adjust?

Thanks so much for all your help here. This kind of help is one of the major reasons why I switched to Fedora after trying 5 other distros. The other forums were no where near as good as this one.

In any case guy, go to bed, and we'll have a look at this tomorrow.

Frank.

[Seve]

Hello Frank:
A couple of things to try
from a terminal type
glxgears
and see how it runs or if there are any errors
also
glxinfo | grep -F "direct rendering"
and it should, if working properly produce
direct rendering: Yes

also, make sure that your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file contains

PHP Code:

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


and

PHP Code:

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


and

PHP Code:

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

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


Seve