NVidia driver not installed

I downloaded the Dual 1586/x64 CD and successfully upgraded my Cooker
installation to Official.

My NVidia card was not detected on running the installer, but I was
successful after rebooting the first time.

Now, I have updated my kernel to the latest, and although I ran XFdrake,
apparently successfully, the nvidia.ko module was not created. I didn't
see dkms run, and suspect that it didn't.

On the bootup messages, I see that the relevant dkms.conf is not set to run
automatically. The problem is that for each set (2 versions of nvidia +
virtualbox,) there are about 4 files called dkms.conf.

(a) Can I set dkms to run during bootup? (Something like that used to happen
under previous releases.)
(b) If so, which file should I edit? Or all for the relevant nvidia
version?

I know that a lot think that it is better to use NVidia's own package, but I
prefer to let the computer do what it thinks best.

Thanks,

Doug.

Doug Laidlaw wrote:[color=blue]
> I downloaded the Dual 1586/x64 CD and successfully upgraded my Cooker
> installation to Official.
>
> My NVidia card was not detected on running the installer, but I was
> successful after rebooting the first time.
>
> Now, I have updated my kernel to the latest, and although I ran XFdrake,
> apparently successfully, the nvidia.ko module was not created. I didn't
> see dkms run, and suspect that it didn't.
>
> On the bootup messages, I see that the relevant dkms.conf is not set to run
> automatically. The problem is that for each set (2 versions of nvidia +
> virtualbox,) there are about 4 files called dkms.conf.
>
> (a) Can I set dkms to run during bootup? (Something like that used to happen
> under previous releases.)
> (b) If so, which file should I edit? Or all for the relevant nvidia
> version?[/color]

Load mcc, go to system, and there to services. Set dkms to run
at boot.

In addition to dkms being installed, you will need
dkms-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1 or something similar,

I think the next two are installed automatically.
lib64kwinnvidiahack4-4.0.3-1mdv2008.1
x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1

Plus, you must have the kernel devel package for
your _exact_ kernel. This will be something similar to,
kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.3-4mnb-1-1mnb1

Then reboot. If dkms builds you a proprietary nvidia
module, it will be nvidia.ko and must be entered as nvidia
in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If it builds you the reverse
engineered module, it will be nv.ko and must be entered
as nv in xorg.conf. If you get the nv.ko module, you
may need to get the nvidia package from plf (though I think
it is now included in the regular Mandriva package).

If you have done all the above and still no joy, run
XFdrake again and see what happens.

Cheers!

jim b.


--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

Jim Beard wrote:
[color=blue]
> Doug Laidlaw wrote:[color=green]
>> I downloaded the Dual 1586/x64 CD and successfully upgraded my Cooker
>> installation to Official.
>>
>> My NVidia card was not detected on running the installer, but I was
>> successful after rebooting the first time.
>>
>> Now, I have updated my kernel to the latest, and although I ran XFdrake,
>> apparently successfully, the nvidia.ko module was not created. I didn't
>> see dkms run, and suspect that it didn't.
>>
>> On the bootup messages, I see that the relevant dkms.conf is not set to
>> run
>> automatically. The problem is that for each set (2 versions of nvidia +
>> virtualbox,) there are about 4 files called dkms.conf.
>>
>> (a) Can I set dkms to run during bootup? (Something like that used to
>> happen under previous releases.)
>> (b) If so, which file should I edit? Or all for the relevant nvidia
>> version?[/color]
>
> Load mcc, go to system, and there to services. Set dkms to run
> at boot.
>
> In addition to dkms being installed, you will need
> dkms-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1 or something similar,
>
> I think the next two are installed automatically.
> lib64kwinnvidiahack4-4.0.3-1mdv2008.1
> x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1
>
> Plus, you must have the kernel devel package for
> your _exact_ kernel. This will be something similar to,
> kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.3-4mnb-1-1mnb1
>
> Then reboot. If dkms builds you a proprietary nvidia
> module, it will be nvidia.ko and must be entered as nvidia
> in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If it builds you the reverse
> engineered module, it will be nv.ko and must be entered
> as nv in xorg.conf. If you get the nv.ko module, you
> may need to get the nvidia package from plf (though I think
> it is now included in the regular Mandriva package).
>
> If you have done all the above and still no joy, run
> XFdrake again and see what happens.
>
> Cheers!
>
> jim b.
>
>[/color]
Thanks Jim. It looks for nvidia.ko, which is missing. dkms is already set
to run on boot, but fails, because for everything it handles, "AUTOINSTALL
is not set in its dkms.conf" (except for nvidia on the previous kernel,
which gives "already installed on this kernel.") The relevant line seems
to be AUTOINSTALL="yes"

At least I know where to start looking.

BTW, just out of interest, what is the significance of the "mnb" suffix on RPMs?

Doug.

Doug Laidlaw wrote:
[color=blue]
> Jim Beard wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Doug Laidlaw wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> I downloaded the Dual 1586/x64 CD and successfully upgraded my Cooker
>>> installation to Official.
>>>
>>> My NVidia card was not detected on running the installer, but I was
>>> successful after rebooting the first time.
>>>
>>> Now, I have updated my kernel to the latest, and although I ran XFdrake,
>>> apparently successfully, the nvidia.ko module was not created. I didn't
>>> see dkms run, and suspect that it didn't.
>>>
>>> On the bootup messages, I see that the relevant dkms.conf is not set to
>>> run
>>> automatically. The problem is that for each set (2 versions of nvidia +
>>> virtualbox,) there are about 4 files called dkms.conf.
>>>
>>> (a) Can I set dkms to run during bootup? (Something like that used to
>>> happen under previous releases.)
>>> (b) If so, which file should I edit? Or all for the relevant nvidia
>>> version?[/color]
>>
>> Load mcc, go to system, and there to services. Set dkms to run
>> at boot.
>>
>> In addition to dkms being installed, you will need
>> dkms-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1 or something similar,
>>
>> I think the next two are installed automatically.
>> lib64kwinnvidiahack4-4.0.3-1mdv2008.1
>> x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1
>>
>> Plus, you must have the kernel devel package for
>> your _exact_ kernel. This will be something similar to,
>> kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.3-4mnb-1-1mnb1
>>
>> Then reboot. If dkms builds you a proprietary nvidia
>> module, it will be nvidia.ko and must be entered as nvidia
>> in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If it builds you the reverse
>> engineered module, it will be nv.ko and must be entered
>> as nv in xorg.conf. If you get the nv.ko module, you
>> may need to get the nvidia package from plf (though I think
>> it is now included in the regular Mandriva package).
>>
>> If you have done all the above and still no joy, run
>> XFdrake again and see what happens.
>>
>> Cheers!
>>
>> jim b.
>>
>>[/color]
> Thanks Jim. It looks for nvidia.ko, which is missing. dkms is already
> set to run on boot, but fails, because for everything it handles,
> "AUTOINSTALL is not set in its dkms.conf" (except for nvidia on the
> previous kernel,
> which gives "already installed on this kernel.") The relevant line seems
> to be AUTOINSTALL="yes"
>
> At least I know where to start looking.
>
> BTW, just out of interest, what is the significance of the "mnb" suffix on
> RPMs?
>
> Doug.[/color]

I uninstalled the previous kernel, and everything came out right. Seems as
though there can't be two modules at once, although they are in different
directories.

Doug.

Doug Laidlaw wrote:
[color=blue]
> I uninstalled the previous kernel, and everything came out right. Seems
> as though there can't be two modules at once, although they are in
> different directories.[/color]

While your post on this matter has left me wondering, your last report on
the matter now just made me realize...

See, part the proprietary nVidia driver package must be built against your
kernel - which should normally not require any rebuilds of the driver if
you only update your kernel to a later patchlevel, as opposed to using a
different kernel version - but the driver itself is binary.

So what you're building is actually just the code that interfaces the evil
proprietary driver with the kernel, which is important in the event of e.g.
an SMP system versus a single-CPU system.

So my guess is that this piece of code that must be built against your
kernel is expecting a different kernel from the (newer) one you're using
and thus has trouble finding either the driver itself - e.g. because a
symlink would point to the wrong directory - or that it has problems
interfacing with the kernel it wasn't built against.

It's somewhat of an educated guess, because I haven't looked into the
loading mechanisms for these proprietary drivers yet. I suppose this is
something that would be handled by the /dkms/ package, but that's not
something I've looked into yet.

Despite the fact that this machine here uses an old all-stock Mandrake 10.0
- the sole exception being that I installed a later version of the Flash
plugins - I normally build my own kernels and I configure everything I need
to be inline with the kernel code itself rather than as modules.
Proprietary drivers are always modular, but then again I don't upgrade my
kernel often, so it's quite possible to have the binary driver module load
without /dkms./

Anyway, this was a totally useless post. :p The only use in it perhaps for
you is that you may now have a marginally slightly better clue as to why
you couldn't have two modules co-existing. :p

I'm not a guru. I just look like one. :pp

--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)

Doug Laidlaw wrote:[color=blue]
> Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Jim Beard wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>> Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>>>> I downloaded the Dual 1586/x64 CD and successfully upgraded my Cooker
>>>> installation to Official.
>>>>
>>>> My NVidia card was not detected on running the installer, but I was
>>>> successful after rebooting the first time.
>>>>
>>>> Now, I have updated my kernel to the latest, and although I ran XFdrake,
>>>> apparently successfully, the nvidia.ko module was not created. I didn't
>>>> see dkms run, and suspect that it didn't.
>>>>
>>>> On the bootup messages, I see that the relevant dkms.conf is not set to
>>>> run
>>>> automatically. The problem is that for each set (2 versions of nvidia +
>>>> virtualbox,) there are about 4 files called dkms.conf.
>>>>
>>>> (a) Can I set dkms to run during bootup? (Something like that used to
>>>> happen under previous releases.)
>>>> (b) If so, which file should I edit? Or all for the relevant nvidia
>>>> version?
>>> Load mcc, go to system, and there to services. Set dkms to run
>>> at boot.
>>>
>>> In addition to dkms being installed, you will need
>>> dkms-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1 or something similar,
>>>
>>> I think the next two are installed automatically.
>>> lib64kwinnvidiahack4-4.0.3-1mdv2008.1
>>> x11-driver-video-nvidia-current-169.12-4mdv2008.1
>>>
>>> Plus, you must have the kernel devel package for
>>> your _exact_ kernel. This will be something similar to,
>>> kernel-desktop-devel-2.6.24.3-4mnb-1-1mnb1
>>>
>>> Then reboot. If dkms builds you a proprietary nvidia
>>> module, it will be nvidia.ko and must be entered as nvidia
>>> in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If it builds you the reverse
>>> engineered module, it will be nv.ko and must be entered
>>> as nv in xorg.conf. If you get the nv.ko module, you
>>> may need to get the nvidia package from plf (though I think
>>> it is now included in the regular Mandriva package).
>>>
>>> If you have done all the above and still no joy, run
>>> XFdrake again and see what happens.
>>>
>>> Cheers!
>>>
>>> jim b.
>>>
>>>[/color]
>> Thanks Jim. It looks for nvidia.ko, which is missing. dkms is already
>> set to run on boot, but fails, because for everything it handles,
>> "AUTOINSTALL is not set in its dkms.conf" (except for nvidia on the
>> previous kernel,
>> which gives "already installed on this kernel.") The relevant line seems
>> to be AUTOINSTALL="yes"
>>
>> At least I know where to start looking.
>>
>> BTW, just out of interest, what is the significance of the "mnb" suffix on
>> RPMs?
>>
>> Doug.[/color]
>
> I uninstalled the previous kernel, and everything came out right. Seems as
> though there can't be two modules at once, although they are in different
> directories.[/color]

First, I have no clue what mnb stands for. The new multimedia
kernels are tmb, but I do not know hat that stands for either. :)

Glad everything is now working. Contrary to your belief, it is
possible to have two modules, each in its own module tree under
/lib/modules for the specific kernel it works with.

The proprietary nVidia modules are very tightly intergrated into the
kernel. Not only must one built for a recent kernel (that does not
yet have a nVidia binary version in stock) be built using the devel
files for that exact kernel (and that must be the one running, unless
you use arguments to the nvidia installer to tell it otherwise), the
compiler used for the kernel and the module must be the same. And
to make sure everything matches, names are checked in
/usr/src/*kernelname*/.config and maybe a place or two elsewhere. If
anything does not match up properly, the installer aborts. :(

My solution: As soon as I download and install a new kernel, I make
sure the new devel package is installed, and reboot to allow dkms to
build the new driver before anything changes. Only after that is
done do I tinker with anything that might confuse the nVidia
installer.

Cheers!

jim b.


--
UNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely
expects users to be computer-friendly.

Aragorn wrote:
[color=blue]
> Doug Laidlaw wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I uninstalled the previous kernel, and everything came out right. Seems
>> as though there can't be two modules at once, although they are in
>> different directories.[/color]
>
> While your post on this matter has left me wondering, your last report on
> the matter now just made me realize...
>
> See, part the proprietary nVidia driver package must be built against your
> kernel - which should normally not require any rebuilds of the driver if
> you only update your kernel to a later patchlevel, as opposed to using a
> different kernel version - but the driver itself is binary.
>
> So what you're building is actually just the code that interfaces the evil
> proprietary driver with the kernel, which is important in the event of
> e.g. an SMP system versus a single-CPU system.
>
> So my guess is that this piece of code that must be built against your
> kernel is expecting a different kernel from the (newer) one you're using
> and thus has trouble finding either the driver itself - e.g. because a
> symlink would point to the wrong directory - or that it has problems
> interfacing with the kernel it wasn't built against.
>
> It's somewhat of an educated guess, because I haven't looked into the
> loading mechanisms for these proprietary drivers yet. I suppose this is
> something that would be handled by the /dkms/ package, but that's not
> something I've looked into yet.
>
> Despite the fact that this machine here uses an old all-stock Mandrake
> 10.0 - the sole exception being that I installed a later version of the
> Flash plugins - I normally build my own kernels and I configure everything
> I need to be inline with the kernel code itself rather than as modules.
> Proprietary drivers are always modular, but then again I don't upgrade my
> kernel often, so it's quite possible to have the binary driver module load
> without /dkms./
>
> Anyway, this was a totally useless post. :p The only use in it perhaps
> for you is that you may now have a marginally slightly better clue as to
> why you couldn't have two modules co-existing. :p
>
> I'm not a guru. I just look like one. :pp
>[/color]
Thanks, that is probably the reason. I don't understand it fully, but there
seems to be only one dkms-nvidia directory tree, distinct from the kernel
modules. I had assumed that the tree would be under
kernel/modules/3rdparty or similar, and one could exist for each kernel.
Apparently, not so. For some reason, there were two versions of the driver
installed, side by side. That must have come from the RPMs.

I had discovered that it was impossible to install NVidia's own package
alongside Mandriva's, but that didn't surprise me.

Doug.