Basic help with NVIDIA 3d drivers please.
Posts: 9
Hi all.
I'm doing my best to convert to Linux but until I get my hands on a clear beginers guidebook I'm still very much a noob at all this Konsole type stuff. 
Bearing that in mind, can anyone give me a basic guide on how to get my graphics card drivers installed and working properly.
I have spent all day yesterday searching on this site and others but can't find any advice that works for me.
At the moment it is running in 1024x768 ( which is fine ) but at a refresh of 71hz which is very annoying. In XP I run at 75hz.
Also, I don't seem to have 3d ( GL ? ) support. None of the Open GL screensavers work nor the couple of Arcade games that come with the CD.
Every time I try to alter settings as per advice in some of these threads the boot up reaches a point where it asks for me to press either Ctrl-Alt-F7 or Ctrl-Alt-F8.
F7 goes to a blank black screen with a top left flashing cursor and F8 does nothing.
Then I have to re-install from scratch and start all over again.
My card is a 6600 GT
I'll leave it at this for now and give more info if anyone asks for it.
Thanks in advance. 
Yep, done that and it takes
Posts: 9
Yep, done that and it takes me to the Ctrl-Alt-F7 problem
The first thing you should
Posts: 194
The first thing you should do is to put your monitor specs(freq) in.
mouse and display>monitor
restart
If that does not help then edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf by removing all the modelines from the section where you see your monitor specs you just put in (Section "Monitor") and restart(alt+ctrl+backspace).
After that you should have 75Hz in Display Settings.
nvidia
Posts: 123
Ok, now I'm confused. Hiting ctrl-Alt-F7 or F8 takes you to different graphic consoles used to switch between users. F7 is usually the first user that logged in which corresponds with your flashing curser. Can you post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file? also try pressing F2 when your booting and see if you see any error messages about the xorg server problems.
I just remembered that even though the screen saver choices show up in the desktop config module they may not be installed. When I look on my machine there are several xscreensaver packages not installed.
xorg problems
Posts: 123
have you been hit with the xerver-xorg-core upgrade problems mentioned here?
XConf file
Posts: 9
Thanks for the replys.
I will look into those links Rich and try what Yamal says.
Here is my XConf file ( there are two, the other is called XConf.in. I assume this is the right one ? ).
I'm affraid most of it is gobbledygook to me but hopefully you guys may spot something
Thanks again and talk to you later.
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "XFree86 Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
#Screen 0 "ATIScreen" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "PS/2 Mouse" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "USB Mouse" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "Touchpad" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "Stylus" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "Eraser" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "Cursor" "CorePointer"
#InputDevice "Serial Mouse" "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
EndSection
Section "Files"
# Xorg 7.0 font paths
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/util"
# Legacy font paths
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/util"
# Other font paths
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-lucida"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/kochi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/latex-xft-fonts"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "GLcore"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "type1"
Load "v4l"
Load "vbe"
Load "synaptics"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "uk"
Option "XKbOptions" ""
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Serial Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Microsoft"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "LeftEdge" "1700"
Option "RightEdge" "5300"
Option "TopEdge" "1700"
Option "BottomEdge" "4200"
Option "FingerLow" "25"
Option "FingerHigh" "30"
Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
Option "MaxTapMove" "220"
Option "VertScrollDelta" "100"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.06"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.12"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010"
Option "SHMConfig" "on"
Option "Repeater" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "PS/2 Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
Option "Emulate3Timeout" "70"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "USB Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Stylus"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Mode" "Absolute"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Endsection
# Settings for wacom eraser
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Eraser"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Mode" "Absolute"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Endsection
# Settings for wacom cursor (mouse)
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Cursor"
Driver "wacom"
Option "Mode" "Absolute"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Endsection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "unknown"
ModelName "unknown"
#Option "DPMS" "true"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 #60Hz
Modeline "800x600" 40.12 800 848 968 1056 600 601 605 628 #60Hz
Modeline "1024x768" 75 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync
Modeline "1024x768" 85 1024 1056 1152 1360 768 784 787 823
ModeLine "1152x864" 65 1152 1168 1384 1480 864 865 875 985 Interlace
Modeline "1152x864" 92 1152 1208 1368 1474 864 865 875 895
Modeline "1152x864" 110 1152 1240 1324 1552 864 864 876 908
Modeline "1152x864" 135 1152 1464 1592 1776 864 864 876 908
Modeline "1152x864" 137.65 1152 1184 1312 1536 864 866 885 902 -HSync -VSync
Modeline "1280x768" 80.14 1280 1344 1480 1680 768 769 772 795
ModeLine "1280x800" 80.58 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 827 -HSync -VSync
Modeline "1280x1024" 80 1280 1296 1512 1568 1024 1025 1037 1165 Interlace
Modeline "1280x1024" 110 1280 1328 1512 1712 1024 1025 1028 1054
Modeline "1280x1024" 126.5 1280 1312 1472 1696 1024 1032 1040 1068 -HSync -VSync
Modeline "1280x1024" 135 1280 1312 1456 1712 1024 1027 1030 1064
Modeline "1280x1024" 135 1280 1312 1416 1664 1024 1027 1030 1064
Modeline "1280x1024" 157.5 1280 1344 1504 1728 1024 1025 1028 1072 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1280x1024" 181.75 1280 1312 1440 1696 1024 1031 1046 1072 -HSync -VSync
Modeline "1440x900" 106.47 1440 1520 1672 1904 900 901 904 932 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1400x1050" 129 1400 1464 1656 1960 1050 1051 1054 1100 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1600x1200" 162 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1600x1200" 189 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 -HSync -VSync
Modeline "1600x1200" 202.5 1600 1664 1856 2160 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1600x1200" 220 1600 1616 1808 2080 1200 1204 1207 1244 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1680x1050" 147.14 1680 1784 1968 2256 1050 1051 1054 1087
ModeLine "1800x1440" 230 1800 1896 2088 2392 1440 1441 1444 1490 +HSync +VSync
ModeLine "1800x1440" 250 1800 1896 2088 2392 1440 1441 1444 1490 +HSync +VSync
Modeline "1920x1200" 230 1920 1936 2096 2528 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "ATIMonitor"
VendorName "unknown"
ModelName "unknown"
#Option "DPMS" "true"
HorizSync 30.0 - 75.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
BoardName "unknown"
#BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
#Option "sw_cursor" # needed for some ati cards
#Option "hw_cursor"
#Option "NoAccel"
#Option "ShowCache"
#Option "ShadowFB"
#Option "UseFBDev"
#Option "Rotate"
Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"
# savage special options, use with care
#Option "NoUseBios"
#Option "BusType" "PCI"
Option "DmaMode" "None"
# nvidia special options, use with care
Option "CursorShadow" "1"
Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "63"
Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "2"
Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "4"
Option "FlatPanelProperties" "Scaling = native"
Option "NoLogo" "false"
Option "IgnoreEdid" "true" # needs to be true for some nvidia cards
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultColorDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
# Only the official NVIDIA driver supports twinview
# these setting are an example
Option "TwinView" "false"
Option "SecondMonitorVendorName" "unknown"
Option "SecondMonitorModelName" "unknown"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-75"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-70"
#Option "MetaModes" "1024x768, 1024x768"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "dfp,dfp"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "ATIScreen"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "ATIMonitor"
DefaultColorDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
OK - bit of success I did a
Posts: 9
OK - bit of success 
I did a full partition purge and re-install. I then got the latest updates via APT notify.
I enterd my Monitor frequencys ( btw, I should have said 85hz not 75 is what I normally run in ) but that changed the setting from 71hz to 76hz ... better, but still not right.
So I edited the X-Config file as Yamal suggested ( felt scary to delete all that stuff ) and re-booted.
It worked, refresh was at 85hz. Nice one
But, that is all in "nv (xorg)" and the 3d support is chronic to the point of being useless.
When I try to switch to "nvidia (new)" the pc gets about half way through the boot up sequence and the monitor turns off.
If I enter my root password the HD works and I hear the loggin notification sound but the monitor stays off.
I have tried with a different monitor but it's just the same.
I'm going to mess about some more and will post anything new I find unless someone allready has a solution ?
nvidia drivers
Posts: 123
Hey nulla pax
for a newbie you learn real quick. it sounds like you have tried about everything. I'm going to have to think and for an old fart like me that's hard. A couple of really dumb questions based on my experiences. I doubt either is the answer but you never know.
1: How old is your monitor? When I first installed the nvidia drivers and dual monitors I had an old monitor that didn't have a required "protocol". The monitor was given to me so its age is unkown and I first did this 2 years ago. If you think this might be the problem hopefully you can find out from the nivida web site. It has to be a real old monitor.
2: When you first installed the nvida drivers did you use the mepis utilities or something else? I ask because on a Mepis 6.0 beta, I first installed the nvidia drivers using synaptic and could not get the drivers to work until I reinstalled mepis and used the mepis utilities. Note that this was a beta and the reinstall was for other reasons. I didn't really try to fix the problem so I do not know if the reinstall was necessary. Does anyone know-Must the Nvidia driver be installed with Mepis utilities?
In your config file
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
BoardName "unknown"
When you change to the nvidia of nv drivers I assume that they replace "vesa". Other than different freq. ranges and that my dpms option is set to "true" our config files look the same.
It ain't suppose to require this much work.
couple of questions
Posts: 2280
Have you checked at the nvidia site for the correct driver version you should use? Allso try f3 at grub boot screenn and enter the resolution you want at the end of the grub boot string a space after last entry. Then use Mepis utilities to reinstall xserver. Remove the nonfunctional driver with synaptic then you have to know the right driver to proceed but if you havent tried legacy try it again with Mepis utilities.
jim
You might try nvidia-legacy
Posts: 194
You might try nvidia-legacy instead.
Make sure thru your packagemanager that it is actually installed before doing a full reboot.
Also make sure that you have the matching linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-26-386 version:2.6.15.11-3
Rich - I,m another one of
Posts: 9
Rich -
I,m another one of those old farts who got a ZX81 almost the day they came out and started writing my own programs so I hope to figure out Linux eventually. Trouble is my brain cells have sufferd some serious abuse over the years and Microsoft have made me lazy. 
Monitor is only a couple of years old, Hyundai image quest Q995 though it isnt in the drop down list in settings.
I have installed the drivers via Mepis Utils and Synaptic. I have even tried doing it by hand from the Nvidia site but I'm not totally sure I'm doing that right yet
James & Yamal -
I'll give those ideas a try over the weekend.
Thanks all, if nothing else I'm learning my way around
nvidia drivers
Posts: 123
Have you tried going to system configuration => system administration=> mepis utilities => mouse and display and letting mepis install the necessary software?
ie mepis has a utility to install everything and you don't even need to use the command line.