time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation [SOLVED]

[rfakhrai]

I just did a clean install of 10.04. I got nearly everything configured the way I wanted it and now I'm having trouble with installing the proprietary nvidia driver. I've been through it all in 9.10 so I'm pretty positive that my method is sound. I'm trying to install the 173 driver for an FX5200.

I ran the NVIDIA [...] .run file and I was alarmed by the message "the distro-provided preinstall script failed. continue?" I've searched and there have been problems when people answer yes; something else goes wrong with the install process and sometimes hangs the machine. Here's the log file:

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Thu Apr 29 12:34:55 2010
installer version: 1.0.7

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
 no X server check    : false
 no cc version check   : false
 force 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)
 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       : [url]ftp://download.nvidia.com[/url]
 RPM file list      : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> Installing NVIDIA driver version 173.14.25.
-> Running distribution scripts
  executing: '/usr/lib/nvidia/pre-install'...
-> done.
-> The distribution-provided pre-install script failed! Continue installation 
  anyway? (Answer: No)
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 [url]www.nvidia.com[/url].

Have things changed since 9.10? I know this installation method is unsupported so is there any cleaner newer way that I should know about? Thanks in advance!

[rfakhrai]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

lspci -k reveals that my graphics card is controlled by nouveau and nvidiafb modules. I've tried adding blacklisting them blacklist.conf. Requires a reboot, I'm sure; it's been a long day at the computer

I'll check back in tomorrow.

[type3]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

I ran the NVIDIA [...] .run file

I install via the GUI these days as it's very straight forward:

Launcher Menu -> System -> Hardware Drivers
Select the version you want and press 'Activate'.


Is there a reason why you are doing it from the command line?

[dibl]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107406.0

[kjjjjshab]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

"Incompatibility with nVidia upstream driver installer

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS includes improved integration for nVidia binary driver packages. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of compatibility with the installer provided upstream on the nVidia website. Users who wish to use the nVidia binary video drivers with 10.04 LTS should install them using the Ubuntu packages, as made available under System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers. "

Does that apply to your problem? Looks like they broke that method this release, more so than just being unsupported.

[dibl]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

The "Hardware Drivers" functionality, formerly known as "jockey-kde" has always been kind of iffy, for me -- sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't -- sometimes it offers the current generation of driver, sometimes the prior generation. Learning to use the Nvidia driver installer seems to be the most reliable way to get a current driver version installed, in my experience.

[kjjjjshab]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

Sure, but that release note hasn't been used every release, right? That is new and it looks to point at a bigger problem. Or am I misinterpreting it?

[dibl]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

I haven't studied it, but I don't necessarily think you are misinterpreting it. What I'm saying is "Here is reason #27 not to bother with it."

:P

As far as "will the proprietary driver installer still work on 10.04?", I have empirical evidence that it will:

dibl@lucid:~$ glxgears
Running synchronized to the vertical refresh. The framerate should be
approximately the same as the monitor refresh rate.
39018 frames in 5.0 seconds
42900 frames in 5.0 seconds
51627 frames in 5.0 seconds
38852 frames in 5.0 seconds
35829 frames in 5.0 seconds
dibl@lucid:~$ glxinfo | grep glx
server glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
server glx version string: 1.4
server glx extensions:
client glx vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation
client glx version string: 1.4
client glx extensions:
dibl@lucid:~$ uname -a
Linux lucid 2.6.32-21-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 16 08:09:38 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux

and

[IMG width=400 height=255]http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2324/lucidnvidia1953624.png[/img]

[rfakhrai]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

You were the one who taught me how to do it, dibl. But, I didn't check your how-to until you just linked me to it; I didn't realize it mentions the nouveau step.

sudo apt-get remove --purge linux-backports-modules-nouveau-2.6.32.21-generic

doesn't get at the right package for me. Won't blacklisting the nouveau module do the same thing for me? And, I don't know what the nvidiafb module is but I'm assuming I should blacklist that too.

[dibl]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

Hmmmmmmmm -- I'm not sure rfakhrai, I haven't had to solve the "remove nouveau" problem since I installed 10.04 as an Alpha version. Perhaps they have changed the repo for the nouveau modules. I'd search Ubuntu Forums, and maybe google it.

[rfakhrai]

Re: time for the age-old Nvidia driver installation

OK, so the driver has been successfully installed. As I mark this topic [solved], I'll outline what did the trick.

add to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf (as superuser)

blacklist nouveau
blacklist nvidiafb

then follow dibl's excellent instructions (method 2):
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107406.0


Thanks for the replies, everyone.