Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

So, whatever it is, it has nothing to do with the KVM switch nor the xorg.conf, so far as I can tell. It's simply a matter that if I use an Nvidia FX5200 video card or the onboard Nvidia 6150, the system works fine. But, install an Nvidia 8xxx card and following the BIOS splash screen, all I get is a sleeping monitor....whether I'm using my regular 21 inch LCD monitor or my 19 inch LCD test monitor.

Cheers,
zenarcher

Might it simply be, that you didn't disable the onboard nVidia chip when you installed the nVidia card? Unless you are/were running dual-head video configuration, having two 'active' video controllers can/does create problems.

Yes, I did disable the onboard Nvida chip when I installed the Nvidia card. Also, the same problem exists with two of my other computers with the Nvidia 8xxx cards in them, which do not have onboard video.

Regards,
zenarcher

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

I'm using a GeForce 9500 GT and it works fine with the latest driver from the xswat repository. This card is inexpensive and can be had for a reasonable price for those on a Social Security retirement budget. That includes me. Note that I am not a gamer. But it works with everything I have used. Glxgears shows over 5000 fps. Nvidia-settings shows 32 CUDA cores.

Thanks for that. I'll check into the GeForce 9500GT, as well. I like anything reasonable that fits into the Social Security retirement budget! Likewise, I am not a gamer, so I'm not concerned with that. Just reasonable, decent video.

Regards,
zenarcher

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

Well, I think I have resolved my Kubuntu and Nvidia problem. I ordered new Nvidia video cards today, so will have them at the first of the week and can remove my Nvidia 8xxx series cards and that should eliminate my problem.

Regards,
zenarcher

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

Just for the record, I installed my new Nvidia GeForce 210 video card that arrived yesterday....and this morning did a fresh install of Kubuntu 10.10. Removed and blacklisted the crippled Nouveau driver and installed the proprietary Nvidia driver and all is back as Kubuntu has always been. The problem is absolutely between Kubuntu 10.10 Final (and Kubuntu 11.04 Alpha) and the Nvidia GeForce 8400 card. (Since the 8400 worked fine with Debian and other distros I've tried.)

Cheers,
zenarcher

[dibl]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

Interesting -- good analysis (but expensive). So it's just Kubuntu that's having this problem -- Debian runs on the 8400 with the proprietary driver?

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

Hey dibi,

Yes, an expensive analysis, but the only way I could come up with an answer. I had installed Maverick with the GeForce 6150 and FX5200 without any problems with the proprietary driver. But, all three of my machines here with GeForce 8400 cards would die after installing the proprietary Nvidia driver. The monitor would go to sleep immediately following the BIOS splash screen. No way to wake it up and none of the fixes I read about or tried resolved the issue.

Finally, I asked around about later model Nvidia cards and whether anyone had a model that worked fine with Maverick or Natty. The GeForce 210 seemed to be good, so I reluctantly cut loose with some cash and ordered them. They arrived yesterday, so installed them and gave it a go with a fresh install today. Everything just worked perfectly.

Yes, I had the GeForce 8400 cards in the system with Debian and no problem whatsoever. Worked just as it should. Same with Mandriva and OpenSUSE and Aptosid. The ONLY time I ran into the problem was with Maverick Final Release. Prior to that, from Alpha 1 through the Release Candidate, everything was fine. It all died with Final and remained dead with the Natty Alpha 1 build. So, it came down to either replace the cards or give up on Kubuntu, which I didn't want to do.

Cheers,
zenarcher

[dibl]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

Well, then I guess you can hang on to those 8400s for "spares" or other purposes. They may well work fine when Natty comes out, for example.

I just can't fathom how the proprietary driver would lose some function on one Debian distro (Maverick) and not another. I thought the driver pretty much had 100% control of the GPU. There must be some interaction with the power management part of KDE 4.5 going on, with Kubuntu (which has modified KDE).

[zenarcher]

Re: Proprietary Nvida Fixes Found Don't Seem To Work For Me

I agree with you, dibi. I don't think it's the proprietary driver, since the same driver works fine with other distros. I likewise found exactly the same problem with the 8400's, trying them with Natty Alpha 1. Again, no problem with Natty and a GeForce 6150 card. Actually, I kind of like these GeForce 210's, so just went ahead and put the 8400's up on eBay. Better than just having they lying around here, I guess. My wife wants a newer and faster Windows game computer, so I have to get started on building one up for her before long. She doesn't play any really exotic games on Windows, but she has some games she enjoys, so I keep a separate box on the network, just for that. I'll probably just pick up another 210 for that one, as well.

Anyways, it's pretty difficult to try to troubleshoot or try anything with the 8400 card in the system, considering you can't get the monitor to do anything but sleep from the time Kubuntu begins to start up. All I get is the BIOS splash....and immediately a sleeping monitor You can't get the GRUB screen or anything, since the monitor is already sleeping.

Cheers,
zenarcher