Hot to use nvidia graphics card with kubuntu?

[Tassadar]

Hi all,

I've been using a computer with kubuntu during sometime, it is an Intel with an Intel VGA graphics card and after some problems I could make it work ok. (Kubuntu 14.10).

Now I've install a nvidia graphics card (GTX 750 ti) and it doesn't work correctly, it is one of those lot of things that under Windows is downloading a file and installing but with Linux it's a whole oddisey...

I tried to install drivers doing this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-source
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic
sudo apt-get install linux-image
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

Result: after reboot I could'n even set native resolution of screen (full-HD). Then I remove drivers with:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia-current

and then downloaded official drivers from nvidia website and installed them:

Hit CTRL+ALT+F1 and login using my credentials.
kill current X server session by typing sudo service lightdm stop
Enter runlevel 3 by typing sudo init 3 and install the*.run file.
Reboot

After reboot I can use full-HD resolution and 3d acceleration seems to work, but I have a huge tearing problem playing videos, games and anything.... I've change composition type from Xrender to OpenGL 3.1 since using Intel VGA I also had big tearing with xrender. But problem is not solved (it worked with intel card).

Then I've check vsyng is enabled in the OS, and it is "redraw all scene", and it's also enabled in XBMC.

I also installed anther nvidia card in other computer some time ago (Kubuntu 13.04) and I had exactly the same problem. No talk about AMD/ATI cards, I left them as impossible under linux long ago....

Mu question is.. How can I confugure this nvidia card to word as it should? (it is, avoiding this huge tearing effect that makes impossible watching a video).

Regards and thanks in advance.

[vinnywright]

look @hear post #73-72 https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...Bonobo-Extreme



VINNY

[oshunluvr]

Well, not helpful really, but I've never had to do anything other than install the drivers and kernel headers for years to get my nvidia cards to "just work". I do tweak, but I haven't have video issues in forever. Point being; something is in the way or is being missed. Since Kubuntu version 11.04, all I've had to doing is let the system notify me that restricted drivers are available after installation and then letting the system install them.

More bad news: Frankly, if you've installed the drivers from the .run file from nvidia you're not going to get much help here. 99% of us don't do that, preferring instead to wait for the Ubuntu packagers to test and package the drivers for us.

If you can figure out how to get rid of the nvidia drivers from the run file and get back to a clean Kubuntu install (re-installing comes to mind), then post back with more details about your system and what happens when you try letting the system install the drivers - in detail - along with error messages, if any, from your log files. Then we can possibly help you.

BTW, you don't need the kernel source for the driver installation, just the headers and dkms.

EDIT: FYI: I used a pair of 8800GTs for years and just recently upgraded to a single 780 GTX with no issues.

[anika200]

nvidia graphics card (GTX 750 ti)

This is a special card (maxwell chip set) and only works really well with the latest official Nvidia drivers. I am running one now without any problems so it should work. I have a feeling your driver is not installed correctly but I am not sure.
Can you see the Nvidia driver module is being used?

lee@lee-asrock:~$ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia              10557103  55 
drm                   303102  4 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia

and nouveau is not installed causing problems

lee@lee-asrock:~$ lsmod | grep nouveau

I am curious how you got your card to work at all without "nomodeset" in the kernel boot line like follows.

lee@lee-asrock:~$ cat /etc/default/grub
# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'


GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

When I installed the Nvidia official drivers from the Nvidia site I boot into recovery mode then select to start network which mounts all your drives so you can access the file and then select root prompt and install from there.
1) boot recovery
2) start network
3) select root prompt
4) make sure your downloaded Nvidia driver is executible "chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.58.run"
5) run file (example) ./home/lee/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-340.58.run
6) except all defaults and let the driver modify the xorg file.

[oshunluvr]

Good info there, anika200. I didn't know about the different chipset, I did find this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/42514...t-beta-drivers

[NoWorries]

I have not been successful with the NVIDIA drivers. I decided to try the nvidia 340.58 driver from xorg-edgers and I get a "default" screen showing in System Settings with no option to change resolution. The xrandr output is:

~$ xrandr
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
Screen 0: minimum 1024 x 768, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected primary 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       76.0*

The output relating to the NVIDIA drivers is:

~$ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia              10557117  0 
drm                   310919  4 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia

I also do not have the nouveau driver installed, ie no output from "lsmod | grep nouveau". When I use KinfoCenter there is no OpenGL information and I get an error message saying that it could not be initialized.

I suspect that my display is not being interrogated. I also have an auxiliary monitor and that is not detected as well. I would like to know if there is any way to fix this problem.

I have tried purging all nvidia* packages, but I still get the default display with no options? I am beginning to think that the nvidia drivers have creamed my system.

Edit:

All is now well as I had the nomodeset option added to the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in grub. When I removed it all is now working as it should.

[anika200]

~$ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia              10557117  0 
drm                   310919  4 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia

The Zero at the end of nvidia line means nobody is using your Nvidia driver. What does the command show now that everything is working?
Also try

lsmod | grep i915

All is now well as I had the nomodeset option added to the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT in grub. When I removed it all is now working as it should.

Great you got it working,
It would be nice to know what Nvidia card you are using in case someone else has the same one. What do you get when you

lspci | grep VGA

I wonder if the bios is set to use on board video instead of the pcie nvidia card.

Ahh, I just read in another thread that using nomodeset will stop the intel driver from working.

[NoWorries]

Now that it is working I get:

~$ lsmod | grep nvidia
nvidia              10557117  31 
drm                   310919  7 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia

~$ lsmod | grep i915
i915                  917658  3 
i2c_algo_bit           13406  1 i915
drm_kms_helper         61627  1 i915
drm                   310919  7 i915,drm_kms_helper,nvidia
video                  20128  2 i915,asus_wmi

The NVIDIA card that I am using is: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M 2GB. My Bios has no options for setting the video card. I have an ASUS R501VM. The VGA details are:

~$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF108M [GeForce GT 630M] (rev a1)

The NVIDIA X Server Settings only show one monitor and it I select Detect Displays it promptly exits. I have not yet started this package from the command line to see what is going on.

I have not yet tried my Laptop with its HDMI output. I hope to be able to do that in a couple of hours.

[NoWorries]

I have checked my Bios and the only video setting provides the pre-allocation of memory for video, ie DVMT Pre-Allocated [512M] which is the maximum and [32M] which is minimum.

When I connected using the HDMI on my Laptop to a HD TV, the X Server Display Configuration gave a single screen 3046x1050. The x size is the sum of the value for the TV and the Laptop, ie it creates one big screen which is difficult to manage. The System Settings > Display and Monitor shows two screens.

When I boot using my second display, which uses a VGA connection, this display is blank and during the boot procedure the second display shows the message "Analogue Power Saving Mode". I have a way to fix this by running the program ARandR, which gives the tools to activate the second display and save a shell file that can be executed when rebooted. Note that when I revert to the Intel Card and reboot, there is no error and it boots correctly with the second display working without any error.

I believe the xorg.conf file needs to have an option for a connected monitor. My file has no mention of this and is

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout"
    Screen 0 "nvidia"
    Inactive "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "intel"
    Driver "intel"
    BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
    Option "AccelMethod" "SNA"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "intel"
    Device "intel"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Driver "nvidia"
    BusID "PCI:1@0:0:0"
    Option "ConstrainCursor" "off"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "nvidia"
    Device "nvidia"
    Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "on"
    Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT"
EndSection

I hope there is an elegant solution to this problem which will work for any second display that is connected.