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**cogadh** · Jun 16, 2008, 12:19 PM

Re: How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu?

Edit the xorg.conf to use the "nv" driver instead of the vesa driver, then disable the onboard GPU in your BIOS. After a reboot, it should (note I said "should") come up with the basics graphics functionality you need to install the proprietary Nvidia driver.

**mintlars** · Jun 17, 2008, 02:17 AM

Re: How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu?

Well that didn't work, but I managed to get it running with the vesa driver and was able to install the nvidia-drivers. However, another problem seem to occur. When booting with the new driver, it hangs on the nvidia splash screen (and yes, this happens if the splash screen isn't activated too) leaving me unable to do anything else then restart. I tried installing the driver with the kubuntu restricted driver manager and EnvyNG, but the problem remains regardless of which. As far as I know, I've also installed all the updates too. Ideas?

Edit: I suggest that someone move this topic to software support since the new problem seem to fit more into that category.

**Duggeek** · Jun 17, 2008, 05:51 PM

Re: How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu?

"mintlars",

I've installed Kubuntu on two generations of mainboard; both with embedded GPUs and both where I wanted to use an add-in GPU card instead.

I'll tell you this, it starts with your BIOS setting and where you have physically connected your monitor.

When you power-on the PC, the BIOS will select which video device to use. Some BIOS types will prefer an add-in card, where others must be told to use anything but the embedded GPU. Once you have nailed-down the BIOS setting that chooses to use the add-in GPU, you should then physically switch the VGA/DVI cable from the embedded VGA connector to the add-in card and reboot.

If you can get into your BIOS setup while connected to the add-in card, then you're halfway there.

I've wrestled with nvidia drivers since the days of Edgy Eft, and it's never been easy. Here's two things that I've learned:

Always start with a "fresh" xorg.conf (generated using x-windows defaults)
Use the appropriate nvidia tools to re-write xorg.conf, using that as a starting point.

In any case, the first thing you do is log out of the X-windows desktop; leave it at the 'welcome' screen. Get to one of your virtual consoles (I generally use Ctrl+Alt+F1) and log-in with your username and password.

Use this command:

Code:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

... enter your password and answer the prompts that appear. Defaults are good for most of it, and the dpkg script is written very well for the novice... many times, it will say "If you are unsure, use the default." (in other words, press Enter)

When you're done, you will have a 'clean' xorg.conf file to work with.

Be certain that you've obtained the right nvidia driver package! For cards after the 5000 or "MX" series, you should be using 'nvidia-glx-new'... If, for some reason, you've installed the 'older' set of nvidia drivers... get rid of them! Do this even before you reset x-windows settings, as it's likely that something will go wrong if you keep them.

You can use this command to get rid of the 'older' drivers:

Code:

sudo apt-get remove nvidia-glx

(answer with "Y" or just press Enter when it asks you to confirm the changes)

To install the drivers for 'current' nvidia GPUs, use this command:

Code:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-new

Now, use the nvidia configuration tool; nvidia-xconfig just like this:

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

This program will make some simple, although critical, changes to xorg.conf and generally gets X working. The way to find out is to switch back to the KDE login screen and reset X-windows to test it out. (newer Kubuntu has this integrated as the key-combination Alt+E, but you can also use the tried-and-true Ctrl+Alt+backspace)

If you see the nvidia logo, then it's a sign that you're using the right driver. If you then see the KDE login screen, you're ready to go.

Unless you've switched to compiz, you should have control over most all video settings in your System Settings panel; just be sure to enable Administrator Mode to adjust them. (you may have heard of the nvidia-settings tool, but that's been dropped for the 'new' GPUs... don't install it, don't even try)

You should have options to control the multiple outputs on your nvidia card; for your needs, I think the "clone screen" option for your TV would work best.

Based on what you've posted, I suspect that you may have been using the wrong VGA connection--and therefore, the wrong GPU--with the nvidia drivers. Start at the BIOS with the VGA connected to the embedded VGA port and work your way up from there.

Best of luck,
- Douglas

**mintlars** · Jun 18, 2008, 03:28 AM

Re: How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu?

Thanks for the tips. Most of this I've already been trying, and I'm very sure that the onboard gpu is being used when I've tried getting it to work well (I'm currently using the onboard one, but I've been switching my vga-connector a bunch of times back and forth when trying to fix this and set the bios to use PCI-E for graphics).

Anyway, as far as I know nvidia-settings have been automatically installed when I've installed the nvidia-drivers using EnvyNG and built in Kubuntu manager so, if I'm lucky enough, this could cause the freezing when using the driver. I will try this out soon. I'll give an update soon.

Update1: Ok, so I followed the steps provided above and this has changed some things for sure. Right now I cannot log in to an x-session at all. When I restarted using the nvidia-glx-new driver, my computers halts right after it says "Starting up..." and "loading, please wait...". After those two there are some messages I have no idea what they mean. In order of appearence, these are:

kinit: name_to_dev_t(/dev/disk/by-uuid/ceaaff7e-17ca-4f0e-b139-2c9bd81258b9) = sda1(8,1)
kinit: trying to resume from /dev/disk/by-uuid/ceaaff7e-17ca-4f0e-b139-2c9bd81258b9
kinit: no resume image, doing normal boot

After this, I can do a text-mode login, but cannot start X. One more thing: before I login the screen flickers on and off seemingly regularly. More ideas?

Update2: After the above update I logged in (text-mode) and took a look at xorg.conf and was pleased to see that it looks more familiar to my old settings before the hardware upgrade. I switched the driver to vesa just to see if that would change anything, and with this change I was able to log in as usual still using the nvidia GPU although not using the nvidia driver, which is a huge improvement. However, I still want to use the nvidia driver, but my desktop doesn't want to use it. Is there something missing or broken here? I'll post the xorg.conf here:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 1.0 (buildmeister@builder3) Thu Feb 14 18:20:37 PST 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 30.0 - 110.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "vesa" "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

I've added the difference between the working config and the non-working one. The non-working one is highlighted in red. This seems more like a problem with the driver than hardware. Is the driver broken or is there something missing which I should install to make it work? So close now. Thankful for further guidance.

**Duggeek** · Jul 02, 2008, 07:11 PM

Re: How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu? [SOLVED]

Glad to be of help, and sorry for the long delay in responding.

I appreciate the dilemma you've encountered... I had to suffer some fits of command-line-hell for a time before finally getting the settings straight.

One thing I've learned, is that when a third-party package (like EnvyNG) works, it works well. When it doesn't work, it's a catastrophe. That's exactly when I stop using it and go back to the basics... if it's not tailored for my needs, then I'll just return to tried-and-true hacking on the xorg.conf or using KDE configuration tools.

On that note, there's one section of your config that caught my eye:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier   "Monitor0"
  VendorName   "Unknown"
  ModelName   "Unknown"
  HorizSync    30.0 - 110.0
  VertRefresh   50.0 - 150.0
  Option     "DPMS"
EndSection

This would tell me that the x-server really has no idea what you have as a display device. Sometimes, this can be as important as choosing the right driver for your video card. The numbers shown are--what I'd refer to as--the "catch all" settings. This doesn't really hold true, as it has an equal chance of sending a 'good' video signal to your display as it does a 'bad' signal. This would seem to be evidenced by the flickering at the welcome screen.

If you can get a stable x-windows session going, then here's what I'd do first:

Go into System Settings > Monitor and Display
Be sure to enter Administrator Mode
Click over to the Hardware tab, where you will see your detected hardware listed.
(note that the driver will detect all possible display devices, and not necessarily just the ports where you've already attached a monitor)
Find your current monitor (should be listed as "Monitor 0" and tagged "Primary") and click Configure
If at all possible, find the make and model of your monitor in the list that pops-up. (under "Manufacturers") If you find it, click OK and then Apply
If it seems that your monitor is nowhere to be found under there, go under the "Generic" list and pick "Plug and Play" for now.

After applying and closing System Settings, log out and do an x-windows restart. (either Alt+E or Ctrl+Alt+backspace) You might just notice a difference right away.

One thing that hasn't been clear is whether you've permanently changed your VGA connection or not. Please tell me this; have you permanently attached your monitor to the add-in card VGA port, or is it still attached to the on-board VGA port? If you have your BIOS hard-set to use 'PCI-E' (the PCI-Express 16x slot) then that's all there is to it... stick with the card's VGA port and leave the other to collect dust. It removes one variable from the situation and should avoid much frustration in the future.

The reason I seem to be so insistent about which VGA port to use is that most video chipsets can detect whether a monitor is attached or not. This can affect the operation of the video chipset, and in some cases, it will also affect the BIOS behavior as you power-on your PC. Switching between the two will only confuse matters; both for your BIOS and for any OS you're configuring. Do yourself a favor and stick to one like it was the only one on your machine. (in this case, the add-in card... since that's the reason you installed it, yes?)

Once we're on the same page with the bits I've mentioned here, then we can really get down to what matters. Refer back to my previous post as well.

Also, did you make absolutely sure that you have the 'nvidia-glx' package removed? (keeping the 'nvidia-glx-new' package, of course) As I said before, if EnvyNG doesn't do the trick right away, then simply remove it to keep things from getting too messy. Using too many tools to fix a problem can be just as frustrating as not having the right tool to begin with!

Best of luck,
- Douglas

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How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu? [SOLVED]

How do I make the heron use my "real" gpu? [SOLVED]

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