X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

[bradjackson5]

Hello, back in October of ´07 I tried installing 7.10 and experienced an odd graphics failure. I gathered that my video card was known to have problems with 7.04 so I reverted to 6.06 which worked. I picked up a GeForce 8400GS today and tried installing 8.04 and ran into very similar problems.

My setup is:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4000+
1 GB 800Mhz PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM
NVidia GeForce 8400 GS
Western Digital 400 GB SATA drive
Asus M2V-MX K8M890 mainboard

I used the alternate install CD and everything seemed to work ok during the install. On the first boot X seemed to start ok, the checkerboard background loaded, the orbiting circles ¨wait¨ icon appeared, then the screen became all white, with a faintly off white rectangle in the place I´d expect to find the login window.

I tried envy-ng and the result was the screen was green with a pale green rectangle instead of white with an off white rectangle.

Using xorg.conf.failsafe has allowed me to get a minimally functioning system.

Is it my mainboard that´s the problem? I researched before buying the 8400 and didn´t find any reports of problems with it.

[gnowak]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Hi, have you tried this solution?

[bradjackson5]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

No, I hadn't. I guess I'm not used to assuming the vendor will support Linux.

Unfortunately, it didn't work. The NVIDIA installer said it couldn't find a kernel module it needed, claimed it could compile the necessary one, claimed success but on reboot I got some error messages from the kernel and then everything froze solid.

What baffles me is that 6.06 works perfectly right from the install, and - worse - the 8.04 live CD also works fine. Self evidently my graphic card and mainboard are working, and even working with 8.04, just not when its actually installed.

[gnowak]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Hmm that sounds strange. Don't know where to go from here..

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Have you tried the EnvyNG script installer? If not, it's definitely worth a shot. With kubuntu-restricted-extras repo enabled, do the following in the Konsole:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install envyng-core

(when installation is finished)

sudo envy -t

I would recommend you first choose #2 "Uninstall the driver", then when that is finished, choose #1 "Install the driver". When the installation is finished, I think there is a menu choice to start the X server. Or else you can exit Envy and restart your system.

[bradjackson5]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

I tried EnvyNG, it produced a green screen with a pale green rectangle (solid) rather than the login window.

I tried it again, this time following your instructions, having it remove the drivers before having it install the drivers, and the result was a swirl of rainbow colors with the Kubuntu logo being jagged and difficult to read, but visible amid the rainbow swirl, and some noise filled rectangles where the username and password blanks should be. Rather attractive, actually, but not really a working login screen.

I tried typing my name and password into the junk filled rectangles, but nothing happened.

Am I going to have to either replace my mainboard or go back to 6.06?

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Does that motherboard happen to have an integrated graphics chip on it? If so, you need to make sure it is disabled in BIOS.

I dunno, this is a tough situation. I think the problem lies more in the motherboard than your 8400GS. My 8800GTS was kind of a bear to get going the first time, but the drivers have caught up with it now. And there was no issue with it when I installed 8.04.

Possibly a boot line "cheatcode" might set it to get past the login splash. Try "vga=791" and if there's no joy, try "vga=785". I'll cross my fingers. :P

[bradjackson5]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

There is onboard video, but it is disabled, I just double checked.

I can't afford a new mainboard right now, especially not since I just bought a new video card. Guess its back to 6.06 until I can afford a new board.

It still bugs me that the live CD works perfectly, what is it doing that the standard install isn't?

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

It's surprising to think that 6.06 will let you install the Nvidia driver on that system, but funny things do happen.

Did you play with the boot line cheatcodes? It may be something as simple as "pci-noacpi" or one of the "vga=" codes. If you can see your boot menu, in the first 5 seconds you can press "e" to edit it (for the current boot attempt only", and then cursor to the line that begins "root=(hd0,0) ....", and cursor to the end of that line and add each code that you want to test. I would try pci=noacpi, in case it is related to your PCI bus, and then vga=785 and vga=791 in case it is the splash screen that are making it barf.

Google will lead you to tables where all of the cheat codes are listed.

[bradjackson5]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Just tried the cheat codes, no success. I can only guess that I've either got a mainboard with a very subtle and odd defect, or there's something odd going on with the graphics card and the mainboard. It still bugs me that it works with WinXP, it works with 6.06 and it works with the 8.04 live CD.

Were I a better linux guru I could figure it out I'm sure. Oh well, I can buy a new mainboard next month, and in the meantime I can keep using 6.06. Thanks for the advice.

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Bummer. Well there's nothing wrong with 6.06.

[bradjackson5]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

I may be buying a new mainboard sooner than I thought. The reinstall of 6.06 appeared to go perfectly, but it won't boot. I think, at this point, that we can write my problem off as hardware failure not any problem with Kubuntu.

I always wanted a new mainboard. Maybe this time something not Asus, or at least not low end Asus.

Thanks again for all the help.

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Bummer.

I've never regretted dropping a few extra bucks to get an Intel motherboard (I may be the only one on the Forum with one).

[gnowak]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Hmm flaming MOBOS?? ;-)

I have a Asus P4P800 MOBO with a GeForce 7600 GT gfx card (source: "sudo lshw"). No probs here ;-)

[dibl]

Re: X failing with Nvidia 8400GS

Hmm flaming MOBOS?? ;-)

No flames here. I have an Asus EEE PC too -- there's nothing wrong with Asus products.