Only 1 nvidia driver works

[bjb1959]

I have a very strange issue. I purchased an ati hd card that could get effects running with but not well and xbmc and boxee wouldn't play video at all. switched to an nvidia gt 240 which worked with the nv driver but the nvidia drivers caused x not to start until I replace "nvidia" with "nv". So I finally exchanged for a geforce 9500 gt which will ONLY work with the 173.x.x driver, if I install any other driver it breaks x again until I replace "nvidia" with "nv" I haven't had this much trouble with video cards since 2005. any ideas or is it just that Linux won't work with newer cards?

[dibl]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

The proprietary Nvidia driver actually works great for newer cards, in my experience. Give this guidance a careful review -- you might discover that you've omitted a step or two: http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3107406.0

Hint: It is no longer (for a couple of years now) sufficient to merely switch the name of the driver in the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

[bjb1959]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

dibl, thanks for the reply but unfortunately I have installed the driver using both Jockey and also building from nvidia source on a clean install of kubuntu (I know you can't just change the xorg.conf line but thanks for the hint for the newbies) and the only driver I can get to work is 173.x.x using Jockey (the kubuntu/ubuntu hardware driver installation utility). If I use Jockey to install the "recommended" driver 185.x.x or if I install the nvidia vdpau ppa repo and install the 190.x.x or 195.x.x drivers and use sudo nvidia-xconfig from tty by dropping to the command line using ctrl/alt f1 after logging out and then either rebooting or restarting kdm the x server tries to start 2 or 3 times and then goes to the command line. I have mc installed so that I can open the xorg.conf at that point and restore a backup of the basic xorg.conf file with the "nv" driver line in it and then restart kdm using sudo service kdm restart and then, only then will x start and kde desktop come back up. If I then use Jockey to install the 173.x.x driver the x server starts and I have kwin effects.

So can you give me some insight into that? or no?

[Detonate]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

I just installed a GeForce 9500 GT on my machine and it is performing flawlessly with the 185 driver. So maybe you got a bad card out of the box.

[bjb1959]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

Well, I'm glad it works for you but it doesn't for me and the same thing happened with my 7800 gt I replaced with the 9500 gt. from about ubuntu/kubuntu 9.04 onward. that card only worked with the 173.x.x driver and no others so I don't know what the problem is but it isn't the card because I also tried a gefore 240 as well with the same results. Could it be something with my motherboard? I don't remember having this much trouble with video in Linux for years so I can only assume it is another piece of hardware somewhere causing problems and am looking for someone who can point me in the right direction.

[Detonate]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

I think you are on the right track suspecting a hardware problem.

[dibl]

Re: Only 1 nvidia driver works

I've run Linux on GS7900, GTS8800, GT9600, and GTX260 cards, on Intel and Asus motherboards. I'm sold on the Nvidia Linux driver support for their cards -- it's not perfect, but it's way ahead of #2, IMHO.

Here are the key concepts, as reflected in the guide I wrote:

- strip out nvidia* files and nvidia-restricted-modules stuff before you install
- stop the KDM X server before you install
- let the nvidia-xconfig utility write the xorg.conf file one time, then tweak it if needed

Yes, I would also be a bit suspicious of your motherboard -- maybe the BIOS or chipset is not supporting a 100% standard PCI bus, for example.