Installing nVidia for AMD64/EM64T cards

Rick Stevens rstevens at vitalstream.com
Thu Nov 18 22:32:03 UTC 2004 

Michael Velez wrote:
> Rick,
>  
> Thanks for your reply.  To make things more readable, I put my comments 
> in *bold **green* below.

Please don't do that.  If you simply reply appropriately, the thread
tags will be OK.  The list prefers plain ol' text.

>  
> Michael
>  
> ---- Original Message -----
> From: "Rick Stevens" <rstevens at vitalstream.com 
> <mailto:rstevens at vitalstream.com>>
> To: "Getting started with Red Hat Linux" <redhat-install-list at redhat.com 
> <mailto:redhat-install-list at redhat.com>>
> Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 12:27 PM
> Subject: Re: Installing nVidia for AMD64/EM64T cards
> 
>  > Michael Velez wrote:
>  >> Hello all,
>  >
>  > Hi, yourself!
>  >
>  >> I just installed RHEL 3 WS on a Dell Precision 370n Workstation with
>  >> EM64T architecture.
>  >
>  > Okey doke.  Never used that particular combo, but OK.
> 
>  > *Yikes! This is scary.  I just started a business on my own at home 
> and am in the research phase now where I need the Linux box.  Why is 
> this particular combination not a good one?  I was working for a bank 
> for a while and left IT a long time ago and am only coming back now.*

I just meant that I'd not used RHEL3WS on an EM64T, that's all.  I don't
see a problem with it, it's just not familiar to me.

>  >> I am now trying to install an nvidia NVS800 graphics card using the
>  >> Linux drivers nvidia offers on their download page.
>  >>
>  >> I have updated my XF86Config file with driver nvidia and have verified
>  >> the appropriate modules are being loaded.
>  >>
>  >> However, X hangs when I try to start by initing to Level 5.
>  >
>  > Uh, what's the last thing in the /var/log/XFree86.log file?
> 
>  >* I have attached the log file to this e-mail.  There were some 
> keyboard errors at the end; however, I'm assuming that has nothing to do 
> with the graphics card.  And the same X setup functioned with VESA driver*

Keyboard errors?  Hmmm.  That's not good at all.

>  >> Does anybody know what’s going on?  This is my first Linux distro after
>  >> being on the business side of things.  The last time I administered a
>  >> UNIX box was over 10 years ago.
>  >>
>  >> I would appreciate any help you could offer.
>  >>
>  >> I started looking at the Xconfig file and log.  The Xconfig file is
>  >> loading ‘fbdevhw’.  Is that the same as rivafb, which I’m told should
>  >> not be loaded when the nvidia driver is used.
>  >
>  > No, the "fbdevhw" is the hardware frame buffer.  It's fairly generic.
>  > I don't think it conflicts with the nvidia driver.  Understand that
>  > anything I suggest is also generic as I generally use ATI cards myself
>  > (although _this_ machine has an old Nvidia RIVA TNT2 in it).
> 
>  > *Thx*
> 
>  >> The Xconfig log said there was a failure reading EDID parameters for
>  >> display device CRT-0.  Is that a problem?
>  >
>  > It could be.  If the message is prefixed by "(EE)", yes it's an error
>  > and could be fatal.  If it has "(WW)", it's a warning and shouldn't
>  > be fatal.  The meaning of these flags is in the top of the log file,
>  > prefixed by the word "Markers:".
> 
>  > *Thx.  The EDID issue is just a warning (WW), although above 
> mentioned keyboard issues are (EE)*

Do the keyboard errors show up with the vesa driver, too, or just with
nvidia?

>  > If you look through the log file, can you see the spot where it says
>  > that the "nvidia" driver is loaded?  Just after that, you should see
>  > something to the effect:
>  > "(--) Chipset (name-of-your-chipset) found"
>  >
>  > This simply verifies that your video card was indeed found.  I'm just
>  > trying to make sure that the driver you have is compatible with your
>  > board (sometimes they aren't).
>  
>  > *After the **(II) LoadModule: "nvidia" line, I have the following line:*
> 
> *(--) Chipset NVIDIA GPU found*

That's good.  Usually it's a bit more descriptive (such as the board
type and such).

> *However, before the load module nvidia line, I found this:*
> 
> *(II) PCI-to-ISA bridge:*
> 
> *(II) Bus -1: bridge is at (0:31:0), (0,-1,-1), BCTRL: 0x0008 (VGA_EN is 
> set)*
> 
> *(--) PCI:*(1:0:0) nVidia Corporation unknown chipset (0x00fd) rev 162, 
> Mem @ 0xdd000000/24, 0xc0000000/28, 0xde000000/24, BIOS @ 0xdfe00000/17I *

The "(II)" mean "informational".  The "(--)" means "probed" (and that's
sort of what I'd expect from probing the PCI bus).

> *I do not call nvidia anywhere else in the config file and have attached 
> it as well.*

Ok, let's see what we have....
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> # XFree86 4 configuration created by redhat-config-xfree86
> 
> Section "ServerLayout"
> 	Identifier     "Default Layout"
> 	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
> 	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
> 	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Files"
> 
> # RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the 
> # file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
> # no need to change the default.
> # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
> # By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
> # the X server to render fonts.
> 	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
> 	FontPath     "unix/:7100"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Module"
> 	Load  "dbe"
> 	Load  "extmod"
> 	Load  "fbdevhw"
> 	Load  "glx"
> 	Load  "record"
> 	Load  "freetype"
> 	Load  "type1"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
> 
> # Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
> #	Option	"Xleds"		"1 2 3"
> # To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
> #	Option	"XkbDisable"
> # To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
> # lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
> # keyboard, you will probably want to use:
> #	Option	"XkbModel"	"pc102"
> # If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
> #	Option	"XkbModel"	"microsoft"
> #
> # Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
> # For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
> #	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
> # or:
> #	Option	"XkbLayout"	"de"
> #	Option	"XkbVariant"	"nodeadkeys"
> #
> # If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
> # control keys, use:
> #	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:swapcaps"
> # Or if you just want both to be control, use:
> #	Option	"XkbOptions"	"ctrl:nocaps"
> #
> 	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
> 	Driver      "keyboard"
> 	Option	    "XkbRules" "xfree86"
> 	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
> 	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
> 	Identifier  "Mouse0"
> 	Driver      "mouse"
> 	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
> 	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
> 	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
> 	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
> 
> # If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
> # this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
> # also use USB mice at the same time.
> 	Identifier  "DevInputMice"
> 	Driver      "mouse"
> 	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
> 	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
> 	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
> 	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Monitor"
> 	Identifier   "Monitor0"
> 	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
> 	ModelName    "Unknown monitor"
> 	HorizSync    31.5 - 37.9
> 	VertRefresh  50.0 - 70.0
> 	Option	    "dpms"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Device"
> 	Identifier  "Videocard0"
> 	Driver      "nvidia"
> 	VendorName  "NVIDIA Vendor"
> 	BoardName   "Linux Nvidia Driver"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Screen"
> 	Identifier "Screen0"
> 	Device     "Videocard0"
> 	Monitor    "Monitor0"
> 	DefaultDepth     16
> 	SubSection "Display"
> 		Depth     16
> 		Modes    "800x600" "640x480"
> 	EndSubSection
> EndSection
> 
> Section "DRI"
> 	Group        0
> 	Mode         0666
> EndSection
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't see anything untoward there.  There may be an issue with either
the glx module or the DRI stuff.  I can't recall, but I think the Nvidia
stuff may fight with one of those.  You need to check the Nvidia docs
to see.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-        Brain:  The organ with which we think that we think.        -
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