Latest XFree and NVIDIA 4xxx combo == Working again - FIXED

[Budro]

What I do know so far ... the latest Xfree and the 4xxx drivers from nvidia do not work in my setup.


If I roll back to the NVIDIA 3123 drivers all is good!!!!!

Detailed info in this post I submitted over at nV News forums:
http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&postid=166968#post166968


I think this is a global issue and I hope someone can pinpoint the problem soon...

B


EDIT ... changed the title ...

[cyfred]

Im sorry but it isnt a global problem, something does cause nvidia problems for certain users yes. But I can run X successfully under any of the 4xxx series nvidia drivers.

My X version currently is 4.3.99.9, but back when using 4.3.0-r3 as you are running I was running nvidia-kernel-1.0.4363-r3 quite happily.

I noticed that you are running the 8X AGP ASUS motherboard, this maybe the cause of your troubles, please read the section titled "Problems with GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X" in the following link http://www.brandonhutchinson.com/NVIDIA_drivers_with_Red_Hat_Linux.html that may help you.

[swimmer]

[isnogood]

You might want to try the stable version of xfree with conservative CFLAGS before you start whining.

[Budro]

Damn ... the only I did not try before was the "NVreg_ReqAGPRate=8" in the module options, The nvidia README only seem to indicate rates of 1, 2, 4 the last time I browsed through.

Un-frickin-believable ...... I emerged to the latest nvidia drivers and went back into my BIOS and re-enable 8x and fast writes(been back on forth with these settings)

I fired up X and I got no artifacts this time..... Then I fired up Enemey Territory and whaaallaaaa!!!! IT WORKS!!! woohoooo ( homer simpson dance ) .....
I need to test it more thouroughly tonight because I only tested for a short time but did notice some spikes while gaming. I need to run this setup for at least a five days to feel secure that it is stable.

Actually the console/fb graphics are still horrible (looks like and old atari video game gone south) but i can live with that for now.

Thank you for the tip ... and I also thank Brandon for posting his experience.

[Budro]

isno ... was that whining... I was not trying to come across that way.... Maybe I should have not used the word sucks in the title?? I gave a lot of useful info I thought for others to compare. I'll get pre-approval from you before I post next time, OK?

But, I thank you for your utmost concern but if I wanted stable.. I'd run stable. I run gentoo becasue it is the best around at the "~x86" stuff works 98% of the time. I was hoping that someone could relate to my problem or point me to a resolution, which they did and I thank them for that.

Nice post though.... Got me all warm inside.... I feel the love.

[cyfred]

Actually im under the impression that isno didnt read your post to nvnews, and assumed you were using X 4.3.99.* like me ... And also, a simple look at the X ebuilds would show that they filter flags and strip flags so that they are very stable and short. (sorry if im wrong in my assumptions).

[Budro]

Just started testing some more and I'm getting random lockup's now

If I switch to 16 bit X I get pixel triails when I move xterms around...... Other wise running X in 24 bit looks OK.....

Games fire up but random lockups are occurring now..... I am going to Try the ac-sources to see if that might help things.


More to follow....

[Budro]

Well....... still having problems...

After trying switching over to the ac-sources and trying four different kernel build variations ( w/ AGPGART, w/o AGPGART, no ACPI, etc.... ) and all the NVidia drivers above 3123 ...... I am still locking up..... I am thinking that the 3123 drivers which detects the card as a NV28( not sure what that means ) and does not fully utilize the features and speed on the Ti 4200.

Here is the current 3123 info:

Driver status
-------------
Status: Enabled
Driver: NVIDIA
AGP Rate: 2x
Fast Writes: Disabled
SBA: Disabled

Card
-------------
Model: NV28
IRQ: 5
Video BIOS: 04.28.20.21.00
Card Type: AGP


I did try RedHat 8.0 using the latest NVidia drivers from NVidia's site and after 30 seconds after the gnome desktop started X was consuming 99% of the CPU and no keyboard response


Soooo.... I think I am going to get Asus on the phone to see if they will RMA the board, reason is, even after clean reboots, the console graphics are still horrible. Even when I go into the BIOS setup I can barely read the screen because the graphics are so horrible....

More to come again.......

[Budro]

All,

FYI: I RMA'd my video card back to Asus and they sent me a replacement.

I am now running the 4496 version of the nvidia drivers and the status is AOK! SO FAR

I was able to play Enemy Territory for an hour and ran the ut2003-demo --bench with no X crashing or thrashing!!!!


$ glxgears
17598 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3519.600 FPS
18704 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3740.800 FPS
18597 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3719.400 FPS