[HOWTO] NVidia .7174 and Gentoo AMD64 2005.0

[Lin-Darian]

I'm extremely happy with my experience with Gentoo thus far. X is smooth and KDE3.4 is nice. (as is my fluxbox, I just tend to migrarte back and forth, I like KDE's easy just type and go setup and I love fluxbox's high-end, low-footprint, self.) The builtin NV driver support was very nice for my non-opengl software and work computer... But then I wanted more. I wanted OpenGL. I wanted Games. I wanted to ditch Ms. Windows and look up Ms. Linus. So I worked through many problems (with the help of many wonderful people on the forums) and got it working. So now. I'm writing this little Howto to attempt to collate what all I've done and found out. This might seem reduntant with Nvidia Offical documention, however I found it slightly lacking on certian points (it didn't work excatly for me) so I felt this was the best way to address all this. Now. Please be patient as this is my very first attempt at giving back somewhat to the community.
One final note. If this post is not helpful, feel free to remove it If it is or you want to add to it, feel free to respond or PM
This is not:

• How to compile something.
  How to emerge software.
  How to troubleshoot Xorg.

And I will be assuming:

• You have Xorg installed along with your favorite window manager, with appropiate OpenGL support (If not, do so and we'll be waiting on ya
  You have a basic grasp of the portage system
  You know how to edit a config file

First let's make sure, just to be safe, that Nvidia isn't loaded.

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bash-2.05b$ lsmod |grep nvidia
nvidia               4561628  12
bash-2.05b$

If you saw nvidia loaded then we need to remove it first from memory (saves time later when switiching)

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rmmod nvidia

Now to get the lastest version of the nvidia drivers.
Add:

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=media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.7174 		~amd64
=media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.7174-r1 		~amd64

to your /etc/portage/package.keywords file.
Now we do the following:

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bash-2.05b$ emerge -v nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx -p

Review the packages that portage reports and make sure it's the .7174 versions. When you're satisifyed, remove the -p from the end.
Meet back here after that
Done? Congrats. Good job, On we go.

The next thing to do is to setup our OpenGL libraries to point to our newly installed Nvidia libraries. This is done by:

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bash-2.05b$ opengl-update nvidia

There you are. All done.
Now there is only one step left.

HOWEVER, FIRST: Ensure that you have PCI Hotpluging enabled in your kernel.
Now I don't know why, but the Nvidia drivers REQUIRE the PCI Hotplugging to be enabled. IF you go through the above steps and you've already done the last step, which is modifying the xorg.conf file (and is what we're about to do now), and Xorg reports:

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module!
(EE) NVIDIA(0): *** Aborting ***
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Then missing PCI Hotplugging is probably the cuase.

Now on to the last step:
Open /etc/X11/xorg.conf and find the lines for your display enteries. They will be similar to :

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# Device configured by xorgconfig:
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "<SOME TEXT HERE>"
    Driver      "nv"
    #VideoRam    262144
    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

Of major note is the 'driver' change it to be similar to:

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Section "Device"
    Identifier  "<SOME TEXT HERE>" ## DO NOT CHANGE THIS (or you will need to change the Screen setting too)
    Driver      "nvidia"
    Option      "NvAGP" "1" # use nvidias agp - 1 , agpgart -2 , agpgart,nvagp -3
    Option      "NoLogo" "true"
    Option      "NoRenderExtension" "false"
    Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option      "AllowGLXWithComposit" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadow" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadowAlpha" "32"
    Option      "BackingStore" "true"
EndSection

Now one more change. Enabling GLX. Scroll back to the top of the config file to the modules section and make sure DRI is DISABLED (that is has a # sign in front of it. And that GLX is ENABLED (no # )

There you are! Save your changes and try it out!
Also as responded by a user of this howto, there is sometimes an issue with the default depth so I will list the response below:

[...]Then just now I chanced across this post in this thread http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-321141.html

brent_weaver,
Your DefaultDepth in your xorg.conf must be 16 or 24 for GLX to start.
Like this:-

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Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
#    Device      "* Generic VESA compatible"
    Device      "NVIDIA GeForce"
    Monitor     "CTX 950ST"
    DefaultDepth 16

Adding that DefaultDepth line solved all my problems, it worked brilliantly the first time, straight into X at 1280x1024-24bit, nvidia working, glxinfo working everything working. [....]

I hope this helps someone. Thanks again to all those who have helped. And thanks to Alton whom first tipped me off to trying the PCI Hotplugging bit.

And again if anyone wants, feel free to respond with corrections/updates/etc..

[andrewd18]

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rmmod nvidia

I thought with 2.6 kernels you were supposed to use "modprobe -r" to remove modules?

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=media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.7174       ~amd64
=media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.7174-r1       ~amd64

That's great and all, but nvidia-settings is still in 6176, if I'm not mistaken. Have you noticed any issues with that version mismatch?

~~ Andrew D.

[Lin-Darian]

Acutally rmmod and modprobe -r both work on my system. But that's a good thing to mention. And acutally I have not once emerged nvidia-setting. I've found it's not really required to get nvidia-glx working.

So no I've run into no version problems personally.

But yes,

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[ebuild  N    ] media-video/nvidia-settings-1.0.6629  798 kB

ATM Settings is still .6629

{EDIT}

I just emerged the above and it worked flawlessly on my system and I use the 1.0.7174 nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx.

{EDIT2}
I tested the nvidia-settings even under load and in various other ways for little over 45 minutes and it was rock solid.

[wHAcKer]

tnx for reporting the pci hotplugging part, couldn't get my nvidia module to work as you described...

[andrewd18]

I just emerged the above and it worked flawlessly on my system and I use the 1.0.7174 nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx.

Okay. Just wondering. Thanks.

~~ Andrew D.

[WuppieCat]

That's great and all, but nvidia-settings is still in 6176, if I'm not mistaken. Have you noticed any issues with that version mismatch?

nvidia-settings-7167 is also available in portage currently masked by ~* keyword, I am using that version with the 7174 nvidia drivers without any problems

[shuiend]

I was getting the could not load driver error so I compiled the pci_hotplugging support into my kernel and tried again and I still get the same error. When I do dmesg it tells me I need to use a 2.6.11 kernel or higher which I mam currently using. Would you have any other ideas as to whats wrong with loading the driver. By the way I am using a pci express card so that means nvagp is set to 0 correct?

I will post all error messeages hopefully later tonight once I get my computer back up and running. Currently its down because my room is being painted.

[Lin-Darian]

I was getting the could not load driver error so I compiled the pci_hotplugging support into my kernel and tried again and I still get the same error. When I do dmesg it tells me I need to use a 2.6.11 kernel or higher which I mam currently using. Would you have any other ideas as to whats wrong with loading the driver. By the way I am using a pci express card so that means nvagp is set to 0 correct?

I will post all error messeages hopefully later tonight once I get my computer back up and running. Currently its down because my room is being painted.

Well the first thing you can try is setting it to "1" this tells it to use the NVidia specific transport. I think (NOTE I THINK) the PCI internal NvAGP supports transport from PCI. And since the Card Using nvAGP is using PCI Hotplug... I think it should be a "1"

Otherwise post the messages and we'll see if anyone can help you out.

[Birtz]

Nice post Lin-Darian.

I was wondering about the card options you have proposed;

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Section "Device"
    Identifier  "<SOME TEXT HERE>" ## DO NOT CHANGE THIS (or you will need to change the Screen setting too)
    Driver      "nvidia"
    Option      "NvAGP" "1" # use nvidias agp - 1 , agpgart -2 , agpgart,nvagp -3
    Option      "NoLogo" "true"
    Option      "NoRenderExtension" "false"
    Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option      "AllowGLXWithComposit" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadow" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadowAlpha" "32"
    Option      "BackingStore" "true"
EndSection

1. why would you change default behaviour of the NvAGP (3 is the default), on x86_64 system you are much better of using kernel AGPGART
2. by setting RenderAccel to true the NoRenderExtension is implied to be false
3. what good does the BackingStore setting bring?

Cheers

[GimpBrush]

great post someone have the same for the sound in nforce4 ?:oops:

[shuiend]

Well I went and installed a vanilla kernel off kernel.org and the nvidia driver worked fine after that. So I am not sure what I did to fix it. GimpBush for the sound on the nforce4 you just use the intel driver in alsa section of the kernel. Make sure u emerge alsa-utils though so u can raise the volume and whatnot. Standard it comes muted.

[Lin-Darian]

I was wondering about the card options you have proposed;

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "<SOME TEXT HERE>" ## DO NOT CHANGE THIS (or you will need to change the Screen setting too)
    Driver      "nvidia"
    Option      "NvAGP" "1" # use nvidias agp - 1 , agpgart -2 , agpgart,nvagp -3
    Option      "NoLogo" "true"
    Option      "NoRenderExtension" "false"
    Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option      "AllowGLXWithComposit" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadow" "true"
    Option      "CursorShadowAlpha" "32"
    Option      "BackingStore" "true"
EndSection

1. why would you change default behaviour of the NvAGP (3 is the default), on x86_64 system you are much better of using kernel AGPGART
2. by setting RenderAccel to true the NoRenderExtension is implied to be false
3. what good does the BackingStore setting bring?

Cheers

The qouted options are just the ones I found to be the most stable. They're probably not optimized for best preformence, honestly. the NvAGP setting to 1 tells the card to use it's internal AGP which in most cases is abit more stable (in my experience, could be wrong) and usually causes the card atleast work. And the BAckingStore. Huh. Ya know..lol, it's really was an option in the NVIDIA example xorg.conf hehe But these are the options that were rock solid for me so I was proposing them for a first time setup. For best performence you probably want (and should) modify that section to whatever give you the best performace. After you have a working conf you can tweak it all you like =)

[Little Nemo]

Now one more change. Enabling GLX. Scroll back to the top of the config file to the modules section and make sure DRI is DISABLED (that is has a # sign in front of it.

Why would you want to disable direct rendering (DRI)? I see no reason for it.

[Lin-Darian]

It's ment to be a starting point. For me, DRI caused several issues I didn't really want to take the time to work out. And my games play fine without it. So I disable it in this HowTO

[WuppieCat]

Why would you want to disable direct rendering (DRI)? I see no reason for it.

because the Nvidia Readme tells you to...
from the nvidia-glx readme:

In the Module section, make sure you have:

Load "glx"

You should also remove the following lines:

Load "dri"
Load "GLcore"

if they exist.

[racoontje]

Now one more change. Enabling GLX. Scroll back to the top of the config file to the modules section and make sure DRI is DISABLED (that is has a # sign in front of it.

Why would you want to disable direct rendering (DRI)? I see no reason for it.

Mainly because the module does that for you -- DRI is something in the kernel, check menuconfig for it. The module means that you don't need this anymore, plus it might get in the way.

[andrewd18]

Well, I'm happily running the latest nVidia kernel module and glx, and one edition back in settings, but you're right, it hasn't mattered. And I'm happy to report it's stable, and my framerates went up. I can now run NWN with full 8x anti-aliasing @ 1024x768 on a remote multiplayer server, with no video-related lag whatsoever. Going to go test 1280x1024 now. *bwahaha*

Thanks for the excellent how-to.

And yes, DRI has to be off. It can cause problems with the nvidia module not loading, stability issues, or just plain nasty rendering. While DRI does mean Direct Rendering Interface, it's for ATI cards... the nvidia kernel module and the nvidia glx combo does all the direct rendering for nVidia cards. And it does it without all the ATI hassle. *heh*

Go nVidia.

~~ Andrew D.

[mr.ed]

A little addition for u nvidia users:

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf(5x) man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Module section -- this section is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# **********************************************************************

# This loads the GLX module
Load "glx"
EndSection

# Load rendering and composite modules
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
Option "RENDER" "Enable"
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present:

# Standard VGA Device:
Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
Driver "vga"
EndSection

# Device configured by me:
Section "Device"
Identifier "XFX Geforce 6600 GT"
Driver "nvidia"
VideoRam 131072
BusID "PCI:64:0:0"
Option "NvAGP" "0" # 0=no AGP, 1= Nvidia AGP, 2=AGPGART, 3=AGPGART/Nvidia
Option "NoLogo" "1"
Option "CursorShadow" "1"
Option "RenderAccel" "1"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "1"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "1"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "1"
Option "HorizSync" "DFP-0: 30-92"
Option "VertRefresh" "DFP-0: 56-85"
Option "NoBandWidthTest" "1"
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "1"
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT, TV"
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
EndSection

These settings i use with the 6629 driver version and work very fine for me... Tried the 7167 and the 7174, but they r a no go on my EMT64 system (tried everything, even a re-install!!).

Explanation:

Option "NoBandWidthTest" "1"
Option "NoPowerConnectorCheck" "1"
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "CRT, TV"
These settings speed my xorg startup, cause it tells xorg to skip searches!!! (It actually does speed up X)

BusID "PCI:64:0:0"
This way xorg doesn't have to probe

Option "RenderAccel" "1"
Option "XvmcUsesTextures" "1"
Option "AllowGLXWithComposite" "1"
To enable rendering, composite and 3d video overlay

Option "IgnoreEDID" "1"
To use the custom modelines defined in my xorg.conf

[tscolari]

what should i use for pci-express cards??

[mr.ed]

read my post above:

I got a XFX 6600GT pci-e!!!

[AnlaShok]

Hi there everyone.

I've been following all the different posts regarding getting nvidia X drivers working since atleast monday, all with no success.
I've re-emerged nvidia-glx/kernel multiple times, rewritten xorg.conf over and over, switch opengl-update to xorg-x11 or nvidia in all the possible different combinations trying to get nvidia to work, all without success.

Then just now I chanced across this post in this thread http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-321141.html

brent_weaver,

Your DefaultDepth in your xorg.conf must be 16 or 24 for GLX to start.
Like this:-

Code: Select all

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
#    Device      "* Generic VESA compatible"
    Device      "NVIDIA GeForce"
    Monitor     "CTX 950ST"
    DefaultDepth 16

Adding that DefaultDepth line solved all my problems, it worked brilliantly the first time, straight into X at 1280x1024-24bit, nvidia working, glxinfo working everything working.

Can we get that added to the HOWTO as a section that definitely needs to be in the xorg.conf file to get nvidia drivers working.

[Lin-Darian]

I've not ran into that particular issue but I'll append that to the HowTo. never hurts

[quatebriga]

THNX for a very easy and clean man to upgrade my AMD64 system to new kernel (2.6.11-r6) !
I had serious problems, trying to make nvidia work. A hint for hotplug PCI an how to set everything took me only 5 minutes afterwords. culd this post be made sticky ?

[darky]

Hi!,
I've got a zv5000 with an nvidia geforce4 go440 and I can't use any driver above 6111. All them just give a black/white screen with no fonts. I've followed the HowTo and nothing get solved and i already have the DefaultDepth Option on my xorg.conf.

If i kill Xserver when it happens it shows me some font warning errors.

Someone has solved the same problem!?

[Lin-Darian]

@darky: Could you post part of the acutal errors?

@quatebriga: Well, I can't make it sticky, but I am glad that it helped you.