[olug] NVidia driver woes...

[Daniel Linder]

I just upgraded my machine to a (very) new eVGA Nvidia 8600 video card. 
Very nice, but I didn't realize that the day it arrived was also the first
day that NVidia had released beta drivers for it.  It worked well enough
with the stock Ubuntu/X.Org "nv" driver but I wanted to play with some
OpenGL apps and 10 FPS with the MesaGL wasn't going to cut it.

Unfortunately, I kept getting version mis-matches when I tried to install
the NVidia drivers...

To cut to the chase, I ended up having to perform a number of "--purge"
steps with apt-get to remove the old configuration files.

Just so others can learn from my pain, here are my steps:
Ah, think I got it... :)

I ended up following some of the pre-cleanup steps that are mentioned in
this URL under the "Method 2" section:

http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Latest_Nvidia_Dapper
-- It is "Dapper" specific, but the basics are the same for Feisty (and
probably Edgy, too).

Basically, here is what I did:
1: sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential gcc
xserver-xorg-dev
--> I did _not_ install the older "gcc-3.4" compiler as the URL above
mentions.

2: sudo apt-get --purge remove linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`
linux-restricted-modules-common nvidia-glx nvidia-settings
nvidia-kernel-common

3: sudo rm /etc/init.d/nvidia-*

4: sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop (OR "kdm stop" if you use KDE)

5: cd “directory_where_you_have_the_nvidia_installer”

6: sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-100.14.03-pkg2.run
--> I installed this on a Kubuntu_x64 server, so the package name will be
a bit different if you're on an i386 installation.

7: Use the defaults for the installer.

Key points that made my install successful were:
--> Using the --purge to remove _ALL_ the files that were being brought
over with the prepackaged nvidia .deb packages.
--> Running the NVIDIA installer _without_ using the --update.  I believe
that was possibly pulling in the other driver version that was confusing
my system.
--> I did NOT install the gcc-3.4 compiler
--> I did NOT use the "--update" on step 6.  I believe this was bringing
in the latest _release_ version of the NVidia driver instead of the beta
version that currently supports this card.

My other problem that I had where the NVidia driver would "disappear"
after each reboot seems to have been fixed with this, too.

Dan


- - - -
"Wait for that wisest of all counselors, time." -- Pericles
"I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them." -- Isaac Asimov