# Nvidia problems with kernel 2.6.13 [solved, for newer cards]

## McManus

I downloaded and compiled the new 2.6.13 kernel today (after making sure the gpg signature checked out okay) with the usual options, rebooted, installed nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx, and rebooted again.  Tried to load up X.org, and BOOM!  I got errors.  I haven't had to change my /etc/X11/xorg.conf in a long time, and after reading the bit on kerneltrap, I'm guessing it has something to with the PCI mappings...?

Anyhow, here's the error I got (in /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old):

```
(**) NVIDIA(0): Enabling cursor shadow

(**) NVIDIA(0): ConnectedMonitor string: "CRT, CRT"

(**) NVIDIA(0): TwinView enabled

(--) NVIDIA(0): Linear framebuffer at 0xE0000000

(--) NVIDIA(0): MMIO registers at 0xB1000000

(EE) NVIDIA(0): Failed to initialize the NVIDIA kernel module!

(EE) NVIDIA(0):  *** Aborting ***

(II) UnloadModule: "nvidia"

(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.

Fatal server error:

no screens found

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support

         at http://wiki.X.Org

 for help.

Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

```

What's odd is that the actual error I get when I try to run X.org (that's not in the logs) is it complains about not finding a device PCI:2:5:0, which is my PCI video card.  However, my xorg.conf is ONLY configured with one video card, my AGP one which is BusID PCI:1:5:0.  Very strange.

Anyone else having any nVidia issues?

----------

## cpakkala

Which version of nvidia drivers are you using?   I'm having the same problem with the old drivers (6629) and I can't use the new ones cause my graphics card is now considered legacy.  Sux...

----------

## McManus

 *cpakkala wrote:*   

> Which version of nvidia drivers are you using?   I'm having the same problem with the old drivers (6629) and I can't use the new ones cause my graphics card is now considered legacy.  Sux...

 

```
$ semerge nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx -vp

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!

[ebuild   R   ] media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.6629-r4  0 kB

[ebuild   R   ] media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.6629-r6  0 kB

Total size of downloads: 0 kB

```

I don't know what you mean by old drivers.  These seem to be the latest in the stable tree for me...?

----------

## cpakkala

Those are the exact same driver versions I'm using.  I mean there are new drivers (version ends in the 7000s) that add new features for the newer cards only.  Nvidia's website says that legacy cards are no longer supported with the new drivers, thus the 6000s are no longer being updated.  On the list of legacy cards is my geforce gts2.  My guess is that the new 2.6.13 kernel made some changes that only the newer drivers can handle (I'm only guessing that the new drivers work since noone with new cards has complained yet)Last edited by cpakkala on Tue Aug 30, 2005 3:59 am; edited 1 time in total

----------

## spindley

I *just* booted into 2.6.13, and after re-emerging nvidia-kernel-1.0.7676 and nvidia-glx-1.0.7676-r1 (unstable branch), everything works perfectly.

Mike

----------

## cpakkala

See, spindley is using the new drivers, just as I suspected.  I think us old timers might be screwed.

----------

## cs.cracker

I am using 70.xx drivers on a GeForce 4 under Windows, I dont know if that card is also considered legacy, but thought Id point that out.

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## McManus

*whew*

Looks like I freaked out a bit too early.  It's been a while since I've had to worry about getting video working, so I guess I've been taking it for granted.

Anyhow, seems like the unstable drivers (1.0.7676-r1) are working perfectly fine for me.

...sorry cpakkala  :Embarassed: 

----------

## cpakkala

You must have a newer card then.  7676 fails and even says in the output that it doesn't support my legacy card.  ugg.

----------

## kmare

nvidia will release a legacy driver for older hardware if a kernel needs some changes in the driver itself.. at least that's what they said

----------

## Raistlin

 *kmare wrote:*   

> nvidia will release a legacy driver for older hardware if a kernel needs some changes in the driver itself.. at least that's what they said

 

Muahahah  :Twisted Evil:  That somehow reminds me of the promises from ATI  :Rolling Eyes: 

Hope that I am completely wrong and just black-seing  :Wink: 

Cheers, R.

----------

## bigfoot-

1.0.7676 "works" for my NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev a1), though I already had X stalling after one hour which rather points towards instability, not incompatibility. kmare, cpakkala: Where do you have this information from regarding "nvidia will release a legacy driver for older hardware if a kernel needs some changes in the driver itself" and this 7000s/6000s versioning issues?

----------

## bigfoot-

I'm switching from nvidia to nv (xorg's open source nvidia driver) now until nvidia turns more stable again.

----------

## b1f1

i had the same problem with kernel 2.6.13 nvidia 6000 series and udev.

i found out that /dev/nvidia* was gone, that was the problem.

for all of you who still have problems: run this script as root:

```

for i in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7; do

  node="/dev/nvidia$i"

  rm -f $node

  mknod $node c 195 $i  || echo "mknod \"$node\""

  chmod 0660 $node      || echo "chmod \"$node\""

  chown :video $node    || echo "chown \"$node\""

done

         

node="/dev/nvidiactl"

rm -f $node

mknod $node c 195 255   || echo "mknod \"$node\""

chmod 0666 $node        || echo "chmod \"$node\""

chown :video $node      || echo "chown \"$node\""
```

and for everyone else i suggest not to upgrade to the new kernel yet.

nvidia is not the only thing that doesn't work anymore. 

At least here, my framebuffer devices also have vanished.  :Sad: 

----------

## b1f1

hey bigfoot-,

I am from Erlangen too!  :Smile:   :Cool: 

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## makomk

 *b1f1 wrote:*   

> i had the same problem with kernel 2.6.13 nvidia 6000 series and udev.
> 
> i found out that /dev/nvidia* was gone, that was the problem.

 

Thanks - that solved a problem I was having with kernel 2.6.13 and nvidia (both 6629-r4 and 7676 didn't work). If X complains that the nvidia kernel module isn't loaded, but dmesg and modprobe indicate that it was inserted successfully, chances are you've got this too. Now to figure out why the text is too big in console mode and check for other niggles (it is ~x86, after all)...

----------

## skywarp

I am also using a legacy card. Drivers up to Version 7174 are working fine until kernel 2.6.13. I am getting the same Xorg logs as above.

Besides I found something which made me unsure wether I maybe have misconfigured my box:

whenever I try to test X with a 

```
startx
```

 command it tries to load the nvidia module, even if this one has already been loaded by an "nvidia" entry in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 . I thought startx is normally used by the system to bring up X during booting? This looks a little bit redundant to me.

Best regards

Marko

----------

## cpakkala

 *b1f1 wrote:*   

> i had the same problem with kernel 2.6.13 nvidia 6000 series and udev.
> 
> i found out that /dev/nvidia* was gone, that was the problem.
> 
> 

 

Yep; that's the problem.  creating the dev nodes fixed it.  Thanks.  But it sux that there's an issue with udev and kernel 2.6.13.  Makes me wonder what other devices are missing...

----------

## grooveman

Grrrrrrrrr..........

Once again, closed source code interfering with progress!

I can't get it to work no matter what I do.  (Geforce 4 4600 TI).  I tried everything here... going back to kernel 2.6.10...

----------

## gpierce

I have a nvidia GeForce Ti 4400 and I can't get xserver to start with new or old nvidia drivers, either.  Tried re-emerging nvidia-glx and nvidia-kernel as well nvidia-settings, and while the compile goes fine, still no X.  Checked on the nvidia site to make sure that my card has not fallen out of its support period. It seems it still is supported. So, it does seem like a kernel issue, in which case, you have to wonder just what kind of testing the kernel received before it was made public.  Xserver not starting is not a minor issue that you could overlook easily. :Mad: 

----------

## cpakkala

Has anyone reported this?   I'm not familiar with the bug reporting process.

----------

## gpierce

I think you could file it in bugzilla.gentoo but I am afraid that I am not technically sophisticated enough to know precisely what information the gentoo kernel maintainers would need to really help them out, other than my card, kernel version, nvidia.  Plus, I have this nagging doubt that it might still be something I have overlooked.  :Confused: 

----------

## nukem996

Not sure if someone has done this but the latest drivers work fine with legacy card. My girlfriend had a geforce 2 mx and it worked fine with all the latest drivers(just gave her my old 5900 Ultra last week). Id try the latest drivers with 2.6.13 and your card and see what happens.

----------

## boroshan

 *gpierce wrote:*   

> I think you could file it in bugzilla.gentoo but I am afraid that I am not technically sophisticated enough to know precisely what information the gentoo kernel maintainers would need to really help them out, other than my card, kernel version, nvidia.  
> 
> 

 

Throw in the output from emerge --info and you're pretty much set. Anyhting else they need, they'll qask for.

 *gpierce wrote:*   

> Plus, I have this nagging doubt that it might still be something I have overlooked. 

 

They don't bite. Well, not for a first offence, anyway  :Wink: 

----------

## skywarp

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=104369

Maybe also take a look at  *Quote:*   

> Kernel 2.6.13 is out

  Thread in this forum.

----------

## bigfoot-

 *b1f1 wrote:*   

> i had the same problem with kernel 2.6.13 nvidia 6000 series and udev.
> 
> i found out that /dev/nvidia* was gone, that was the problem.
> 
> for all of you who still have problems: run this script as root:
> ...

 

Thanks for debugging this, recreating the device nodes works fine. For udev users who have RC_DEVICE_TARBALL="no" in /etc/conf.d/rc it helps to run the provided script at boot time, for example from /etc/conf.d/local.start.

I also added this information to bug #104369.

----------

## gpierce

I am completely perplexed.  I just switched on my computer and X started without a hitch! I have altered nothing.  I am still using the nvidia module and not the nv driver provided in the kernel.  My computer had been off for several days I boot into 2.6.13, and it is af if there never was a problem.  I am pleased, but what is going on here?

----------

## skywarp

Same situation here. All over sudden Xorg worked. Maybe an upgrade thing (udev-058 to 068)? But downgrading to 058 did not break Xorg again. So, I have no clue what made my box working all over sudden.

----------

## bigfoot-

gpierce, skywarp: Maybe retry with RC_DEVICE_TARBALL="no" in your /etc/conf.d/rc? I guess these missing devices are just kept in this tarball from some earlier 2.6.12 boot...

----------

## skywarp

You are absolutely right about that. Thanx for the hint.

----------

## gpierce

Will give it a try, thank you.

Greg

----------

## piewie

my nvidia card isn't visible in /proc/interrupts either.

----------

## bigfoot-

Note bug 104369, comment #18: There is already a script that comes with nvidia-kernel that re-creates the necessary devices: /sbin/NVmakedevices.sh

Though it essentially doesn't do anything else than b1f1's script (maybe he even quoted from there).

----------

## gpierce

Bigfoot,

Do you know why these device nodes weren't created to begin with.  I just installed a new 2.6.13 kernel (from the ck branch) and had to look up this thread again to figure out what I had to do (I have such poor memory).  What a pain!  I am amazed that people even knew about this.

Greg

----------

## Grunt

Thanks to n1fb1 for the script.  I've been fighting this since yesterday when I installed Gentoo on a system (the system had Gentoo several months ago but due to hardware, etc. it's been down).  I had X starting with startx and running xfce4 but all black consoles when I exited xfce4.  I have a GeForce 3 TI500 and the script worked.

----------

## massheep

@raistlin

i know a guy at another forum who has just the same avatare as you do...

and wait! he even has the same signature! now that's what i call a coincidence.

----------

## rhoegg

I'm having this problem as well, with a GeForce4 Ti4400 and 2.6.13.  I thought udev was responsible for putting the device files there with the right group ownership.  My /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules looks like it wants to do it for me:

```

# dri devices

KERNEL="card*",         NAME="dri/card%n", GROUP="video"

KERNEL="nvidia*",       NAME="%k", GROUP="video"

KERNEL="3dfx*",         NAME="%k", GROUP="video"

```

I've never taken the time to figure out how udev works before, and now I'm going to be late for work.  It looks like udev is supposed to create these device files when it hears that the kernel has a device named nvidia.  hotplug is supposed to call udevsend when it finds out about any new device.  I started looking into when hotplug is supposed to find out about the video card, and it looks like it comes from sysfs somehow.  When I was looking around /sys/bus/pci, it looked like the nvidia driver wasn't mapped to the same address as the card itself (which was all zeroes).

I won't be able to work on this for a day or two, so I hope this gets someone started.  Manually creating the device files didn't feel right to me.

good luck!

----------

## Defiance

I upgraded udev to 068. Didn't work. I re-emerged the driver, didn't work. Finally I emerged nvidia-glx to the latest ~amd64 version and it worked. Can anyone explain what happened and how it started working?

----------

## dmpogo

 *rhoegg wrote:*   

> I'm having this problem as well, with a GeForce4 Ti4400 and 2.6.13.  I thought udev was responsible for putting the device files there with the right group ownership.  My /etc/udev/rules.d/50-udev.rules looks like it wants to do it for me:
> 
> ```
> 
> # dri devices
> ...

 

See comments 15 and 17 in the following bug report

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=104369

However, the link in the comment 17 points to the changes to sysfs discussed over a year ago. Did they propogate to the main stream kernel only since 2.6.13 ?

I also hate the idea that after all those years, and switching with 2.6.13 to the brand modern udev way of managing /dev I now have to write scripts for manual device creation.

----------

## Gotterdammerung

Same problem here.

----------

## rhoegg

I guess I should have read the bug report before I started digging in.  So, we know it is a "feature" instead of a bug, because the udev developers decided not to support non-GPL devices.  To paraphrase my comment on the bug report, we should make the devices for the user in another script in the boot runlevel:

/etc/init.d/nvidia-devices

```

if [ ! -e /dev/nvidia0 ]; then

  /sbin/NVmakedevices.sh

fi

```

command to make it run at boot

```
rc-update add nvidia-devices boot
```

----------

## MadScientist

Perhaps it's time to branch udev. There will be the 'pure' GPL-only udev that nobody uses and there will be the one that supports *all* drivers. This sounds a lot like XFree vs. xorg...  :Rolling Eyes: 

----------

## dmpogo

 *MadScientist wrote:*   

> Perhaps it's time to branch udev. There will be the 'pure' GPL-only udev that nobody uses and there will be the one that supports *all* drivers. This sounds a lot like XFree vs. xorg... 

 

To my understanding, the problem is not with udev,   but with sysfs, which is a part of the kernel.

I don't have an access to the box running 2.6.13 right now, but could anybody check if an entry in /sys corresponding to NVIDIA card is

created  at all in 2.6.13 ?    I suspect it may not, if non-GPL explanation is right.

On my 2.6.11 kernel the entry is a subdirectory

/sys/devices/pci0000:04/0000:04:01.0/0000:05:00.0

where 0000:04:01.0   is pci address for AGP bridge  (which sits on 0000:04 controller) and 0000:05:00.0 is NVIDIA controller.

You can get those numbers with "lspci"

# ls /sys/devices/pci0000:04/0000:04:01.0/0000:05:00.0

----------

## gpierce

I am having the same problem again with the latest 2.6.14 kernel release except this time when I run /sbin/NVdevice... X still won't start.  I am wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem?

----------

## Freesnake

Unexpectably that even now nvidia driver becomes so buggy¡­¡­& ATI drivers are comfortable now¡­¡­

----------

## fil1411

Hello

The nvidia module still cannot load on my gentoo box with kernel 2.6.13, even after I tried all the advices, links  and suggestions of the thread :

I compiled the module with the last nvidia driver NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run (my card is geforce4, supported by this version of the driver)

'modprobe nvidia' returns :

"FATAL: Error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.13-gentoo-r5/video/nvidia.ko): No such device"

''dmesg' returns this :

"  NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine was not called for 1 device(s).

   NVRM: This can occur when a driver such as rivafb or rivatv was

   NVRM: loaded and obtained ownership of the NVIDIA device(s).

   NVRM: Try unloading the rivafb (and/or the rivatv) kernel module

   NVRM: (or reconfigure your kernel without rivafb support), then

   NVRM: try loading the NVIDIA kernel module again.

   NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter probed!"

(the rivafb support is not activated in the kernel, nor as a module)

and nvidia devices look like this :

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   0 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia0

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   1 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia1

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   2 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia2

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   3 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia3

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   4 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia4

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   5 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia5

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   6 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia6

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195,   7 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidia7

crw-rw-rw-  1 root root 195, 255 Nov 13 12:45 /dev/nvidiactl

Does anyone have an idea of what is happening ? 

 thanks

----------

## mariley

I have had the same problems.

I have a GeForce4 Mx420 and I have tried everything on the web related to this issue and so far nothing has fixed it.

I have read several posts where people are just having trouble with Xwindows but I am unable to load the nvidia module at boot time.

I have compiled nvidia mod support into my kernel and disabled the riva modules.  Prior to this I was just getting an error stating nvidia.ko: no such device 

```

mythtv tmp # modprobe nvidia

FATAL: Error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.13-gentoo-r5/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko): No such device

```

```

mythtv tmp # lspci

0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8375 [KM266/KL266] Host Bridge

0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]

0000:00:08.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC16 (CX23416) MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)

0000:00:09.0 Multimedia video controller: Internext Compression Inc iTVC15 MPEG-2 Encoder (rev 01)

0000:00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]

0000:00:10.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)

0000:00:10.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)

0000:00:10.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 80)

0000:00:10.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 82)

0000:00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge

0000:00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06)

0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 420] (rev a3)

```

```

#dmesg

nvidia: module license 'NVIDIA' taints kernel.

NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine was not called for 1 device(s).

NVRM: This can occur when a driver such as rivafb or rivatv was

NVRM: loaded and obtained ownership of the NVIDIA device(s).

NVRM: Try unloading the rivafb (and/or the rivatv) kernel module

NVRM: (or reconfigure your kernel without rivafb support), then

NVRM: try loading the NVIDIA kernel module again.

NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter probed!

NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine was not called for 1 device(s).

NVRM: This can occur when a driver such as rivafb or rivatv was

NVRM: loaded and obtained ownership of the NVIDIA device(s).

NVRM: Try unloading the rivafb (and/or the rivatv) kernel module

NVRM: (or reconfigure your kernel without rivafb support), then

NVRM: try loading the NVIDIA kernel module again.

NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter probed!

NVRM: The NVIDIA probe routine was not called for 1 device(s).

NVRM: This can occur when a driver such as rivafb or rivatv was

NVRM: loaded and obtained ownership of the NVIDIA device(s).

NVRM: Try unloading the rivafb (and/or the rivatv) kernel module

NVRM: (or reconfigure your kernel without rivafb support), then

NVRM: try loading the NVIDIA kernel module again.

NVRM: No NVIDIA graphics adapter probed!

```

 :Idea: (???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????)  :Shocked: 

please relpy with details such as commands and code snips b/c I am just a casual linux user (it usualy works so I don't have to muck with it much!)

----------

## fil1411

Mariley,

 I solved my problem by following the instructions of krasnik on this thread :

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-394817-start-0-postdays-0-postorder-asc-highlight-xorg+nvidia.html

name = 'XOrg can't load NVidia'

+ I recompiled my 2.6.13 kernel with option 'nVidia Framebuffer Support FB_NVIDIA' as a module (previously it was built-in)

this option is found in '/ device drivers / graphics support' 

I hope it will help you too to make this d4mn module  load as it should!

Ciao

F.

----------

