# Problem: nVidia kernel

## paolo_cst

Hello everybody!   :Smile: 

I have a Riva TNT2 Model 64 video card, but I dunno how to make it work with Gentoo. I have a 2.6.10-gentoo-r6 kernel.

I tried the following command:

emerge nvidia-glx

opengl-update nvidia

modprobe nvidia

The output was:

"FATAL: error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.10-gentoo-r6/video/nvidia.ko): No such device"   :Crying or Very sad: 

The driver I emerged is 1.0.6629-r1.  

I'm totally newbie, but I WANT learn about Gentoo Linux!

Who can help me? Thanks a lot and sorry for my bad English.

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## yaneurabeya

You might have to downgrade and mask the latest version because I heard that nVidia was phasing out support for their older cards  :Sad: ...

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## paolo_cst

 *yaneurabeya wrote:*   

> You might have to downgrade and mask the latest version

 

How I can do it?Last edited by paolo_cst on Fri Jan 28, 2005 9:42 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## jschellhaass

It sounds like the kernel module did not get compiled.  You can try emerge nvidia-kernel

emerge nvidia-glx 

opengl-update nvidia

modprobe nvidia

jeff

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## paolo_cst

 *jschellhaass wrote:*   

> It sounds like the kernel module did not get compiled.  You can try emerge nvidia-kernel
> 
> emerge nvidia-glx 
> 
> opengl-update nvidia
> ...

 

emerge nvidia-kernel is not needed because it's done automatically when i emerge nvidia-glx.

Anyway, I just tried but the output was the same as above  :Sad: 

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## jschellhaass

I know it should be compiled with emerge nvidia-glx.  I just wanted to be certain.   

Your TNT 2 card should be supported with 6629 driver, at least according the the nvidia readme.

Does nvidia.ko exist anywhere on your system?

find / -name nvidia.ko 

jeff

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## Stormblazer

Just in case it doesn't, do it manually:

```

emerge nvidia-kernel

emerge nvidia-glx

emerge nvidia-settings

modprobe nvidia
```

If that doesn't work, make sure that the nvidia driver is find the correct kernel sources to compile from:

[code]

ls -l /usr/src

[code]

If /usr/src/linux doesn't symlink to the actual kernel you're using, then it won't work.

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## paolo_cst

 *jschellhaass wrote:*   

> I 
> 
> Does nvidia.ko exist anywhere on your system?
> 
> find / -name nvidia.ko 
> ...

 

Ok, the module nvidia.ko exist! It's in

/lib/modules/2.6.10-gentoo-r6/video/

The weird is that the path is exactly the same of the error message when i try "modprobe nvidia":

"FATAL: Error inserting nvidia (/lib/modules/2.6.10-gentoo-r6/video/nvidia.ko): No such device"

'm very confused.  :Sad:  What to do now?

Jeff, thanks for your help...Last edited by paolo_cst on Fri Jan 28, 2005 10:24 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## jschellhaass

What is the output of lspci?

jeff

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## paolo_cst

 *jschellhaass wrote:*   

> What is the output of lspci?
> 
> jeff

 

Grepping the output of lspci with the keyword nVidia I get the following line:

[code]

lspci | grep nVidia

0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro] (rev 15)

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## jschellhaass

I'm not certain why the nvidia kernel module can't load.

Can you startx using the nv driver?

jeff

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## yaneurabeya

The nvidia kernel module should have compiled if you reemerged it...   :Confused:  I just read that there were issues with users of older cards and the latest nvidia driver since they were phasing out support. If you want to mask support for the newest drivers, add the following to your /etc/portage/portage.mask file. Learning how to use portage is an essential art to Gentoo  :Smile: .

```

>media-video/nvidia-kernel-6629

>media-video/nvidia-glx-6629

```

When you reemerged nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx, the newer drivers will be removed and you should be back to smooth sailing.

Cheers!

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## cpunchin

I used:

>media-video/nvidia-kernel-1.0.6611-r3

>media-video/nvidia-glx-1.0.6611-r1

on file /etc/portage/package.mask

instead...

 *yaneurabeya wrote:*   

> The nvidia kernel module should have compiled if you reemerged it...   I just read that there were issues with users of older cards and the latest nvidia driver since they were phasing out support. If you want to mask support for the newest drivers, add the following to your /etc/portage/portage.mask file. Learning how to use portage is an essential art to Gentoo .
> 
> ```
> 
> >media-video/nvidia-kernel-6629
> ...

 

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## Morimando

might be a stupid proposal indeed but...

does the symlink "linux" in /usr/src pont to your correct kernel sourcel?

so if you do 

```

ls /usr/src -lA

#output shall look like this:

....

lrwxr-xr-x 1 root root 21 Feb 13 23:32 linux -> /usr/src/linux-2.kernelversion

```

 if that aint correctly linked, type

```
 rm /usr/src/linux

ln -s /usr/src/kernel-"version-here" /usr/src/linux

```

might be that helps?

 :Shocked: 

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## yaneurabeya

 *paolo_cst wrote:*   

> Ok, the module nvidia.ko exist! It's in
> 
> /lib/modules/2.6.10-gentoo-r6/video/
> 
> The weird is that the path is exactly the same of the error message when i try "modprobe nvidia":
> ...

 

Sorry for not noticing it earlier but what's your 'running' kernel version? Please paste your uname -a output here.

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## chunderbunny

 *yaneurabeya wrote:*   

> You might have to downgrade and mask the latest version because I heard that nVidia was phasing out support for their older cards ...

 

I'm pretty sure this isn't true. There is a bug in the 6629 drivers which prevents them from working on older Nvidia cards but nVidia have stated that they fully intend to fix that bug in the next version.

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## paolo_cst

 *yaneurabeya wrote:*   

>  *paolo_cst wrote:*   Ok, the module nvidia.ko exist! It's in
> 
> /lib/modules/2.6.10-gentoo-r6/video/
> 
> The weird is that the path is exactly the same of the error message when i try "modprobe nvidia":
> ...

 

2.6.10-gentoo-r6, the only kernel I have  :Sad: 

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## ikshaar

I think your kernel might be the problem...

I don't know if gentoo has it patched ... but 2.6.10 used to have problems.

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=42964

Did you try with a 2.6.9 kernel ?

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## fatcop

i had exactly the same problem.

I did a seperate:

```

emerge --newuse nvidia-kernel

```

after emerging nvidia-glx, as recommended in another Gentoo forum (german) thread and then the modprobe worked fine  !!!

I added the "--newuse" because to make sure the "nvidia" I added to the USE variable in /etc/ make.conf was used.

(even tho it doesn't use that flag as far as i can tell  :Smile: 

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## Unther

What I did (which I'm sure goes against the spirit of this game) was get an up and running kernel, and then I downloaded my nvidia drivers direct from the nvidia web-page, and followed their instructions to install them. This solved the problems I'd been having convincing Xorg that the nvidia drivers existed. No probs from there on.

My system:

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

on a Dell Inspiron 5150.

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## yaneurabeya

 *Unther wrote:*   

> What I did (which I'm sure goes against the spirit of this game) was get an up and running kernel, and then I downloaded my nvidia drivers direct from the nvidia web-page, and followed their instructions to install them. This solved the problems I'd been having convincing Xorg that the nvidia drivers existed. No probs from there on.
> 
> My system:
> 
> NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
> ...

 

This will cause problems when upgrading/downgrading using the nvidia ebuilds though, and I'm not sure if opengl-update will work properly...

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## Phk

Well at least it works...

I'm stuck with the same problem.. I think i'll try downloading from nvidia's site...  :Confused: 

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## gerard27

I think your problem is the wrong driver.

For cards like yours it was nv and not nvidia,which is

a driver for recent cards.

I had a card like yours once and it worked fine with the nv

module.

In xorg.conf under section device it should see:

Driver nv and not nvidia.

This nv driver used to be part of the 2.4.kernel.

I am not sure it is still in the 2.6 sources.

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## jerrykenny

Hi folks,

same problem here with loading nvidia-kernel,   I'm using 2.6.11-r4   card is mx440 64mb

Wonder if made some boob compiling the kernel?  I did compile with nvidia Riva support . . . .might that be confusing matters ?

I definitely have loadable module support. . . .

My error message is that the module is in the "wrong format"  ie it's finding the module, it just doesnt like it. . . . Modprobe , however, doesnt find the module     fussy  fussy fussy 

I'll check that linux symlink . . . .

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## chunderbunny

 *Gerard van Vuuren wrote:*   

> I think your problem is the wrong driver.
> 
> For cards like yours it was nv and not nvidia,which is
> 
> a driver for recent cards.
> ...

 

No, as I have said before the nvidia driver supports ALL nvidia cards in the GeForce and TNT range (just as the Windows drivers do.) However, there was a bug in the 6629 drivers which prevented them from working correctly on some older cards. This bug is fixed in the newer 7167 drivers so they should work with all Nvidia cards. If you have an older GeForce or a TNT card and you are having problems then I recommend that you upgrade to the 7167 which are currently available in ~arch. 

 *jerrykenny wrote:*   

> Hi folks,
> 
> same problem here with loading nvidia-kernel,   I'm using 2.6.11-r4   card is mx440 64mb
> 
> Wonder if made some boob compiling the kernel?  I did compile with nvidia Riva support . . . .might that be confusing matters ?
> ...

 

You have made a small mistake, the in kernel Riva support is a framebuffer driver (you can use it for bootsplash etc) HOWEVER, it is incompatible with the nvidia driver. If you intend to use the nvidia driver then you should disable RIva support in your kernel.

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## gerard27

@ 133t

I stand corrected.

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## Phk

I just:

 - Switched from LOVE kernel 2.6.11-r4 to NITRO kernel 2.6.10

 - Recompiled LATEST nvidia-kernel

 - Recompiled LATEST nvidia-glx

 - "modprobe nvidia"

 - "startx" worked like a charm  :Wink: 

good luck!

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## jerrykenny

Think I might go for an older kernel too . . . 

I've tried recompiling without Framebuffer Support

 "      "          "            with 8K stacks

  "      "          "           without  Riva  support

My usr/src/linux/symlink is OK . . . . 

The forum is just littered with guys having nvidia / 2.6.11  problems  .  .  .  is it a kernel problem ?

Also I note Debian have removed Nvidia from their Sarge "apt-gets"      wise Debian

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## Phk

 *jerrykenny wrote:*   

> Also I note Debian have removed Nvidia from their Sarge "apt-gets"      wise Debian

 

Nice choice..... lol... 

Debian... Naa.... I LOVE GENTOO  :Wink: 

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