NVIDIA Driver Installation

[Krogen]

Hello everyone.

I have a Knoppix HD installation. Newest CD with 2.6.11 kernel.

I tried following many how-to-install-NVIDIA-drivers but failed. I tried following this ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-7174/README.txt and http://www.linuxforums.org/tutorials/1/tutorial-44103.html and this http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18947&highlight= tutorial. All of them seem to explain everything in different ways yet I think I'm missing something.

Let's do it the NVIDIA way.

I do su in the terminal and then init 3 to get out of x and have a shell. AIght. Then I go to the directory where my NVIDIA driver is. cd /usr/src. I do sh NVIDIA--File--Name--Here. Then I wait and I see a welcome EULA screen. I say yes. Then it prompts me if it should go look for the kernel source online (nvidia.com). I say yes. It prompts me that it didn't find anything and it will use my exsisting kernel, or something like that. I say yes. Then I way 10 seconds or so and the installation menu pops up. It goes up to 40%-90% and then gives me an error message.


ERROR: Unable to build the NVIDIA kernel module.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.


I say ok. I then go to /var/log to check out what it says.

Here's the full text.


nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Mon May 30 22:00:28 2005

option status:
license pre-accepted : false
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
no precompiled interface: false
no ncurses color : false
query latest driver ver : false
OpenGL header files : false
no questions : false
silent : false
no backup : false
kernel module only : false
sanity : false
add this kernel : false
no runlevel check : false
no network : false
no ABI note : false
no RPMs : false
force tls : (not specified)
force compat32 tls : (not specified)
X install prefix : /usr/X11R6
OpenGL install prefix : /usr
compat32 install prefix : (not specified)
installer install prefix: /usr
utility install prefix : /usr
kernel name : (not specified)
kernel include path : (not specified)
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel output path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : (not specified)
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp mirror : ftp://download.nvidia.com
RPM file list : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you li
ke the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel f
rom the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: No)
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; this means
that the installer will need to compile a new kernel interface.
-> Kernel source path: '/lib/modules/2.6.11/source'
-> Performing CC test with CC="cc".
-> Performing rivafb check.
-> Cleaning kernel module build directory.
executing: 'cd ./usr/src/nv; make clean'...
rm -f -f nv.o nv-vm.o os-agp.o os-interface.o os-registry.o nv.o nv-vm.o os-
agp.o os-interface.o os-registry.o nvidia.mod.o
rm -f -f build-in.o nv-linux.o *.d .*.{cmd,flags}
rm -f -f nvidia.{o,ko,mod.{o,c}} nv_compiler.h *~
rm -f -rf .tmp_versions
-> Building kernel module:
executing: 'cd ./usr/src/nv; make module SYSSRC=/lib/modules/2.6.11/source S
YSOUT=/lib/modules/2.6.11/build'...

NVIDIA: calling KBUILD...
make CC=cc KBUILD_OUTPUT=/lib/modules/2.6.11/build KBUILD_VERBOSE=1 -C /lib/
modules/2.6.11/source SUBDIRS=/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg
1/usr/src/nv modules
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.11/build \
KBUILD_SRC=/usr/src/linux-2.6.11 KBUILD_VERBOSE=1 \
KBUILD_CHECK= KBUILD_EXTMOD="/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1
/usr/src/nv" \
-f /usr/src/linux-2.6.11/Makefile modules
mkdir -p /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/.tmp_ver
sions
make -f /usr/src/linux-2.6.11/scripts/Makefile.build obj=/tmp/selfgz12400/NV
IDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv
echo \#define NV_COMPILER \"`cc -v 2>&1 | tail -n 1`\" > /tmp/selfgz12400/NV
IDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv_compiler.h
cc -Wp,-MD,/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/.nv.
o.d -nostdinc -isystem /usr/lib/gcc-lib/i486-linux/3.3.5/include -D__KERNEL_
_ -Iinclude -Iinclude2 -I/usr/src/linux-2.6.11/include -I/tmp/selfgz12400/N
VIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/us
r/src/nv -Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs -fno-strict-aliasing -fno-
common -ffreestanding -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -pipe -msoft-float -mpreferre
d-stack-boundary=2 -march=i386 -I/usr/src/linux-2.6.11/include/asm-i386/mach
-default -Iinclude/asm-i386/mach-default -I/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x8
6-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv -Wall -Wimplicit -Wreturn-type -Wswitch -Wformat
-Wchar-subscripts -Wparentheses -Wpointer-arith -Wno-multichar -Werror -O -f
no-common -MD -Wsign-compare -Wno-cast-qual -Wno-error -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES
-D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -DNTRM -D_GNU_SOURCE -D_LOOSE_KERNEL_NAMES -D__KERNEL_
_ -DMODULE -DNV_MAJOR_VERSION=1 -DNV_MINOR_VERSION=0 -DNV_PATCHLEVEL=7174 -D
NV_UNIX -DNV_LINUX -DNV_INT64_OK -DNVCPU_X86 -UDEBUG -U_DEBUG -DNDEBUG -DNV_
SIGNAL_STRUCT_RLIM -DNV_REMAP_PFN_RANGE_PRESENT -DNV_CHANGE_PAGE_ATTR_PRESEN
T -DNV_PCI_DISABLE_DEVICE_PRESENT -DNV_CLASS_SIMPLE_CREATE_PRESENT -DNV_PCI_
GET_CLASS_PRESENT -DNV_VMAP_4_PRESENT -DMODULE -DKBUILD_BASENAME=nv -DKBUILD
_MODNAME=nvidia -c -o /tmp/selfgz12
400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.o /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-L
inux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c
In file included from include/linux/list.h:7,
from include/linux/wait.h:23,
from include/asm/semaphore.h:41,
from include/linux/sched.h:19,
from include/linux/module.h:10,
from /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/sr
c/nv/nv-linux.h:46,
from /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/sr
c/nv/nv.c:14:
include/linux/prefetch.h: In function `prefetch_range':
include/linux/prefetch.h:62: warning: pointer of type `void *' used in arith
metic
In file included from include/linux/dmapool.h:14,
from include/linux/pci.h:863,
from /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/sr
c/nv/nv-linux.h:69,
from /tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/sr
c/nv/nv.c:14:
include/asm/io.h: In function `check_signature':
include/asm/io.h:242: warning: wrong type argument to increment
/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c: In function
`nvidia_init_module':
/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c:970: warning
: `pm_register' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/pm.h:106)
/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c:1036: warnin
g: `pm_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/pm.h:111)
/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c: In function
`nvidia_exit_module':
/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.c:1119: warnin
g: `pm_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/pm.h:111)
/bin/sh: scripts/basic/fixdep: No such file or directory
make[4]: *** [/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/src/nv/nv.
o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [_module_/tmp/selfgz12400/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7174-pkg1/usr/sr
c/nv] Error 2
make[2]: *** [modules] Error 2
NVIDIA: left KBUILD.
nvidia.ko failed to build!
make[1]: *** [module] Error 1
make: *** [module] Error 2
-> Error.

I also tried downloading a 2.6.11 kernel and putting it into /usr/src/linux-2.6.11/ (but first extracting it). No luck. Any ideas? Yes, I am a Linux noob. Had it only for a couple of days. All I'm trying to do is to get the most out of my NVIDIA 6800.

Thanks, Matt W.

[Markus]

You might want to try to compile a kernel first and boot with it. Here's a howto for it:
http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/tutorials/kernel-pkg/index-kernel-pkg.html
Basically you do:
- download full source from kernel.org
- tar xvjf kernel-source-version.tar.bz2
- ln -s /usr/src/linux-versionname /usr/src/linux
- cp /boot/config-2.6.x-some-name /usr/src/linux/.config (check the /boot/filename)
- cd linux
- make oldconfig (to read in the Knoppix config, you can also start with defconfig to get a default conf)
- make menuconfig (clean out unneeded stuff from the kernel)
- make-kpkg clean
- make-kpkg --append-to-version=-310505 kernel_image (use any date or name)
- cd..
- dpkg -i kernel-image-your_version_name.deb
- check /etc/lilo.conf to add a section for the new kernel. You can copy the previous one and just change the wmlinuz name according to the new on in /boot/
- leave the previous kernel in lilo so that you have one that boots
- lilo -v (to make sure it updated, then reboot and hope it boots)

When you get the kernel working you can run the nvidia script and add "nv" instead of "nvidia" as driver to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

[Krogen]

Wouldn't this be (basically) apt-get install kernel-source-(version here?)

I'll try doing the above later. Anyways, if I do apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.11 now (the newest version) I get a message saying:


Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
kernel-source-2.6.11 is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 236 not upgraded.

[Markus]

Well, I haven't tried this on knoppix but I the problem might be that the kernel source isn't for your running kernel unless you apt-got the kernel image as well. Knoppix has several patches to the kernel, which is why I suggested compiling a kernel first and then worrying about nvidia.
Have you also checked that you have the symlink /usr/src/linux pointing to the kernel source:
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root src 15 May 31 12:31 linux -> linux-2.6.11.10
drwxr-xr-x 20 root src 4096 May 31 13:12 linux-2.6.11.10

[Krogen]

Yes, if by symlink you mean a shortcut (the windows way ;)) then, yes, I have one pointing to the source.


I was following the above and on the "make oldconfig" I got an error saying:


HOSTCC scripts/basic/fixdep
In file included from /usr/include/sys/socket.h:35,
from /usr/include/netinet/in.h:24,
from /usr/include/arpa/inet.h:23,
from scripts/basic/fixdep.c:115:
/usr/include/bits/socket.h:305:24: asm/socket.h: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [scripts/basic/fixdep] Error 1
make: *** [scripts_basic] Error 2

When I extracted the .bz2 file which I got from http://kernel.org/ I got no errors.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Markus]

Do you have linux-kernel-headers installed?
If no, apt-get it. If yes, try changing line 305 of /usr/include/bits/socket.h from
"#include <asm/socket.h>"
to
"#include </usr/src/linux/include/asm-i386/socket.h>

IIRC the asm problem isn't new with knoppix so a search on this site will probably yield some results.

[Krogen]

Don't know. I apt-got it...

# apt-get install linux-kernel-headers


Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
linux-kernel-headers-knoppix
The following NEW packages will be installed:
linux-kernel-headers
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 1 to remove and 236 not upgraded.
Need to get 1377kB of archives.
After unpacking 7336kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://http.us.debian.org testing/main linux-kernel-headers 2.5.999-test7-bk-17 [1377kB]
Fetched 1377kB in 9s (147kB/s)
dpkg: linux-kernel-headers-knoppix: dependency problems, but removing anyway as you request:
libc6-dev depends on linux-kernel-headers; however:
Package linux-kernel-headers is not installed.
Package linux-kernel-headers-knoppix which provides linux-kernel-headers is to be removed.
(Reading database ... 107388 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing linux-kernel-headers-knoppix ...
Selecting previously deselected package linux-kernel-headers.
(Reading database ... 107330 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking linux-kernel-headers (from .../linux-kernel-headers_2.5.999-test7-bk-17_i386.deb) ...
Setting up linux-kernel-headers (2.5.999-test7-bk-17) ...


I'll reboot and see if it changed anything.

Thanks again!

[Krogen]

apt-get install linux-kernel headers did the job.

I did the

# make-kpkg --append-to-version=-310505 kernel_image

And then got an error. I tried doing it again and about half and hour later it finished doing it. (no errors this time though a lot of warnings)

I did the

# dpkg -i kernel-image-your_version_name.deb

No errors. Went to see what's in the grub config file and it seems like Knoppix added bunch of lines on its own. Here's the file now:


title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11 Default
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 ro ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off nomce quiet vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11.11-310505
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11.11-310505 root=/dev/sda2 ro ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off nomce quiet vga=791
savedefault
boot

title Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.11 root=/dev/sda2 ro ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off nomce quiet vga=791
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.11
savedefault
boot

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
title Windows 2K/XP/2003 (sda1)
chainloader (hd0,0)+1

The first one's the old one that I always used. The second one is the new one.The third ones a backup (I guess) and the fourth entry is Windows.

Reboot.

Grub menu comes up. I select and boot from Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.11.11-310505.

error message [kernel panic]


audit (somenumbershere) initialized
Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (8,2)

:(

Reboot.

I select the 'old' entry and boot from that. Works. Guess what though? Instead of waiting for knoppix to load for 30 seconds, like I always do, it booted in 10-15.

What did just happened? ;)

Back to the real problem though: installing the nvidia drivers. I'll try doing it now... Maybe it will work? Who knows...

[Markus]

For making a new kernel boot:
1) Make sure you compiled filesystem support (probably ext3) in the kernel, not as a module
2) Try making an initrd: mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd-2.6.11.11-310505.img and add it to menu.lst
3) Don't know what errors you had when compiling, but the safest way is now to remove the source, untar it again, make oldconfig and compile anew.

I would wait with nvidia until you have a working, running kernel with a matching source.
The nice part with all this is that when you manage to get a kernel compiled for your computer, future kernels will be easy and fast to compile by using the same config.

[Krogen]

I'm pretty sure my Knoppix Linux is on raiserfs (which is also a default during the Knoppix installer). On default, if you do make menuconfig, does it check support for raiserfs?

I tried doing
# mkinitrd -o /boot/initrd-2.6.11.11-310505.img

but I got an error saying:


/usr/sbin/mkinitrd: add_modules_dep_2_5: modprobe failed
FATAL: Module sd_mod not found.
WARNING: This failure MAY indicate that your kernel will not boot!
but it can also be triggered by needed modules being compiled into
the kernel.

I noticed that I get the same error (FATAL: Module sd_mod not found.) while booting with my default kernel. It's not fatal though, it still manages to load the whole linux (there are some more errors but it does it so fast I could never write it down.)

Thanks. I'll keep trying to do it. I'll post back if I can get anything to work or if I have a question or two.

One more thing: what is a .deb kernel source file? (If I search for "debian kernel source download 2.6.11" on google, it will give me a link to http://packages.debian.org/unstable/devel/kernel-source-2.6.11) Why am I asking? Knoppix is based off of Debian, right? Is this a source code that I could compile? Does it matter which one I choose?

Does it matter if I extract the code in the kde with some program or should I always do it in shell with the tar?

Thanks again.

[Krogen]

Ok. Here's what I did.... Again....

Downloaded the latest 2.6.11.11 linux kernel from http://www.kernel.org/. Extracted it (but not with tar in shell since this isn't a gzip... Or something). No errors, no warnings.

ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.11.11 /usr/src/linux
cp /boot/config-2.6.11 /usr/src/linux/.config
cd linux
make defconfig
make menuconfig (checked support for raiserfs, scsi, unchecked Firewire - don't need it, unchecked telephony, checked the riva nvidia drivers and the default vga ones)
make-kpkg clean
make-kpkg --append-to-version=-310505 kernel_image (very few warnings, no errors)
cd ..
dpkg -i (the name of the deb in the /usr/src/).deb (it prompts me that it already exsists and I shouldn't do it if I don't know what I'm doing... Pressing Y anyways.
same grub as posted already... not modified (everything's the same)

REBOOT

Choosing the new option in the grub

Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel.
Audit(-----some---numbers---here): initialized
Kernel panic -not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block (0,0)

:(

Should I format this partition and try installing Knoppix again and then immidietely after that, install the new Kernel? Or is the above fixable? Any ideas?

Thanks!!!!

[Markus]

Well, the point with copying the config from boot is so you can "make oldconfig" to get the same config that your running kernel has. Change defconfig to oldconfig and see if it helps.
Before installing the kernel you can remove the old one: apt-get --purge remove kernel-image-2.6.11.11-310505
or remove with: dpkg -P kernel-image-2.6.11.11-310505

I don't think a reinstall is needed just for kernel compiling. If you want to install again, install Kanotix instead with which you can even use Kano's script for nvidia. It's a better hd install than knoppix anyway.

BTW: With tar you unpack with:
tar xvf xxx.tar
tar xvzf xxx.tar.gz
tar xvjf xxx.tar.bz2

[Krogen]

Well, the point with copying the config from boot is so you can "make oldconfig" to get the same config that your running kernel has. Change defconfig to oldconfig and see if it helps.
Before installing the kernel you can remove the old one: apt-get --purge remove kernel-image-2.6.11.11-310505
or remove with: dpkg -P kernel-image-2.6.11.11-310505

I don't think a reinstall is needed just for kernel compiling. If you want to install again, install Kanotix instead with which you can even use Kano's script for nvidia. It's a better hd install than knoppix anyway.

BTW: With tar you unpack with:
tar xvf xxx.tar
tar xvzf xxx.tar.gz
tar xvjf xxx.tar.bz2

Thanks for the tips.

I can't get Kanotix to work on my PC. It keeps freezing for whatever reason (my guess is: hardware reasons). I checked the image I downloaded (with checksum) and it was ok, burned the cds twice and still now working.

[Markus]

Where did kanotix freeze?
What was the last message displayed?
Did you ask on kanotix forum or #kanotix ?

[Krogen]

This might be a whole another topic but it freezes exactly after the boot. If it doesn't, I can do things for couple of minutes and then, whatever I'm doing, I can't keep doing it because of the freeze. I tried ALT-F2 (ctrl-alt-f2? forgot which) into the shell but that didn't do it.

I tried downloading a new image yesterday since I deleted my old one. After I finished downloading it (with Azureus Bittorrent) I checksumed it and the checksum prompted me that the image doesn't match the md5 file. So I did a force recheck in Azureus and, I guess, it saw an error in the image and started downloading a part of it again. 5 minutes or so passed and it finished it. Checksumed it again and it gave me a bad image error. So I went to Azureus again and did a force recheck. Again, it started downloading THE SAME part of the iso image! WTF? I tried doing the same thing about 3-4 times and the checksum kept giving me errors. Azureus kept downloading the file again and again!

Could it be someone sending me wrong packets and corrupting the iso?

[Harry Kuhman]

Could it be someone sending me wrong packets and corrupting the iso?
That not only seems unlikely, but it seems extremely unlikely that when you downloaded again someone again managed to send you bad packets a second time.

I would suggest that you try a different client against the dtata that you already have. I used Bittorrent 4.0.1 (there is a newer version out now) on Thursday morning and got the full thing in less than 2 hours. The md5 sum checked fine. Version 4 has some nice improvements over version 3. Maybe a different client will not be the answer, but it should be an easy test to know for sure. Bittorrent should be able to pick up nicely with what you have and fix it.

[Krogen]

Could it be someone sending me wrong packets and corrupting the iso?
That not only seems unlikely, but it seems extremely unlikely that when you downloaded again someone again managed to send you bad packets a second time.

I would suggest that you try a different client against the dtata that you already have. I used Bittorrent 4.0.1 (there is a newer version out now) on Thursday morning and got the full thing in less than 2 hours. The md5 sum checked fine. Version 4 has some nice improvements over version 3. Maybe a different client will not be the answer, but it should be an easy test to know for sure. Bittorrent should be able to pick up nicely with what you have and fix it.

What I did:

Downloaded FlashGet. Downloaded a FlashGet plugin for Firefox. Found couple of servers with the latest version of Kanotix. Started downloading from one. Added a couple of alternate servers.

Downloading for the whole time at about the maximum speed. Can't get any faster. (150KB/s.... VERY SLOW FOR A 3 megabit connection!).

Will try burning it in a sec.

[Krogen]

Checked with checksum. OK. Burned.

No freezes....

Everything works.

#sudo kanotix-installer

modifying partitions and configuring...

installing

changing grubs config

booting to kanotix... works! I mean, not really, freezes after about a minute of use. I'll try posting this in the kanotix forum and see what they come up with.

Thanks everyone.

[Krogen]

GOT IT ALL WORKING!!!!

I reinstalled Kanotix, again, set everything up, installed the nvidia driver.

SMOOTH! :D

Thanks!!!

[Markus]

Glad you got it to work, and I dare say you won't be sorry for going with kanotix.

[Monku]

hi
I to have a problem with Nvidia drivers

I compiled kernel then made changes to lilo.conf

but when I try to
#make-kpgk modules_image

It says:

The changelog says we are creating 2.6.11-monq-05-06-19, but I thought the version is 2.6.11

when I use Nvidia installer, the kernel_module compiles well but it sais that the version of kernel_sourse and kernel which i use are not the same (I compiled the kernel myself)

another way I tried was to do
#sudo module-assistant --k /usr/src/linux build nvidia

It compiled the nvidia kernel modulebut when I try to boot system with driver 'nvidia', I get info that kernel module has a bad format

what to do?

please help

[knoppixn00b]

this is how i got the nvidia driver to install:

apt-get install kernel-source-2.6.11

then go into /usr/src/kernel-source-2.6.11

cp -r --reply=yes * /usr/src/linux-2.6.11

this will copy everything from the current directory over to the other one. then :

cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.11

then i typed:

make all


it will run for awhile compiling stuff, eventually exiting with an error.

after it exits:

cd /path/to/NVIDIA-driver-installer.run

(where NVIDIA-driver-installer.run is the installer its self and /path/to is wherever you downloaded the installer to)

then run the installer and it will build the kernel module. then:

modprobe nvidia

it will load the kernel module. edit XF86config-4 and change the "nv" driver to "nvidia". then start X. open a terminal and type:

glxinfo |grep render

you should see something like:

Hardware rendering: Yes


this means the kernel module is installed and rendering for you. but it should be obvious when you start XFree86 and you get the Nvidia splash screen.

HOWEVER: please note that i haven't rebooted yet and i am unsure if running "make all" in the /usr/src/linux-2.6.11 directory will cause any issues. i don't "think" it will since i didn't run make install.....but still.....i'll update this later if there are any issues at reboot.

[Kowood]

Kanotix has a script to do it....
This is what I do...in lovely Archlinux:
init 3
pacman -Sy kernel
pacman -Sy nvidia-legacy
And I'm done. :)