NvidiaGraphicsDrivers
Translation(s): English - Español - Français - Italiano
I installed the nVidia...96 Video Drivers from the Debian Repos (I have the free and non free extras enabled). But my Screen Resolution was all messed up. Something like 500X450, was the max it would do. I uninstalled the NV driver and Broke my XServer twice, trying to figure out which Driver would work. I have it working in ArtistX 9, which is based on Ubuntu and Debian. So, I thought it would be a snap in Debian 6. Boy was I wrong!:O Luckily, I had installed the SSH Server from Extras during my initial install of Debian 6. That's one of the first things I install on any system. Since I have had Kernel Updates Kill my XServer 4 or 5 times in my Fedora 14 System. When this happens, I can log in to the Broken System with Putty and work on it in the Command Line. But with the advantage of having a full Graphic System, with a Web Browser to look up and copy the commands I need to use to fix the broken system. I had to fix my broken XServer in my new Debian 6 system twice today. I also use SFTP in Krusader to rename my xorg.conf file to force the system to make a new one on boot, in order to get the nVidia Driver to stop loading and get the Default x11 Driver to load instead. Or I use the "nvidia-xconfig" command after installing an nVidia Driver that I want to try out. After 2 or 3 hours of Trial and Error... I finally read on down in this Debian Document that I was following and realized that my Video Card may be too old for Debian 6!:O. So, I'm gonna have to check my exact Video Card Version and make sure. I'm thinking that mine is a Gforce4... But, sometimes my memory is wrong:O
So, Read this thing, even thought it is long... and save your self allot of Trouble with nVidia in Debian 6!!!
Don
This document explains how to make use of NVIDIA video hardware on a Debian GNU/Linux system. The following section shortly describes the free drivers while the rest of the document covers the non-free but 3D-accelerated drivers.
Contents
free drivers
Nouveau
Installation
non-free drivers
Why use a Debian-specific method?
Comparison of nvidia-installer and the Debian way
Installation
Overview
Steps
Choose a driver version
Install the kernel module
Stock or custom kernel?
Methods
Use module-assistant
Install a pre-built module
Build manually, with a custom kernel
Build manually, with a stock kernel
Install the NVIDIA X driver and user-space libraries
Configure X to use the nvidia driver
The manual way
Modify an existing xorg.conf
Create an xorg.conf
Using nvidia-xconfig
Restart X
Check that it worked
How to deal with kernel changes and driver upgrades
When
...will the NVIDIA driver version change
...will your kernel change
Troubleshooting
X doesn't start
X (or the complete machine when running X) is unstable
Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work
Various problems with X
"nvidia license taints kernel"
Last resort
More information
About this document
Credits
Licensing
See also
free drivers
Debian has three free drivers that support NVIDIA cards. The vesa driver is a generic video driver. The nv driver usually gives better results. The nv driver is no longer packaged starting with wheezy. You can see which one is in use running
$ grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
You can simply configure X to change the free driver to use.
Neither of the free drivers support 3D acceleration. Only the non-free nvidia drivers support 3D. The non-free drivers are more complex and X is more likely to break. If X breaks and it seems difficult to get X to work with the non-free nvidia drivers, remember that switching back to a free driver should get X working again.
Nouveau
In addition to vesa and nv, Debian contains the Nouveau drivers starting with squeeze. The Nouveau drivers are reverse-engineered and for NVIDIA cards. These drivers are experimental and not recommended, unless you are having issues with the nv driver and don't want to use the nvidia drivers.
Installation
To use the nouveau drivers, your kernel drm version and your libdrm version need to match. The installation can basically be done this way: # apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
Then configure X and set nouveau as your device driver.
non-free drivers
Why use a Debian-specific method?
NVIDIA drivers can be installed using NVIDIA's official installer or the Debian driver packages. Each method has its advantages, but the Debian way is probably easier. Even when building a driver module manually, the Debian way is more reliable and probably will save labor in the long run.
NVIDIA's installer is documented at other places such as this one.
Whichever installation method, the troubleshooting section may help.
Comparison of nvidia-installer and the Debian way
Advantages of "the Debian way":
More automated, which saves work if the kernel is changed.
Uses Debian package management tools, so it's cleaner. If your system breaks after using the Debian way, that would be a bug which can be reported in the BTS.
Can be done while X is running. (X must be restarted to apply the driver change.)
Users of make-kpkg should find it fits easily into their existing build procedure.
No downloading files from nvidia.com, the Debian packages contain all necessary parts.
Advantages of NVIDIA's official installer:
Most recent NVIDIA driver versions. Debian packages commonly lag behind a month or more. You can compare the current version and the latest version in your Debian release to see if there's a difference.
Installation
How to install the NVIDIA 3D drivers, the Debian way.
Overview
The NVIDIA 3D drivers consist of two parts: a kernel module, and a collection of user-space libraries and a X video driver. The libraries and the X driver (sometimes called the "binary driver" or GLX libraries) are distributed in binary form by NVIDIA, and are packaged for Debian in the nvidia-glx packages. Since NVIDIA's 3D drivers are not open source, non-free APT sources are needed to install them. The kernel module (aka the "kernel interface to the binary driver") is distributed in source form (though with one binary component), and packaged for Debian in the nvidia-kernel-source packages. The version numbers of the kernel module and user-space libraries and X video driver must match. User libraries only need be installed once, but the kernel module must be recompiled every time the kernel is changed. What to do:
0. Make sure APT has non-free and contrib sources (consult the sources.list(5) man page for help on doing this)
1. Determine which version of the drivers should be installed.
2. Install the kernel module
3. Install the user-space GLX libraries and the X driver
4. Configure X to use the nvidia driver
Steps 3 and 4 need only be done once, but Step 2 is required every time the kernel is changed.
Steps
Choose a driver version
The current drivers do not support some legacy NVIDIA cards. Up to now, the NVIDIA drivers dropped support for some legacy cards 3 times. However, NVIDIA maintains the last driver version released before a legacy cards support drop. This means there are currently 4 drivers series maintained by NVIDIA. The first support drop happened in 2005, so the oldest legacy drivers series (71xx) should support cards released before 2005 but not those released after 2005. The second support drop happened in 2006, leading to the 96xx legacy drivers series. The third support drop happened in 2008, leading to the 173.14 legacy drivers series.
No Debian suite contains the 4 available drivers series, but it may be possible to install unofficial packages if your card requires a drivers series not available in your suite. Both Lenny and Squeeze contain the newest legacy series, 173.14, and the second oldest drivers series, 96.43. Squeeze also contains the current series. The oldest drivers series, 71xx, is not in any current Debian suite (except unstable, but unusable). It is basically impossible to use the nvidia driver on cards no longer supported after 71xx on a current Debian suite.
The 71xx version is the only one to support RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro, RIVA TNT2 Ultra, Vanta/Vanta LT, RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro, Aladdin TNT2, GeForce 256, GeForce DDR, Quadro, GeForce2 GTS / GeForce2 Pro, GeForce2 Ti, GeForce2 Ultra and Quadro2 Pro. Versions newer than 96.43 do not support GeForce2 and GeForce4 cards. A more detailed list of cards only supported by legacy drivers is available.
Debian distributes several versions of the drivers using several packages with different names. For example, the X driver and user-space libraries from the current series are in the nvidia-glx package. However, with time, the current drivers become legacy drivers, so the nvidia-glx package in Lenny is not current anymore.
Use current drivers if possible. You can determine which cards are supported by consulting Appendix A of NVIDIA's 195.36.24 driver README.
Set a VERSION variable, which the rest of the instructions will refer to, to "-legacy-96xx", "-legacy-173xx" or an empty string. If you want to install the default version from your suite, there is no need to set VERSION to the empty string. To find the name of a card, you can try lspci. To determine which version you should use, you can run this script, which will propose to set VERSION.
Install the kernel module
Stock or custom kernel?
Some of the installation methods below depend on whether you're running a stock kernel, i.e. a prebuilt kernel from the Debian distribution. If you know which kind of kernel you have, you can skip to the following section.
By default, Debian comes with a stock kernel. If you don't know what kind of kernel you're running, then it's probably a stock kernel. If you're not sure, run
$ uname -r
and check if the output looks like 2.*.*-small number-architecture (e.g. or 2.6.18-6-486). If it does, you're most likely running a stock kernel.
Methods
There are four different methods for installing the kernel module.
Use module-assistant
This method is easy, and should work with most stock or custom kernels. For a custom kernel, you need to have its Linux headers installed.
It needs module-assistant and nvidia-kernel-common. To install them with apt-get:
# apt-get install module-assistant nvidia-kernel-common
Run the following command:
# m-a auto-install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
And that's it. If all went well, your nvidia kernel module is now built and installed; you may proceed to step 3. If not, read the rest of this section.
You must use the same version of gcc to build your nvidia kernel module as was used to build your kernel. This might be a problem if you are running a stock kernel. If module-assistant fails, read its log output and look for messages suggesting that you need, for example, gcc-4.0 instead of gcc-4.1. Then install the corresponding package and retry auto-install.
You also might have problems if a previous (failed) attempt at building the nvidia kernel module has left stuff at /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
If this happens, you can try removing the old files:
# rm -r /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
and running "auto-install" again.
This issue should be confirmed. If this solution helped you, please tell the maintainer. 2009-07-04
The auto-install step is the biggest step of the procedure, and is the most likely to fail. auto-install can be divided in smaller module-assistant steps, which can help debugging:
get
build
install
If # m-a get nvidia; fails, try installing the nvidia-kernel-source package. If APT fails to install nvidia-kernel-source, you should go back to step 0 and make sure you didn't miss something.
If you are unable to install the module using module-assistant, try installing a pre-built module if you use a stock kernel or try to build manually, with a custom kernel.
Install a pre-built module
This method is easy if you're running a recent stock kernel for which a pre-built module is available; it will not work at all if you're running a custom kernel or if you're running Debian 6 and need a legacy driver. There are pre-built modules available for all the kernels installed by default by Debian Lenny, and pre-built modules for the current drivers series for all kernels installed by default by Debian Squeeze. If the module-assistant method doesn't work for you and there are pre-built modules available for your kernel, use this method.
If you don't know your kernel version, run
$ uname -r
If there is a pre-built module for your kernel, install its package. The name starts with "nvidia-kernel-". This is followed by an indication of the drivers series you want (this string is empty for the default drivers series). The name ends by the identifier of your Linux image. For example, with apt-get:
# apt-get install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-$(uname -r)
If this step succeeds, you may now proceed to step 3. If there are no pre-built modules for your kernel, and method 1 fails, you may want to try method 4.
Build manually, with a custom kernel
Use this method if you're configuring and building a custom kernel. This method is known to be possibly inexact or incomplete.
Install the kernel module source. For example, with apt-get: # apt-get install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
This will install a source tarball in /usr/src/. Unpack it in /usr/src: $ cd /usr/src # tar -xf nvidia-kernel-*.tar.gz
This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel[something].
Configure your kernel. This step isn't documented here; if you need to learn how, see the kernel-package documentation. But in summary, what you have to do is $ cd /usr/src/linux # make xconfig
and then choose the options you want. Note, however, that each of the following kernel options has been reported to cause trouble with the nvidia driver:
Device drivers –> Graphics Support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA)
Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA)
Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA)
Processor Type and Features –> Local APIC support on uniprocessors (X86_UP_APIC) (not available if you have an SMP kernel, including hyperthreading)
It is therefore recommended that you disable all of the above options in your kernel configuration. If for some reason you don't disable them, and then your X display doesn't work properly with the nvidia driver, you should suspect these options as the likely cause of the trouble. For more details, see the Troubleshooting section.
Build the kernel and the nvidia kernel module: # make-kpkg clean # make-kpkg kernel_image modules_image
For an introduction to using make-kpkg to build kernel packages, see Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system, or Compiling Kernels the Debian Way. See also the make-kpkg(1) man page, for a description of other options and targets that you can use in this command. The result of the above command will be two Debian package files, linux-image-*.deb and nvidia-kernel-*.deb, both in /usr/src or /usr/src/modules. The first file contains your kernel, and the second contains your nvidia kernel module.
At the same time, if you have sources for any other add-on kernel modules in /usr/src/modules, then the "modules_image" target will cause make-kpkg to build Debian package files for them, too. For example, if you install the fuse-source package you'll get a source archive /usr/src/fuse.tar.gz, which you can unpack to get fuse module sources in /usr/src/modules/fuse. If you've done this, then this same invocation of make-kpkg will also build a fuse module package file, /usr/src/fuse-*.deb, that's specific to your new kernel.
Install the new kernel and kernel module: $ cd /usr/src # dpkg -i /path/linux-image-*.deb /path/nvidia-kernel-*.deb
Use the fileglobs as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one Linux image or nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information rendered as * above.
Boot your new kernel. Before trying to get the NVIDIA 3D drivers to work, make sure that the new kernel boots and that X starts well using a free X driver.
Proceed to step 3.
Build manually, with a stock kernel
Use this method if you're running a stock kernel and the two first methods failed. module-assistant should automate this process. In other words, if the first method failed but this one works, you should probably submit a bug report against module-assistant.
The following procedure is adapted from the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian and is known to be potentially inexact.
Save the release number of your kernel (e.g. 2.6.18-6-686) in a couple of environment variables: export KVERS=$(uname -r) export KSRC=/usr/src/linux-headers-$KVERS export KPKG_DEST_DIR=/usr/src
Note that these variables are used by the build commands below, so you really do need to set and export them, as in the above commands.
Install the kernel module source: run apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common
This will give you a source tarball /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz. Unpack it with cd /usr/src tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz
This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel. In case there is no such tarball, but /usr/src/nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2, unpack it with cd /usr/src tar -jxf nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2
Install the header files for your kernel: apt-get install linux-headers-$KVERS
This will give you kernel header files in /usr/src/linux-headers-$KVERS. Be sure to check that the installed kernel image and kernel header packages have the same version number: run apt-cache policy linux-image-$KVERS linux-headers-$KVERS
and check that the version number listed as Installed is the same for both packages. If it isn't, find the distribution that has the version of linux-headers that you need, e.g. testing, and rerun the above installation command, adding '-t testing' (or whichever).
Build the kernel module package: cd /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel debian/rules binary-modules
The result will be a package file /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb, which contains your kernel module. Note: several users have told me recently that their nvidia package file ends up in /usr/src/modules, instead of /usr/src. I don't know yet why this happens. If this is your case, please adjust the next command appropriately.
Install the kernel module: dpkg -i /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb
Use the fileglob as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information that I rendered as * above.
Now proceed to step 3, below.
Install the NVIDIA X driver and user-space libraries
Install the X driver and user-space libraries package. For example, with apt-get:
# apt-get install nvidia-glx${VERSION}
Note: The reason this step has to come after step 2 is that nvidia-glx depends on a virtual package called 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION', where $NVVERSION is the upstream part of the version of the nvidia-glx package. This virtual package should be provided by the kernel module package that you installed in step 2; so you have to complete that step first. If the installation of nvidia-glx fails because the 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION' isn't satisfied, you should probably make sure that step 2 went OK.
Configure X to use the nvidia driver
You can use The manual way or nvidia-xconfig, which will create a basic xorg.conf and a final one with your preferred settings.
The manual way
xorg.conf can instruct X to use the nvidia driver. If you have one, modify it, otherwise it must be created.
Modify an existing xorg.conf
Consider backing up your current X configuration file:
# cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Watch out for typos, and check your X log if things go wrong.
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
If it contains a "Module" section, be sure that it contains a line: Load "glx"
and remove or comment out (prepend with a #) any lines that refer to the "dri" or "GLCore" modules.
In the "Device" section for your video card, change the driver (normally nv or vesa) to nvidia. If the driver is not defined, add the line Driver "nvidia"
Create an xorg.conf
Create an xorg.conf with the following content:
Section "Module" Load "glx" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Video Card" Driver "nvidia" EndSection
Using nvidia-xconfig
Warning: this method is generally not recommended due to an important X bug (504692).
Install nvidia-xconfig. For example, using apt-get: # apt-get install nvidia-xconfig
Now make a basic xorg.conf to include NVIDIA driver:
# nvidia-xconfig
Restart X
This is the easiest but probably most crucial step. If it doesn't work for some reason, and you want to get back to X before fixing the problem, you'll have to revert step 4 (by choosing a free X driver again). When you think you fixed the problem, you can do step 4 again and retry starting X. Remember that even if it works you'll want to read the next section to avoid future trouble. And if it doesn't...check the Troubleshooting section.
If you don't use a display manager, simply close your session. That should bring to a console. If it doesn't, you must be using a display manager (such as gdm, kdm or xdm). First identify which one you're using. If you don't know, it's probably gdm. You can know by checking whether a process ending with "dm" is running. Once you determined which one you use, close your session and go run the appropriate init script in a console. Here's an example for gdm:
# invoke-rc.d gdm restart
Alternatively, you can simply press Alt+E at the login screen if you use kdm. If you can't figure out how to restart X with those instructions, you can simply reboot your system. Otherwise, the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Backspace should be reliable, despite being somewhat "unfriendly".
Check that it worked
To check that the acceleration is working, glxinfo can be used. This program is in the mesa-utils package. If
$ glxinfo |grep rendering
returns "direct rendering: Yes", acceleration is working. If it returns No, see section "Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work". If it returns Yes, 3D acceleration (in games such as PlanetPenguin Racer or Extreme Tux Racer and Neverball) should work.
How to deal with kernel changes and driver upgrades
Steps 3 and 4 are done for good. However, you'll have to repeat step 2 in certain situations. If you don't realize such a situation happens, X will fail to start. You can take two approaches with this: either remember when this will happen and try to prevent it, or remember to come back here when your X fails to start. Either way, you're not done for life. If X fails to start because of this, you can again revert step 4 (by choosing a free X driver again) and redo it when you want to retry using the nvidia driver for X.
When
Step 2 installs an nvidia kernel module for a specific kernel and NVIDIA driver version. You'll have to do it for each kernel, and you'll have to redo it for each new driver version. If you don't know what this means, read on.
...will the NVIDIA driver version change
If you're using Debian stable, this won't happen until you upgrade to the next Debian release, but it will happen then.
In all cases, this will happen when the nvidia-glx package is upgraded. All versions of nvidia-glx depend on an nvidia-kernel-version virtual package. When you followed step 2, you installed a package providing this virtual package. However, if you upgrade nvidia-glx before doing step 2 again, APT will attempt to satisfy the virtual package by installing a basically randomly chosen prebuilt kernel module. You'll notice some new nvidia-kernel-something package being installed (or upgraded if you already had it). Instead of letting it do, do step 2 again to get an appropriate kernel module. Then, the virtual package will be satisfied and you can upgrade nvidia-glx safely and without installing a useless package.
...will your kernel change
If you build other modules using module-assistant, you have to redo step 2 everytime you'd have to run module-assistant for other modules, that is for every new kernel ABI. If you don't know what that means, read on.
If you install a kernel with a new ABI, a new Linux image package will be installed. For example, if the Linux 2.6.18 gets a new ABI and you currently use linux-image-2.6.18-4-486, you will have to install the linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 package to get the new kernel (the "-4" and "-5" part of the package names indicate respectively that these packages contain the fourth and fifth ABI of Debian's 2.6.18 i386 stock kernels). This may happen without your intervention when upgrading your system if the linux-image-2.6-486 meta package is installed. This can also happen if you install a different kernel. For example, you can have both 2.6.26 and 2.6.32 in Lenny. If you did step 2 for 2.6.26 only, you'll need to do it for 2.6.32 too. You'll notice that a new kernel is installed when a new linux-image-something package is installed. X will fail to start after you booted a new kernel until you perform step 2 for that kernel.
Troubleshooting
X doesn't start
Make sure that your problem is related to the nvidia driver. Try switching back to a free driver. Then restart your X server. If it still won't start, then you have other problems that precede NVIDIA's drivers.
X (or the complete machine when running X) is unstable
Check whether you use a framebuffer, such as rivafb, nvidiafb and vesafb. The rivafb driver is known to conflict with NVIDIA's drivers. vesafb is known to work in some cases but also to be problematic in other cases. All of these drivers are compiled as modules in stock kernels, except for vesafb. To see if you have one of these modules inserted in your kernel, run $ lsmod|grep 'rivafb\|vesafb\|nvidiafb'
If this outputs something, get rid of the module(s) displayed. # rmmod rivafb vesafb nvidiafb
will remove the modules temporarily (for this boot). If something causes one of the modules to load automatically at boot, blacklist the modules. If you are using a custom kernel, do not compile these modules in (Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA), Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA) and Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA)).
Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work
We've covered how to check that the installation worked in section "Check that it worked". If it doesn't, check that you adjusted your X configuration properly. You can do so by checking that
$ grep Driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf 2>&1|grep nvidia
returns something. If this is the case but you get an error when trying to use OpenGL apps like glxinfo that looks like this one:
Error: Could not open /dev/nvidiactl because the permissions are too resticitive. Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section of /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README for steps to correct. Fatal signal: Segmentation Fault
you should make sure that the user running the application is in the video group.
Various problems with X
Look in your X log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log). The X server writes a lot of information there about what configuration files it's reading, what display modes it's trying, and errors (EE) it encounters along the way. You can very often find hints there to the source of whatever problem you're having.
"nvidia license taints kernel"
If you get such a warning message on your console or in your syslog, don't worry. Your kernel is fine...or at least as fine as a kernel that can run NVIDIA's 3D driver can be. All this message means is that because your driver isn't open source, you won't get any support from the Linux maintainers if anything goes wrong with your kernel while the module is loaded. See the LKML FAQ for more.
Last resort
You can check the NVIDIA Linux Forum at nvnews.net for issues not related to Debian packaging. For Debian-specific issues, you may look at the bug tracking system or ask a question on Debian help resources, such as the debian-user mailing list and #debian on irc.debian.org. If you still have a problem that you can't solve, you can write and tell the author about it. He'll do what he can to help, subject to his knowledge and time constraints.
More information
For more information about the drivers, see:
/usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.Debian
/usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.txt.gz
These files have loads of information about options and for troubleshooting NVIDIA's proprietary drivers. Here's an enticement for you to read them: somewhere in one of them you can find an explanation of how to suppress the NVIDIA splash screen every time you start an X server (hint: search for "NoLogo").
You can adjust the clock rates of your GPU and video RAM by running nvclock, nvclock_gtk, or nvclock_qt, available respectively in the nvclock, nvclock-gtk, and nvclock-qt packages. Obligatory warning: you can destroy your video hardware with these tools if you're not careful.
You can adjust some other, relatively obscure settings of the driver by running nvidia-settings, available in the nvidia-settings package.
About this document
This wiki page was created by Philippe Cloutier to publish an update to Andrew's Debian-nVidia HOWTO. You are free to modify this page as long as you agree to let copyright of your changes to the author. For problems, comments, or questions about the information in this document, you can write to the maintainer. He's no expert, but he'll do his best to make the document useful.
Credits
Thanks to Andrew Schulman for publishing his HOWTO, agreeing to share his rights on it, and making the HOWTO link to this page since it stopped being maintained.
Licensing
This document is Copyright 2005, by Andrew E. Schulman. Permission is hereby granted to freely copy, distribute, and/or modify any of the contents of this document in any way and for any purpose.
See also
GraphicsCard
NvidiaGraphicsDrivers (last edited 2011-05-17 18:31:15 by FilipusKlutiero)
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Debian 6 nVidia Graphics Drivers
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NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
Debian -- Details of package nvidia-glx in squeeze
What's a legacy driver?
Appendix A. Supported NVIDIA GPU Products
NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
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I installed the nVidia...96 Video Drivers from the Debian Repos (I have the free and non free extras enabled). But my Screen Resolution was all messed up. Something like 500X450, was the max it would do. I uninstalled the NV driver and Broke my XServer twice, trying to figure out which Driver would work. I have it working in ArtistX 9, which is based on Ubuntu and Debian. So, I thought it would be a snap in Debian 6. Boy was I wrong!:O Luckily, I had installed the SSH Server from Extras during my initial install of Debian 6. That's one of the first things I install on any system. Since I have had Kernel Updates Kill my XServer 4 or 5 times in my Fedora 14 System. When this happens, I can log in to the Broken System with Putty and work on it in the Command Line. But with the advantage of having a full Graphic System, with a Web Browser to look up and copy the commands I need to use to fix the broken system. I had to fix my broken XServer in my new Debian 6 system twice today. I also use SFTP in Krusader to rename my xorg.conf file to force the system to make a new one on boot, in order to get the nVidia Driver to stop loading and get the Default x11 Driver to load instead. Or I use the "nvidia-xconfig" command after installing an nVidia Driver that I want to try out. After 2 or 3 hours of Trial and Error... I finally read on down in this Debian Document that I was following and realized that my Video Card may be too old for Debian 6!:O. So, I'm gonna have to check my exact Video Card Version and make sure. I'm thinking that mine is a Gforce4... But, sometimes my memory is wrong:O
So, Read this thing, even thought it is long... and save your self allot of Trouble with nVidia in Debian 6!!!
Don
This document explains how to make use of NVIDIA video hardware on a Debian GNU/Linux system. The following section shortly describes the free drivers while the rest of the document covers the non-free but 3D-accelerated drivers.
Contents
free drivers
Nouveau
Installation
non-free drivers
Why use a Debian-specific method?
Comparison of nvidia-installer and the Debian way
Installation
Overview
Steps
Choose a driver version
Install the kernel module
Stock or custom kernel?
Methods
Use module-assistant
Install a pre-built module
Build manually, with a custom kernel
Build manually, with a stock kernel
Install the NVIDIA X driver and user-space libraries
Configure X to use the nvidia driver
The manual way
Modify an existing xorg.conf
Create an xorg.conf
Using nvidia-xconfig
Restart X
Check that it worked
How to deal with kernel changes and driver upgrades
When
...will the NVIDIA driver version change
...will your kernel change
Troubleshooting
X doesn't start
X (or the complete machine when running X) is unstable
Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work
Various problems with X
"nvidia license taints kernel"
Last resort
More information
About this document
Credits
Licensing
See also
free drivers
Debian has three free drivers that support NVIDIA cards. The vesa driver is a generic video driver. The nv driver usually gives better results. The nv driver is no longer packaged starting with wheezy. You can see which one is in use running
$ grep -B2 'Module class: X.Org Video Driver' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
You can simply configure X to change the free driver to use.
Neither of the free drivers support 3D acceleration. Only the non-free nvidia drivers support 3D. The non-free drivers are more complex and X is more likely to break. If X breaks and it seems difficult to get X to work with the non-free nvidia drivers, remember that switching back to a free driver should get X working again.
Nouveau
In addition to vesa and nv, Debian contains the Nouveau drivers starting with squeeze. The Nouveau drivers are reverse-engineered and for NVIDIA cards. These drivers are experimental and not recommended, unless you are having issues with the nv driver and don't want to use the nvidia drivers.
Installation
To use the nouveau drivers, your kernel drm version and your libdrm version need to match. The installation can basically be done this way: # apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
Then configure X and set nouveau as your device driver.
non-free drivers
Why use a Debian-specific method?
NVIDIA drivers can be installed using NVIDIA's official installer or the Debian driver packages. Each method has its advantages, but the Debian way is probably easier. Even when building a driver module manually, the Debian way is more reliable and probably will save labor in the long run.
NVIDIA's installer is documented at other places such as this one.
Whichever installation method, the troubleshooting section may help.
Comparison of nvidia-installer and the Debian way
Advantages of "the Debian way":
More automated, which saves work if the kernel is changed.
Uses Debian package management tools, so it's cleaner. If your system breaks after using the Debian way, that would be a bug which can be reported in the BTS.
Can be done while X is running. (X must be restarted to apply the driver change.)
Users of make-kpkg should find it fits easily into their existing build procedure.
No downloading files from nvidia.com, the Debian packages contain all necessary parts.
Advantages of NVIDIA's official installer:
Most recent NVIDIA driver versions. Debian packages commonly lag behind a month or more. You can compare the current version and the latest version in your Debian release to see if there's a difference.
Installation
How to install the NVIDIA 3D drivers, the Debian way.
Overview
The NVIDIA 3D drivers consist of two parts: a kernel module, and a collection of user-space libraries and a X video driver. The libraries and the X driver (sometimes called the "binary driver" or GLX libraries) are distributed in binary form by NVIDIA, and are packaged for Debian in the nvidia-glx packages. Since NVIDIA's 3D drivers are not open source, non-free APT sources are needed to install them. The kernel module (aka the "kernel interface to the binary driver") is distributed in source form (though with one binary component), and packaged for Debian in the nvidia-kernel-source packages. The version numbers of the kernel module and user-space libraries and X video driver must match. User libraries only need be installed once, but the kernel module must be recompiled every time the kernel is changed. What to do:
0. Make sure APT has non-free and contrib sources (consult the sources.list(5) man page for help on doing this)
1. Determine which version of the drivers should be installed.
2. Install the kernel module
3. Install the user-space GLX libraries and the X driver
4. Configure X to use the nvidia driver
Steps 3 and 4 need only be done once, but Step 2 is required every time the kernel is changed.
Steps
Choose a driver version
The current drivers do not support some legacy NVIDIA cards. Up to now, the NVIDIA drivers dropped support for some legacy cards 3 times. However, NVIDIA maintains the last driver version released before a legacy cards support drop. This means there are currently 4 drivers series maintained by NVIDIA. The first support drop happened in 2005, so the oldest legacy drivers series (71xx) should support cards released before 2005 but not those released after 2005. The second support drop happened in 2006, leading to the 96xx legacy drivers series. The third support drop happened in 2008, leading to the 173.14 legacy drivers series.
No Debian suite contains the 4 available drivers series, but it may be possible to install unofficial packages if your card requires a drivers series not available in your suite. Both Lenny and Squeeze contain the newest legacy series, 173.14, and the second oldest drivers series, 96.43. Squeeze also contains the current series. The oldest drivers series, 71xx, is not in any current Debian suite (except unstable, but unusable). It is basically impossible to use the nvidia driver on cards no longer supported after 71xx on a current Debian suite.
The 71xx version is the only one to support RIVA TNT, RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro, RIVA TNT2 Ultra, Vanta/Vanta LT, RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro, Aladdin TNT2, GeForce 256, GeForce DDR, Quadro, GeForce2 GTS / GeForce2 Pro, GeForce2 Ti, GeForce2 Ultra and Quadro2 Pro. Versions newer than 96.43 do not support GeForce2 and GeForce4 cards. A more detailed list of cards only supported by legacy drivers is available.
Debian distributes several versions of the drivers using several packages with different names. For example, the X driver and user-space libraries from the current series are in the nvidia-glx package. However, with time, the current drivers become legacy drivers, so the nvidia-glx package in Lenny is not current anymore.
Use current drivers if possible. You can determine which cards are supported by consulting Appendix A of NVIDIA's 195.36.24 driver README.
Set a VERSION variable, which the rest of the instructions will refer to, to "-legacy-96xx", "-legacy-173xx" or an empty string. If you want to install the default version from your suite, there is no need to set VERSION to the empty string. To find the name of a card, you can try lspci. To determine which version you should use, you can run this script, which will propose to set VERSION.
Install the kernel module
Stock or custom kernel?
Some of the installation methods below depend on whether you're running a stock kernel, i.e. a prebuilt kernel from the Debian distribution. If you know which kind of kernel you have, you can skip to the following section.
By default, Debian comes with a stock kernel. If you don't know what kind of kernel you're running, then it's probably a stock kernel. If you're not sure, run
$ uname -r
and check if the output looks like 2.*.*-small number-architecture (e.g. or 2.6.18-6-486). If it does, you're most likely running a stock kernel.
Methods
There are four different methods for installing the kernel module.
Use module-assistant
This method is easy, and should work with most stock or custom kernels. For a custom kernel, you need to have its Linux headers installed.
It needs module-assistant and nvidia-kernel-common. To install them with apt-get:
# apt-get install module-assistant nvidia-kernel-common
Run the following command:
# m-a auto-install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
And that's it. If all went well, your nvidia kernel module is now built and installed; you may proceed to step 3. If not, read the rest of this section.
You must use the same version of gcc to build your nvidia kernel module as was used to build your kernel. This might be a problem if you are running a stock kernel. If module-assistant fails, read its log output and look for messages suggesting that you need, for example, gcc-4.0 instead of gcc-4.1. Then install the corresponding package and retry auto-install.
You also might have problems if a previous (failed) attempt at building the nvidia kernel module has left stuff at /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
If this happens, you can try removing the old files:
# rm -r /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel/
and running "auto-install" again.
This issue should be confirmed. If this solution helped you, please tell the maintainer. 2009-07-04
The auto-install step is the biggest step of the procedure, and is the most likely to fail. auto-install can be divided in smaller module-assistant steps, which can help debugging:
get
build
install
If # m-a get nvidia; fails, try installing the nvidia-kernel-source package. If APT fails to install nvidia-kernel-source, you should go back to step 0 and make sure you didn't miss something.
If you are unable to install the module using module-assistant, try installing a pre-built module if you use a stock kernel or try to build manually, with a custom kernel.
Install a pre-built module
This method is easy if you're running a recent stock kernel for which a pre-built module is available; it will not work at all if you're running a custom kernel or if you're running Debian 6 and need a legacy driver. There are pre-built modules available for all the kernels installed by default by Debian Lenny, and pre-built modules for the current drivers series for all kernels installed by default by Debian Squeeze. If the module-assistant method doesn't work for you and there are pre-built modules available for your kernel, use this method.
If you don't know your kernel version, run
$ uname -r
If there is a pre-built module for your kernel, install its package. The name starts with "nvidia-kernel-". This is followed by an indication of the drivers series you want (this string is empty for the default drivers series). The name ends by the identifier of your Linux image. For example, with apt-get:
# apt-get install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-$(uname -r)
If this step succeeds, you may now proceed to step 3. If there are no pre-built modules for your kernel, and method 1 fails, you may want to try method 4.
Build manually, with a custom kernel
Use this method if you're configuring and building a custom kernel. This method is known to be possibly inexact or incomplete.
Install the kernel module source. For example, with apt-get: # apt-get install nvidia-kernel${VERSION}-source
This will install a source tarball in /usr/src/. Unpack it in /usr/src: $ cd /usr/src # tar -xf nvidia-kernel-*.tar.gz
This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel[something].
Configure your kernel. This step isn't documented here; if you need to learn how, see the kernel-package documentation. But in summary, what you have to do is $ cd /usr/src/linux # make xconfig
and then choose the options you want. Note, however, that each of the following kernel options has been reported to cause trouble with the nvidia driver:
Device drivers –> Graphics Support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA)
Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA)
Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA)
Processor Type and Features –> Local APIC support on uniprocessors (X86_UP_APIC) (not available if you have an SMP kernel, including hyperthreading)
It is therefore recommended that you disable all of the above options in your kernel configuration. If for some reason you don't disable them, and then your X display doesn't work properly with the nvidia driver, you should suspect these options as the likely cause of the trouble. For more details, see the Troubleshooting section.
Build the kernel and the nvidia kernel module: # make-kpkg clean # make-kpkg kernel_image modules_image
For an introduction to using make-kpkg to build kernel packages, see Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system, or Compiling Kernels the Debian Way. See also the make-kpkg(1) man page, for a description of other options and targets that you can use in this command. The result of the above command will be two Debian package files, linux-image-*.deb and nvidia-kernel-*.deb, both in /usr/src or /usr/src/modules. The first file contains your kernel, and the second contains your nvidia kernel module.
At the same time, if you have sources for any other add-on kernel modules in /usr/src/modules, then the "modules_image" target will cause make-kpkg to build Debian package files for them, too. For example, if you install the fuse-source package you'll get a source archive /usr/src/fuse.tar.gz, which you can unpack to get fuse module sources in /usr/src/modules/fuse. If you've done this, then this same invocation of make-kpkg will also build a fuse module package file, /usr/src/fuse-*.deb, that's specific to your new kernel.
Install the new kernel and kernel module: $ cd /usr/src # dpkg -i /path/linux-image-*.deb /path/nvidia-kernel-*.deb
Use the fileglobs as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one Linux image or nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information rendered as * above.
Boot your new kernel. Before trying to get the NVIDIA 3D drivers to work, make sure that the new kernel boots and that X starts well using a free X driver.
Proceed to step 3.
Build manually, with a stock kernel
Use this method if you're running a stock kernel and the two first methods failed. module-assistant should automate this process. In other words, if the first method failed but this one works, you should probably submit a bug report against module-assistant.
The following procedure is adapted from the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian and is known to be potentially inexact.
Save the release number of your kernel (e.g. 2.6.18-6-686) in a couple of environment variables: export KVERS=$(uname -r) export KSRC=/usr/src/linux-headers-$KVERS export KPKG_DEST_DIR=/usr/src
Note that these variables are used by the build commands below, so you really do need to set and export them, as in the above commands.
Install the kernel module source: run apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common
This will give you a source tarball /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz. Unpack it with cd /usr/src tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz
This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel. In case there is no such tarball, but /usr/src/nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2, unpack it with cd /usr/src tar -jxf nvidia-kernel.tar.bz2
Install the header files for your kernel: apt-get install linux-headers-$KVERS
This will give you kernel header files in /usr/src/linux-headers-$KVERS. Be sure to check that the installed kernel image and kernel header packages have the same version number: run apt-cache policy linux-image-$KVERS linux-headers-$KVERS
and check that the version number listed as Installed is the same for both packages. If it isn't, find the distribution that has the version of linux-headers that you need, e.g. testing, and rerun the above installation command, adding '-t testing' (or whichever).
Build the kernel module package: cd /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel debian/rules binary-modules
The result will be a package file /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb, which contains your kernel module. Note: several users have told me recently that their nvidia package file ends up in /usr/src/modules, instead of /usr/src. I don't know yet why this happens. If this is your case, please adjust the next command appropriately.
Install the kernel module: dpkg -i /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb
Use the fileglob as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information that I rendered as * above.
Now proceed to step 3, below.
Install the NVIDIA X driver and user-space libraries
Install the X driver and user-space libraries package. For example, with apt-get:
# apt-get install nvidia-glx${VERSION}
Note: The reason this step has to come after step 2 is that nvidia-glx depends on a virtual package called 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION', where $NVVERSION is the upstream part of the version of the nvidia-glx package. This virtual package should be provided by the kernel module package that you installed in step 2; so you have to complete that step first. If the installation of nvidia-glx fails because the 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION' isn't satisfied, you should probably make sure that step 2 went OK.
Configure X to use the nvidia driver
You can use The manual way or nvidia-xconfig, which will create a basic xorg.conf and a final one with your preferred settings.
The manual way
xorg.conf can instruct X to use the nvidia driver. If you have one, modify it, otherwise it must be created.
Modify an existing xorg.conf
Consider backing up your current X configuration file:
# cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
Watch out for typos, and check your X log if things go wrong.
Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
If it contains a "Module" section, be sure that it contains a line: Load "glx"
and remove or comment out (prepend with a #) any lines that refer to the "dri" or "GLCore" modules.
In the "Device" section for your video card, change the driver (normally nv or vesa) to nvidia. If the driver is not defined, add the line Driver "nvidia"
Create an xorg.conf
Create an xorg.conf with the following content:
Section "Module" Load "glx" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Video Card" Driver "nvidia" EndSection
Using nvidia-xconfig
Warning: this method is generally not recommended due to an important X bug (504692).
Install nvidia-xconfig. For example, using apt-get: # apt-get install nvidia-xconfig
Now make a basic xorg.conf to include NVIDIA driver:
# nvidia-xconfig
Restart X
This is the easiest but probably most crucial step. If it doesn't work for some reason, and you want to get back to X before fixing the problem, you'll have to revert step 4 (by choosing a free X driver again). When you think you fixed the problem, you can do step 4 again and retry starting X. Remember that even if it works you'll want to read the next section to avoid future trouble. And if it doesn't...check the Troubleshooting section.
If you don't use a display manager, simply close your session. That should bring to a console. If it doesn't, you must be using a display manager (such as gdm, kdm or xdm). First identify which one you're using. If you don't know, it's probably gdm. You can know by checking whether a process ending with "dm" is running. Once you determined which one you use, close your session and go run the appropriate init script in a console. Here's an example for gdm:
# invoke-rc.d gdm restart
Alternatively, you can simply press Alt+E at the login screen if you use kdm. If you can't figure out how to restart X with those instructions, you can simply reboot your system. Otherwise, the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Backspace should be reliable, despite being somewhat "unfriendly".
Check that it worked
To check that the acceleration is working, glxinfo can be used. This program is in the mesa-utils package. If
$ glxinfo |grep rendering
returns "direct rendering: Yes", acceleration is working. If it returns No, see section "Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work". If it returns Yes, 3D acceleration (in games such as PlanetPenguin Racer or Extreme Tux Racer and Neverball) should work.
How to deal with kernel changes and driver upgrades
Steps 3 and 4 are done for good. However, you'll have to repeat step 2 in certain situations. If you don't realize such a situation happens, X will fail to start. You can take two approaches with this: either remember when this will happen and try to prevent it, or remember to come back here when your X fails to start. Either way, you're not done for life. If X fails to start because of this, you can again revert step 4 (by choosing a free X driver again) and redo it when you want to retry using the nvidia driver for X.
When
Step 2 installs an nvidia kernel module for a specific kernel and NVIDIA driver version. You'll have to do it for each kernel, and you'll have to redo it for each new driver version. If you don't know what this means, read on.
...will the NVIDIA driver version change
If you're using Debian stable, this won't happen until you upgrade to the next Debian release, but it will happen then.
In all cases, this will happen when the nvidia-glx package is upgraded. All versions of nvidia-glx depend on an nvidia-kernel-version virtual package. When you followed step 2, you installed a package providing this virtual package. However, if you upgrade nvidia-glx before doing step 2 again, APT will attempt to satisfy the virtual package by installing a basically randomly chosen prebuilt kernel module. You'll notice some new nvidia-kernel-something package being installed (or upgraded if you already had it). Instead of letting it do, do step 2 again to get an appropriate kernel module. Then, the virtual package will be satisfied and you can upgrade nvidia-glx safely and without installing a useless package.
...will your kernel change
If you build other modules using module-assistant, you have to redo step 2 everytime you'd have to run module-assistant for other modules, that is for every new kernel ABI. If you don't know what that means, read on.
If you install a kernel with a new ABI, a new Linux image package will be installed. For example, if the Linux 2.6.18 gets a new ABI and you currently use linux-image-2.6.18-4-486, you will have to install the linux-image-2.6.18-5-486 package to get the new kernel (the "-4" and "-5" part of the package names indicate respectively that these packages contain the fourth and fifth ABI of Debian's 2.6.18 i386 stock kernels). This may happen without your intervention when upgrading your system if the linux-image-2.6-486 meta package is installed. This can also happen if you install a different kernel. For example, you can have both 2.6.26 and 2.6.32 in Lenny. If you did step 2 for 2.6.26 only, you'll need to do it for 2.6.32 too. You'll notice that a new kernel is installed when a new linux-image-something package is installed. X will fail to start after you booted a new kernel until you perform step 2 for that kernel.
Troubleshooting
X doesn't start
Make sure that your problem is related to the nvidia driver. Try switching back to a free driver. Then restart your X server. If it still won't start, then you have other problems that precede NVIDIA's drivers.
X (or the complete machine when running X) is unstable
Check whether you use a framebuffer, such as rivafb, nvidiafb and vesafb. The rivafb driver is known to conflict with NVIDIA's drivers. vesafb is known to work in some cases but also to be problematic in other cases. All of these drivers are compiled as modules in stock kernels, except for vesafb. To see if you have one of these modules inserted in your kernel, run $ lsmod|grep 'rivafb\|vesafb\|nvidiafb'
If this outputs something, get rid of the module(s) displayed. # rmmod rivafb vesafb nvidiafb
will remove the modules temporarily (for this boot). If something causes one of the modules to load automatically at boot, blacklist the modules. If you are using a custom kernel, do not compile these modules in (Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA), Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA) and Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA)).
Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work
We've covered how to check that the installation worked in section "Check that it worked". If it doesn't, check that you adjusted your X configuration properly. You can do so by checking that
$ grep Driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf 2>&1|grep nvidia
returns something. If this is the case but you get an error when trying to use OpenGL apps like glxinfo that looks like this one:
Error: Could not open /dev/nvidiactl because the permissions are too resticitive. Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS section of /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README for steps to correct. Fatal signal: Segmentation Fault
you should make sure that the user running the application is in the video group.
Various problems with X
Look in your X log file (/var/log/Xorg.0.log). The X server writes a lot of information there about what configuration files it's reading, what display modes it's trying, and errors (EE) it encounters along the way. You can very often find hints there to the source of whatever problem you're having.
"nvidia license taints kernel"
If you get such a warning message on your console or in your syslog, don't worry. Your kernel is fine...or at least as fine as a kernel that can run NVIDIA's 3D driver can be. All this message means is that because your driver isn't open source, you won't get any support from the Linux maintainers if anything goes wrong with your kernel while the module is loaded. See the LKML FAQ for more.
Last resort
You can check the NVIDIA Linux Forum at nvnews.net for issues not related to Debian packaging. For Debian-specific issues, you may look at the bug tracking system or ask a question on Debian help resources, such as the debian-user mailing list and #debian on irc.debian.org. If you still have a problem that you can't solve, you can write and tell the author about it. He'll do what he can to help, subject to his knowledge and time constraints.
More information
For more information about the drivers, see:
/usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.Debian
/usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.txt.gz
These files have loads of information about options and for troubleshooting NVIDIA's proprietary drivers. Here's an enticement for you to read them: somewhere in one of them you can find an explanation of how to suppress the NVIDIA splash screen every time you start an X server (hint: search for "NoLogo").
You can adjust the clock rates of your GPU and video RAM by running nvclock, nvclock_gtk, or nvclock_qt, available respectively in the nvclock, nvclock-gtk, and nvclock-qt packages. Obligatory warning: you can destroy your video hardware with these tools if you're not careful.
You can adjust some other, relatively obscure settings of the driver by running nvidia-settings, available in the nvidia-settings package.
About this document
This wiki page was created by Philippe Cloutier to publish an update to Andrew's Debian-nVidia HOWTO. You are free to modify this page as long as you agree to let copyright of your changes to the author. For problems, comments, or questions about the information in this document, you can write to the maintainer. He's no expert, but he'll do his best to make the document useful.
Credits
Thanks to Andrew Schulman for publishing his HOWTO, agreeing to share his rights on it, and making the HOWTO link to this page since it stopped being maintained.
Licensing
This document is Copyright 2005, by Andrew E. Schulman. Permission is hereby granted to freely copy, distribute, and/or modify any of the contents of this document in any way and for any purpose.
See also
GraphicsCard
NvidiaGraphicsDrivers (last edited 2011-05-17 18:31:15 by FilipusKlutiero)
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- Download Debian Multimedia - Google Search
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- Downloading Debian CD images with BitTorrent
- Install Debian Multimedia - Google Search
- The Debian Administrator's Handbook
- DonsDeals Blog: NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
- Debian 7 Weezy
- Automotive - Debian Wiki
- ChrootOnAndroid - Debian Wiki
- Debian -- Documentation
- Debian -- Getting Debian
- Debian -- Ports
- Debian -- Support
- Debian (Ubuntu is based on Debian)
- Debian wheezy -- Installation Guide
- DebianWRT - Debian Wiki
- FrontPage - Debian Wiki
- Hardware - Debian Wiki
- How to install a Debian 7 (Wheezy) Minimal Server
- Index of /debian-cd/current-live/i386/bt-hybrid
- InstallingDebianOn/D-Link - Debian Wiki
- MaemoAndSqueeze - Debian Wiki
- Mobile - Debian Wiki
- The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ
- The Debian GNU/Linux FAQ - Compatibility issues
- NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
- NvidiaGraphicsDrivers - Debian Wiki
- Debian 8 Jessie Linux Distro
- Debian 8.1 released | It runs on Linux
- Debian 8: Linux’s most reliable distro makes its biggest change since 1993 | Ars Technica
- systemd - Debian Wiki
- Debian Package Manager apt-get
- Advanced_Packaging_Tool
- Apt-Get
- apt-get.org
- APT HOWTO (Obsolete Documentation)
- How to Use 8 Useful 'Debian Goodies Utilities' to Manage Debian Packages
- Debian udlcd
- 503box-JWM-Rescue-i686; A cool, little Lenny Powerhouse!
- DonsDeals: Download Ultimate-Debian-LiveCD-i686 Final for Linux - The Ultimate Debian LiveCD! A Megagog plethora of Browsers, utilities, & rescue apps! - Softpedia
- Download Ultimate-Debian-LiveCD-i686 Final for Linux - The Ultimate Debian LiveCD! A Megagog plethora of Browsers, utilities, & rescue apps! - Softpedia
- Index of /Debian
- LiveCD - Debian Wiki
- udlcd default password - Google Search
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