How to install nvidia on Centos and SL

i am putting baby steps form my self as well for others for future reference

1 step one

please make sure kernel header and devel to be same by using this command

Code:

uname -r
rpm -q kernel-devel 

if they dont match update kernel devel

Code:

yum -y upgrade kernel kernel-devel

step 2

Blacklist Nouveau in grub.conf and also set vga=0x303 (setting vga to low mode stop calling Noueau drivers)

su

get into root

Code:

# cd /

/# gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf 

and paste the following line there

Code:

vga=0x303 rdblacklist=nouveau nouveau.modeset=0

setting vga=0x303 prevent calling nouveau as priority

now reboot you feel diffrent screen

type this command and check

/sbin/lsmod | grep nouveau

there should be no output which is best

if you getting output means nouveau not disable 100%

like this

what i am getting here check 2 things 1st nouveau 0 at 1st line and setting vga=0x303 which not call nouveau 1st but nvidia and prevent conflicting



now after that 2 ways form kmod or form source

1st from kmod just type this command

Code:

#yum --enablerepo=elrepo install kmod-nvidia 

it install you latest nvidia driver without problem




2nd way from source

download nvidia.run appropriate your card and 32/64 bit file from nvida site

here please note if you have old card not that old legacy ones example my card is 8600GT the new driver 295.20 is very slow and poor on perfomance ......etc

so best option for me i choose LTS driver which is 275.x.x they work some where between

now after downloaded to get into runlevel 3 mode

Code:

# telint 3 

you get CLI mode (cli multiuser mode) so better write theses commands

now login as root
password

Code:

# cd /

# cd /home/mack/Downloads/

now here you get into your download folder i am asuming you having your nvidia.run in download if anyother choose path to that

make nvidia.run executing chmod +x NVIDIA....................by pressing tab button you get all

Code:

[root@Downloads]#  chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-275.43.run 

[root@Downloads]# ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-275.43.run 

accept license .....etc at end you get

getback to root here type reboot to reboot your system and you get your nvidia running

# reboot

after restart you get your nvidia display



here cool dudes i must give credit to without them its not possible

very special thanks to mrk

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/centos-nvidia.html

special thanks to all

wilderssecurty members

specially

ocky Trespasser's Beavenburt ............ .for helping me a lot

special thanks to all

SL forums members

specially

redman joutlan SeeM ...................... for helping me a lot


Thanks guys

 

You need to thank yourself. This vga mode stuff seems to be tricky especially it appears for widescreens. I have a 1440x900 screen and am using vga=31b (1280x1024) with Plymouth details theme. It looks nice. vga=ask, if I remember correctly only gave me two suitable modes.
You have chosen a very low res. - what did you have before vga=0x303 ?

Anyway glad it's working and thanks for the tutorial.

Code:

Colours   640x400 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1152x864 1280x1024 1600x1200
--------+--------------------------------------------------------------
 4 bits |    ?       ?     0x302      ?        ?        ?         ?
 8 bits |  0x300   0x301   0x303    0x305    0x161    0x307     0x31C
15 bits |    ?     0x310   0x313    0x316    0x162    0x319     0x31D
16 bits |    ?     0x311   0x314    0x317    0x163    0x31A     0x31E
24 bits |    ?     0x312   0x315    0x318      ?      0x31B     0x31F
32 bits |    ?       ?       ?        ?      0x164      ?

 

One thing. If you installed the driver from command line in runlevel 3, you do not need to reboot, because X is not running and the driver is not in use, so it will be dynamically inserted into the kernel and won't conflict with previous versions/leftovers. Just go into runlevel 5. Bob's your uncle.
Mrk

 

sorry ocky i didnt notice but its definitely greater than 0*303 light 256 colors is ok with me

in fedora never had problem

also did you notice you get old tri band after nvidia install

here to get back rings

# plymouth-set-default-theme rings

# /usr/libexec/plymouth/plymouth-update-initrd

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1811083&postcount=52


thanks for tip mrk i keep in mind that for next time

Sorry to ask one more silly question whats way to uninstall/remove when installed from source in case me or some else needed in future

 

Just move the nvidia module away from /lib/modules/kernel version ...
Mrk

 

I think the nvidia installer has an uninstall option ? http://scientificlinuxforum.org/index.php?showtopic=952&view=findpost&p=7051

 

aha ok i check thanks mrk ocky

one more thing i like add ring dont work less than 65,536 colors to make rings work i had to set vga=788 (0x314) best is stick what work i learn from here

 

Amen, Ocky. He's making all the rest of us look bad with his persistence.

.

Way to go, Mack_Guy.

Later...

 

Even though I have compiled kernels in past, worked without X, this is a gargantuan effort and I am too old for it, good work mack_guy.

 

Thank you very much for your instructions, Mack.

I just want to throw in my two cents, I have excellent results from the following procedure in order to wipe out nouveau for good:

Create /etc/modprobe/blacklist-nouveau.conf:

Code:

blacklist nouveau

regenerate initramfs:

Code:

mv /boot/initramfs-2.6.32-220.4.2.el6.x86_64.img /boot/initramfs-2.6.32-220.4.2.el6.x86_64.old && \
dracut /boot/initramfs-2.6.32-220.4.2.el6.x86_64.img $(uname -r)

(this line is based on the current kernel version)
NO NEED to edit grub files, as a matter of fact, with correct vga=0x*** you retain the nice splashscreen..

EDIT: Avoid starting X Windows, until you have NVidia drivers installed, otherwise nouveau drivers will still be loaded.

 

Trespasser@ you make me speechless

like this

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=319352




wilbertnl glad it work there for you somehow regenerate initramfs didnt work for me here i did same at 1st then i try to play safe but editing grub.conf only like mrk said

 

Mack, I forgot to mention that you need to avoid the graphic desktop until nvidia drivers are installed, by booting in single user mode.
If you need network for downloads, you go to runlevel 3, which is still without graphic desktop.

When X Windows starts, even with a new initramfs, it loads the nouveau drivers, indeed, like your experience.

 

thanks man

by the way which distros are you using apart from centos

 

I finally got my headless Perfect Music Server setup with Logitech Media Server and it's Squeezeplay client (after first collecting patches from different web pages and compiling, because the available binary is broken) based on 64-bit CentOS 6.2. The problem that I solved is that NPR streaming is using an uncommon sample rate that is not well supported by Logitech. I got that fixed now. The ALSA documentation is far from easy accessible!

Anyway,

I also play with Debian, Fedora 16 and OpenSuSE 12.1, I like the KDE with desktop effects enabled, but I notice that my laptop fan is running non-stop with KDE (fan is quiet with Gnome 3). Recently I got interested in Arch Linux, but from my experience I have gathered that I would spend most of my time on maintaining the OS as opposed to enjoy and using it.

I noticed that CentOS updated Firefox to 10.1, which makes this distro suddenly modern, no need to fiddle with anything else anymore.

 

going to try again open suse 12.1 yes long time i didnt use kde

one more thing i like to add

http://scientificlinuxforum.org/index.php?showtopic=1109

Today i scarly update my kernel after that

and it did it without problem

also no need blacklist kernel it done during kernel install

best part of this way you can keep your fav nvidia version as long as you want without updating

many thanks to Trespasser

 

mack guy please consider using Tumbleweed for Open Suse and give us your opinion on it if possible.