Xorg will not use "nvidia" driver, how do I change?

nawcom nawcom at nawcom.no-ip.com
Wed Aug 17 10:10:06 GMT 2005


first of all, have you downloaded the driver from the nvidia site, and 
ran the installer script?

you usually have to manually set up your xorg.conf file, which is very 
simple. the README file for this is provided on the support website, and 
with the installer package

http://download.nvidia.com/freebsd/1.0-7667/README.txt

heres a copy of the parts youre probably looking for, for your reading 
pleasure:

sec-03) BASIC CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS
__________________________________________________________________________

These configuration instructions assume that you have a basic XFree86 or
Xorg configuration file adapted for your system.


The XFree86/Xorg configuration file has a minimum of two sections that
are of particular interest:

 - the "Module" section
 - the "Device" section(s) corresponding to the NVIDIA device(s)

A typical "Module" section configured for use with the NVIDIA Driver Set
could look like this:

    Section "Module"
      Load  "bitmap"
      Load  "extmod"
      Load  "dbe"
      Load  "type1"
      Load  "glx"
      Load  "freetype"
    EndSection

Important: It is the 'Load "glx"' line which instructs the X server to
load the NVIDIA GLX XFree86/Xorg extension module. The "dri" and "GLcore"
lines, which are often present in auto-generated configuration files, are
not required, but shouldn't do any harm.

A typical "Device" section configured for use with the NVIDIA Driver Set
could look like this:

    Section "Device"
      Identifier  "Device"
      Driver      "nvidia"
      VendorName  "NVIDIA"
      BoardName   "GeForce2 Go"
    EndSection

Important: It is the 'Driver "nvidia"' line, which instructs the X server
to use the NVIDIA XFree86/Xorg driver module (nvidia_drv.o) for this
device. Most configuration utilities choose the open-source "nv" driver
(nv_drv.o) by default; if your XF86Config/xorg.conf has a "Device"
section with a 'Driver "nv"' line, you will need to change it to 'Driver
"nvidia"'.

Please see the README for the NVIDIA Linux Driver Set for a comprehensive
description of available configuration options.

__________________________________________________________________________

(sec-05) CHOOSING THE AGP GART DRIVER
__________________________________________________________________________

Similar to the NVIDIA Linux Driver Set, the user can decide if the NVIDIA
driver should use its internal AGP driver or if it should rely on the OS
provided AGP driver with the "NvAGP" XFree86/Xorg config file option:

 - Option "NvAGP" "0"       Disable AGP
 - Option "NvAGP" "1"       Use NVIDIA's AGP GART Driver
 - Option "NvAGP" "2"       Use the OS FreeBSD GART driver (agp.ko)
 - Option "NvAGP" "3"       Attempt "2", fall back to "1"

Unlike Linux, however, this option is not the only controlling factor at
this point; because of known problems, nvidia.ko is built without support
for FreeBSD's AGP driver by default. This behavior can be changed, see
nv-freebsd.h for details.

hope this helps;

Ben




Andreas Davour wrote:

>
> In my xorg.conf (written using xorgcfg) it looks like this:
>
> Section "Device"
>         Identifier  "MittKort"
>         Driver      "nv"
>         ChipSet     "GeForce4 Ti 4200"
>         Card        "nv GeForce4 Ti 4200"
> EndSection
>
> When I run xorgcfg it never gives me the choice of "nvidia" as a 
> driver, just "nv". Anyone know how to get the xorg.conf to work with 
> "nvidia"? If I just change the line above it wont start, complaining:
>
> (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
> (WW) NVIDIA: Chipset "GeForce4 Ti 4200" in Device section "MittKort"
> isn't valid
>  for this driver
> (EE) No devices detected.
>
> Fatal server error:
> no screens found
>
> I'm experiencing some unexpected and sudden X shutdowns, which I think 
> might be caused by me using the "wrong" driver. KDE screams a lot as 
> well, but I think that might be another problem.
>
> So, what do I do? The Handbook says nothing about Xorg, just XFree86.
>
> /andreas
>



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