Nvidia driving sitting on my desktop

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:13 PM

Yup that just about sums it up.... Wasn't going to use vi but simply fire up X as a superuser and then use KWrite - Couldn't get vi working so I didn't want to go with it ...

But see if you can do as explained above... the rest should be easy as pie

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:16 PM

Let us know if it worked - And remember to pay attention to every detail, go through the text line by line, character by character....

dolphans1 · 11-08-2003, 06:17 PM

I just can't find that systems tools thing he's mentioning.

d-1

Quote:

Originally posted by Nimoy
Yup that just about sums it up.... Wasn't going to use vi but simply fire up X as a superuser and then use KWrite - Couldn't get vi working so I didn't want to go with it ...

But see if you can do as explained above... the rest should be easy as pie

jsmarshall85 · 11-08-2003, 06:19 PM

look on the taskbar for the icon that has a monitor with a shell in fron of it

jsmarshall85 · 11-08-2003, 06:20 PM

or it may just be a monitor with a >_ on it at the bottom of the screen

dolphans1 · 11-08-2003, 06:24 PM

All I see is a monitor with a Star on it, but next to it it says Applications which opens another menu with the following

Accessibility
Archiving
Communications
Development
Editors
File Tools
Finances
Monitoring
Publsihing
& Text tools,

I don't see anything with a monitor and a seasshell,

d-1

Quote:

Originally posted by jsmarshall85
look on the taskbar for the icon that has a monitor with a shell in fron of it

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:25 PM

Any luck dolphans1?

jsmarshall85 · 11-08-2003, 06:26 PM

look in file tools

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:28 PM

Just shell i.e. a common nickname given to the > sign. In DOS you would write c:\> if I remember correctly - so look for the > sign....

dolphans1 · 11-08-2003, 06:30 PM

I got into my mandrake control center and typed "su" inside the curser [root@localhost sinvestments]# and it just restates the same [root@localhost sinvestments]#

What I'm I doing that's so wrong?

d-1

Quote:

Originally posted by jsmarshall85
D-1, hi, this is really easrier than this thread has been going. i have installed this driver myself and it can be quite simple.

here is what you need to do.

1. from your desktop, click the K menu (main menu button in the bottom left of the screen) and look for a menu entry called something like system tools or terminals. you might even have a button on the taskbar itself. it looks like a monitor with a seashell in front of it. if you have that click on that. what it should open is a terminal screen or dos box if you will.

2. in that window at the cursor type "su" (do not type any quotes, just the stuff in between the quotes) and hit enter. it will ask for your root password. type it in (you will not see it as you type) and hit enter. you will now be in super user mode.

3. type "cd /etc" and press enter

4. type "vi inittab" and hit enter. scroll down to the line that has id:5:initdefault: and move the cursor to the 5 and hit delete. then hit the insert key and type the number 3. then hit the escape key to get out of insert mode. when that is down, press and hold the left ctrl key and hit the z key twice then let go of the ctrl key. this will save the file and drop you back to the command line. type exit and hit enter and type exit and hit enter again and you will exit from the terminal window.

ok, what we did is make the computer boot to a command line interface on the next reboot. when you reboot you will not get a desktop.

this part is important. you need to know the path to your desktop. it should be something like /home/username/desktop. write this down and remember it.

now reboot the pc and when it starts up you should be at a login screen.

1. login in as root and use the root password.

2. change directory to your desktop folder. type "cd /home/username/desktop". make sure you use your username you used when you downloaded the file from nvidia.

3. if you are now in your desktop directory you can type "ls" and it should show you the files on your desktop and you should see the nvidia file. if you see it type "sh nameofnvidiafile.run" and hit enter. this should launch the driver install. all you need to do is accept the license agreement and hit enter and then hit enter when it is done.

4. when it is down you have to change the inittab back to runlevel 5. type "vi /etc/inittab" and hit enter. scroll down to the id:3:initdefault: line and change the 3 to a 5 the same way as before.

5. now you have to tell the x server about the new driver. type "vi /etc/X11/XF86Config" and hit enter. if the file is blank (no text) hold the ctrl key down and hit z twice to exit and type "vi /etc/X11/XF86Config-4" and hit enter. linux is case sensitive so make sure you use caps where i have caps.

6. scroll through this file to a line that says Driver nv and change the nv to nvidia.

7. make sure the file has a line that says Load "glx" (with the quotes) and if you have a line that says Load "dri" or "GLcore" comment them out by putting a # sign at the front of the line. remember to hit insert to insert or change text and escape to exit out of insert mode.

8. with these changes, hold down the ctrl key and hit the z key twice. this will save the XF86Config file.

you should now be at the root command prompt again. type "reboot" and hit enter. if all worked well you will see the nvidia logo splash screen before you get your logon screen. the driver will be installed and all is right with the world.

good luck!

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:31 PM

....hmmm old enough to remember DOS, and Ctrl L as in Load" lol - Those were the days!...

And here I am again stepping into new territory.... and learning still

Nimoy · 11-08-2003, 06:33 PM

Nothing - I think

You are already root it seems

Pretend you have typed su as described and proceed from the vi command

jsmarshall85 · 11-08-2003, 06:34 PM

if you type su and you do not get prompted for your password, then you have su rights as is. not sure if you are where you need to be but try to follow the steps i gave you to edit the inittab file and see if it lets you do it

dolphans1 · 11-08-2003, 06:51 PM

I found the shell with computer on it and I typed "su" and it does nothing. If I type vi initab I get a bunch of blue squigilly lines but it wont let me scroll down to the bottom of page.

The Bottom says "initab" [New File] 0,0-1 A11

That's all I can see.

But I never got a prompt or menu to enter my passcode, other than the pass code I had to enter to open up the console it self.

I am still stuck?

Anyone want to forward there number and I call call?

d-1

Quote:

Originally posted by dolphans1
I got into my mandrake control center and typed "su" inside the curser [root@localhost sinvestments]# and it just restates the same [root@localhost sinvestments]#

What I'm I doing that's so wrong?

d-1

jsmarshall85 · 11-08-2003, 06:52 PM

you have to go to the /etc directory first before you type vi inittab

or you can type vi /etc/inittab