GeForce 256...

[deek]

Too funny...so now my linux box randomly crashes after installing the nVidia drivers for my card (ASUS V6600 card)! Yeah, it is pretty old, but it works. I think it has something to do with the AGP settings...

The reason why I am kinda laughing is that I had plenty of problems with this setup (the vid card with my Abit KT7-RAID board) many years ago in windows...and, I suppose naive, I figured that once I had the right drivers installed in linux, the problem would go away:) Once a hardware issue, always a hardware issue, perhaps...

Anyways, now I get to troubleshoot and tweak until I get this working right. I can use the VESA driver without an issue, but the resolution doesn't get to where I like (1268x1024). I can't stand being stuck in 1024x768, which I am with the VESA driver.

So, is it possible to get to 1268x1024 using the VESA driver??? I have an Optiquest Q95 monitor, and that is all setup correctly. Minus the random crashing, the nvidia driver gave me all the settings I wanted and worked fine...anyways, just asking in case I can't work out the bugs with the nvidia driver. Thanks!

[AlexK]

which nvidia drivers are you using? the last one for older cards i.e. pre geforce2 is the 7174 series.

[deek]

Yeah, that is the one I am using. I just went down to the supported card list and picked the latest one that have a Geforce 256.

I thought I found an Option (for forcing AGP) that would resolve my random locking position, but it didn't. I left my machine running last night, checked it after about 3 hours, before going to bed, and it was still running. When I checked in this morning, before heading into work, the machine was locked up.

I haven't seen any error messages in any of my logs, which makes sense, because it is a hardware issue. Any suggestions? Is there another type of driver or setting that I might be able to use? I am not really needing the card for gaming, so that is not an issue, but if there is a way I can get into 1280x768, I would be happy. I know my card and monitor can handle that resolution, its just not stable with the nvidia driver...

[deek]

I have been doing some more research...are there any decent "generic" drivers, other than the VESA frame buffer ones that I currently use to get up to 1280x768 resolution???

I have hit on one, but it cost money to purchase...didn't know if any of you were using non-nvidia but still accelerated video drivers?

[deek]

I am going to keep posting as I find more information, just for posterioties sake...

I found some more "Options" that I am going to give a try. I am still using the nvidia driver, so we will see how stable that is.

I did figure out the xorg has a default nv driver, so if the nvidia driver does not solve me lockup problems, I will see what this nv driver is doing...

If that doesn't resolve this issue, then I guess I am stuck with a vesa driver or buying a different vidcard...which, actually won't be that big a deal. I could probably easily upgrade from my geforce 256 for under $40...hopefully one of these solutions work, cause I hate solving a problem by throwing a little money at it:)

[AlexK]

you commented out the respective lines in the xorg.conf file before loading the nvidia driver right? cos i had similar problems with it when i didn't comment out certain lines e.g. replace load dri and somthing else with load glx.

Have you also tried to run the card on a slower agp speed e.g. 2x or 1x instead of 4x?

[chopin1810]

I have been doing some more research...are there any decent "generic" drivers, other than the VESA frame buffer ones that I currently use to get up to 1280x768 resolution???

I have hit on one, but it cost money to purchase...didn't know if any of you were using non-nvidia but still accelerated video drivers?

Damn. That sucks.

[deek]

Yeah, I have commented out the appropriate lines (based on documentation and other poster's examples).

I will give the slower AGP a try...but who knows.

I thought I was going to have some luck with the "nv" driver that comes with Xorg, but it locked up too, after 3 hours or so. So far, the only luck I have had is with the "vesa" driver, and like I said, if I could get one more jump in resolution (1280x1024), I would be cool...but I still can't find any way to force the "vesa" driver up that high...

[deek]

Well, my box seems to be stable now. No crashes since Friday...

I am using nvidia's latest driver (for my hardware, 7167 IIRC). Basically, I had to turn RenderAccel and FastWrites "off" and no more crashes. Seeing I am not playing any games, I really don't care about the performance hit.

Now, my problem is, that I have to fix this in win2k also:) I reformatted and repartioned my box last week to setup dual-boot on my main box, so now I have to redo all the fixes, tweaks and patches I once had in win2k with this setup to make IT stable...fun stuff:)

But, linux is now running solid and stable!!!