[SOLVED] FATAL: Module nvidia not found.

[littlebigman]

Hello

I made some progress trying to get a host that has an Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE and running a liveCD version of Xubuntu 9.10... but "modprobe -i nvidia" returns "FATAL: Module nvidia not found."

FYI, here's what apt-get installed (removed what I think are useless lines):

# find / -name "nvidia*"

/lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/char/agp/nvidia-agp.ko
/lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia
/lib/modules/2.6.31-20-generic/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia/nvidiafb.ko
/usr/lib32/nvidia
/usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nvidia_drv.so

And here's what I did:

# apt-get update
# apt-get install nvidia-glx-185
# apt-get install nvidia-settings
# gtf 1024 768 75
# nvidia-xconfig //creates /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Next, copy/pasted the output from "gtf" into xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    # 1024x768 @ 75.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 60.15 kHz; pclk: 81.80 MHz
    #Modeline "1024x768_75.00"  81.80  1024 1080 1192 1360  768 769 772 802  -HSync +Vsync
    Modeline "1024x768_75"  81.80  1024 1080 1192 1360  768 769 772 802  -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

Finally, started X manually:

# startx:

X.Org X Server 1.6.4
[...]
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
FATAL: Module nvidia not found.
(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module. Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA:     system's kernel log for additional error messages.
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

Can someone confirm that "apt-get install nvidia-glx-185" is enough to install the Nvidia driver on a running LiveCD, and I don't need to recompile a kernel?

Thank you.

[Segfault]

Generic kernel will not run with nVidia driver because it has some conflicting options enabled, I believe you need to use correct precompiled kernel (available from repos) or build one by yourself.

[littlebigman]

Thanks for the tip.

To avoid breaking this working live CD, I'd rather just update the ISO with a precompiled kernel that includes support for nVidia cards.

Has someone succesfully done this and could tell me how to do it?

I'd be cool if all it took is replacing vmlinuz and initrd.gz in /casper/

Thank you.

[coopstah13]

you need to modprobe nvidia after installing it on running live environment, you can add it to /etc/modules file in filesystem.squashfs file for live cd as well, possibly, you can add it to /etc/initramfs-tools/modules as well, and then it will get bundled in initrd file

[littlebigman]

Thanks. I was thinking of downloading the source code of the same version of the kernel that is currently part of the live CD, then compile it on my workstation, replace whatever binary files make up the kernel (vmlinuz, initrd.gz, others?), burn a new CD, and see if the whole works.

Does that sound OK?

[Segfault]

Gentoo Linux Documentation -- Gentoo Linux nVidia Guide

See the kernel configuration section.

[littlebigman]

Thanks, but the liveCD is running Ubuntu. I'll read up on how to add drivers to an existing kernel.

[unlimitedscolobb]

I was thinking of downloading the source code of the same version of the kernel that is currently part of the live CD, then compile it on my workstation, replace whatever binary files make up the kernel (vmlinuz, initrd.gz, others?), burn a new CD, and see if the whole works.

Does that sound OK?

Not for me Distributions usually customize their kernels, so if you just download the kernel from The Linux Kernel Archives and build it with default configuration, you will most probably not get a working system. I'd rather go with what coopstah13 suggests.

[littlebigman]

Thanks for the tip. I finally got it working by removing the "nv" driver and adding the "nouveau" driver. It's not perfect yet (starts in 1280 instead of 1024 even though I put that setting in xorg.conf), but it's working.

I'm about to start looking at this, but if someone knows how to mount the filesystem.squash file so I can customize its contents before burning a new CD...

Thank you.

[unlimitedscolobb]

I'm about to start looking at this, but if someone knows how to mount the filesystem.squash file so I can customize its contents before burning a new CD...

Apparently, you can mount a SquashFS using a loopback device: How To: Create And Mount A Squashfs Image - OESF Forums