XServer config on RHEL5 Server and Nvidia NVS290 vid card

[itguy12]

Hello,

I have just installed RHEL5 Server on a PC for testing which has an nVidia NVS290 graphics card. The install went fine, but after install I just get to the command line login prompt, and receive no GUI video. Can someone help me with configuring my XServer, or whatever needs to happen to get this up and running? Thanks!

[ursusca]

Hi,

Please post the output of the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. Did you try to run Xorg -configure command?

[Rubberman]

What driver did you install? The nv driver in the system package manager, or one downloaded from nVidia? I have had better luck with downloaded drivers from nVidia for RHEL systems.

[itguy12]

I have downloaded the nVidia driver for the card, but have been unable to figure out how to install it. I have it on a USB stick, but since I am a newbie, I really don't know how to access the USB stick from the command line. I've googled some articles and tried them but no luck. Can someone help walk me through that, or would it be easier on a CD.

[MTK]

You have to mount it with the mount command:

mount <device> <mount point>

But I have no idea how to figure out what device file to use. By trial and error I figured out that it's /dev/sdb1 for me, but it's probably different for every computer.

Before taking it out, you must unmount it:

umount <mount point>

Note that the command is umount, not unmount.

[Rubberman]

Ok. The process you need to do is to boot the system and log in as root to the console. From the command line you need to do the following:

1. Boot the system (don't insert the USB drive yet).
2. List the drives in /dev (ls /dev/sd?).
3. Insert the USB drive.
4. See what drive the USB stick is assigned in /dev (ls /dev/sd?).
5. Mount the USB drive to the system.
6. Copy the driver script (should be a file that ends in .run) to the system hard drive - copy to /tmp should be just fine.
7. Make the script executable.
8. Run the script, answering 'yes' to all of the queries.

So, here is a set of commands to execute after you login as root. Note that the leading '#' represents the prompt from the shell and is not to be input.

# mkdir /mnt/usbdrive
# ls /dev/sd?
# # insert usb stick - this is a comment...
# ls /dev/sd?
# # assume that the usb stick was assigned /dev/sdg - just for example.
# mount /dev/sdg1 /mnt/usbdrive
# cp /mnt/usbdrive/*.run /tmp
# cd /tmp
# chmod +x *.run
# ./*.run
# # Note that the *.run instances above should be replaced with the actual nvidia script name.

Once the script is finished you should be able to reboot, but you can test it first by executing the command "startx".