Help with Nvidia drivers!

[rockguy32]

I am using whatever the latest version of Ubuntu is, (I just downloaded it yesterday and did the update when it popped up)

I'm a complete noob to linux in general. (Although I'm quite adept at Windows)

Anyways, I'm having some kind of weird problem with the Nvidia drivers. I installed them when it told me to, but it doesn't recognise my monitor or something because it's setting my max resolution at 640x480 instead of whatever it really is. (I don't really remember but I always use 1024x768) How can I fix it?

Card: Nvidia 5200 (I think...)

Monitor: HP Ergo Ultra VGA

[MikeTbob]

Hello and Welcome.
Post a copy of your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file so someone can take a look at it.
You can issue this command in a terminal window to get it.
sudo cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[jayd512]

Welcome to LinuxForums!

Also, could you post the output of lspci
That should make it easier to help you get it sorted out

[penguin2]

Doesn't Ubuntu have a program called Envy to install the Nvidia driver?

How did you install it?

There are web pages about Nvidia installs in Linux. I recommend using the 'Nvidia way' and it is a bit tricky but I have done it more than once and it does work when you learn what doesn't work!

[bigtomrodney]

Doesn't Ubuntu have a program called Envy to install the Nvidia driver?

How did you install it?

There are web pages about Nvidia installs in Linux. I recommend using the 'Nvidia way' and it is a bit tricky but I have done it more than once and it does work when you learn what doesn't work!

I'd avoid Envy at all costs, it has been known to badly break systems and doesn't really offer anything that the Hardware Drivers tool doesn't already offer. With regards to downloading and installing the nVidia driver manually, that works fine until you have a kernel or Xorg update which will mean recompiling your kernel module - though most new users usually default to trying to reinstall the driver.

Neither of these matters though as the drivers are probably already installed. When ever possible stick to packages from your repositories first. This will avoid complications with conflicts and rebuilding modules

[penguin2]

I'd avoid Envy at all costs, it has been known to badly break systems and doesn't really offer anything that the Hardware Drivers tool doesn't already offer. With regards to downloading and installing the nVidia driver manually, that works fine until you have a kernel or Xorg update which will mean recompiling your kernel module - though most new users usually default to trying to reinstall the driver.

Neither of these matters though as the drivers are probably already installed. When ever possible stick to packages from your repositories first. This will avoid complications with conflicts and rebuilding modules

Oh right! Good point!!!!! I don't want to give the OP bad info or the least recommended steps! hehe... I just usually use the manual Nvidia driver install although I haven't upgraded the kernel in a while, though. I guess that would mean I'd have to re-install the Nvidia driver whenever I upgrade the kernel.

I think installing the driver via the repositories is easier but you don't have the most up to date driver, right? A small price to pay, though, perhaps, if you want the least complicated driver install?

[bigtomrodney]

Well if you're running Ubuntu your driver shouldn't really be older than six months anyway

Your weekly updates can often include a kernel or xorg patch so it's nice to be able to forget about configuring X. I noticed it always seemed to happen on the day that someone called over to see me. It wasn't a very convincing portrayal of Linux's ease of use when I'm there switching to VTs and running driver upgrades from the command line

[Outcast_Aussie]

I thought releases newer than 8:10 (Intrepid) no longer supported those old cards ?

[rockguy32]

My Xorg.conf:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "640x480+0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
EndSection
----------------------------------------------------------------

When I installed Ubuntu, there was a pop up window that asked me if I wanted to install the drivers and I clicked install. That's all I did to install them.

My problem isn't with the card's drivers, the card itself works fine. It's just not recognizing my monitor and defaulting to some kind of generic mode that limits my max rez which is really annoying especially when windows go off-screen. Other than that it works fine.

[Skooter]

Firstly, make sure you followed the steps to install the GPU properly, such as any commands to configure xserver, etc... if you have, and it doesn't work, you could try this:

I have a 9600GT.... and I had some problems getting the resolution to stay, so what I did was manually change a few things in my xorg.conf file. Take a look at this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 1708FP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 9600 GT"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "1280x1024 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

That is a part of my xorg.conf file. Take a look at the first bolded print. You'll see that I have a vertical and horizontal refresh rate. It took me a while to figure out why my GPU wasn't saving my 1280x1024 resolution, then figured out it was because xorg didn't know the refresh range. After I added that it, in addition to bolded print #2, my monitor now displays it in the proper res. So, its possible that you may also need to manually specify this range and reso rate.

So, two things you have to do to do this: look up your monitor and find out what the native horizontal and vertical refresh rates are, then change my section above to fit yours.

Then you'll just change the part in Option "metamodes" "640x480+0.0" to Option "metamodes" "1024x768 +0.0"

Not sure how much will can help you... it sounds like you're running an older monitor on an older card... so this may not work without modification. This isn't that risky to perform though, if you want to try it, just be sure to copy your xorg.conf before changing it as such:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup

This will backup xorg.conf to your current directory.Then you can modify the orignal with

sudo gedit /etc/Xll/xorg.conf

If anything goes wrong with the new file, you just remove xorg, and rename and move the backup file to the appropriate place and name. You do that with:

sudo rm (optionally attach -rf if xorg is being stubborn)/etc/Xll/xorg.conf && mv xorg.conf.backup /etc/Xll/xorg.conf && mv /etc/Xll/xorg.conf.backup xorg.conf

Do that from the directory where you saved xorg.conf.backup. You may need to remove the "&&" and do the commands one at a time... I'm just short on time atm, so I shortened it.... that command will delete the pre-exising xorg.conf, move the backup to /etc/Xll/ and rename it to xorg.conf so it will(should) work properly. Anyway, hope that helps, graphics issues can be tricky.... you might wann wait for other opinions first, see if something easier works.