nVidia with stock kernel crashes when leaving X

[Anders Karlsson]

On 11/24/05, John W Redelfs <jredelfs at gmail.com> wrote:
>  I'm new to Ubuntu, but I'm not new to Linux.  And while I may not be a
> Linux wizard, I was installing Red Hat successfully back when I had to use
> Linux fdisk to set up my partitions, and manually configure my dot matrix
> Epson printer.  But installing nVidia drivers has been one of the most
> difficult things I've ever done in Linux, and I still haven't done it
> successfully.  I've gotten reams of conflicting advice from all over the
> map.

If you want to install the nVidia drivers from nVidia's website,
uninstall the nvidia packages from Ubuntu, download the
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-7676-pkg1.run file from nVidia, stop X, run the
.run file as root and follow the instructions.

After a successful compile - run "dpkg --reconfigure xserver-xorg" and
follow the instructions.

> And so far, every time I've tried to go through the complete install
> procedure, I've ruined my X-windows.  And since I don't know how to
> straighten it out after I ruin it, I've had to repeatedly reinstall my
> Breezy Badger setup.

If you use the dpkg --reconfigure command, you don't need to do the
re-install bit. It is very rare you need to re-install a unix system.
If you removed libc or something as essential, you may have to, but a
bootable CD and some patience has always paid off for me.

> I've tried installing with Synaptic.  I've tried doing
> everything from the command line with sudo and apt-get.  And so far I keep
> screwing up.  I've tried following the procedure outlined on the Ubuntu
> wiki.  I've tried the different procedure outlined in the Ubuntu 5.10
> Starter Guide.   I've tried following advice I've received on this list.
> I've tried following different advice I got on the Ubuntu web forums.  I've
> tried following procedures outlined in an nVidia Mini-HOWTO I located using
> a Google Firefox plugin for Ubuntu.  And nothing works.  This is the most
> stumped I've ever been with Linux.  And all I want to do is see my Gnome
> desktop at 1024x768 instead of the 800x600 which is the highest resolution
> that is available to me until I install the drivers correctly.

When you reconfigure Xorg, you get to select what resolutions you want to use.

>  Aaaaaargh!

I know that pain, usually I associate it with Windows though.

[snip]

--
Anders Karlsson <trudheim at gmail.com>