Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

[Objekt]

I have parts being shipped to build a new machine. I chose the video card in the title. Specifically, XFX brand model PVT98FYDBU, Newegg item #N82E16814150297.

Has anyone used it, or another GeForce 9800-series card, under Kubuntu, or Ubuntu? Since Nvidia is the only video card chipset mfg. who offers Linux drivers, I expect I'll be able to do 3D stuff. My current system has a Radeon X1650 card, so there's no point in even trying anything 3D under Linux.

[dibl]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

I got my 8800GTS running on Intrepid Ibex/KDE 4.1, but it wasn't the easiest thing in the world. At this moment, there are some complaints about the quality of the Nvidia proprietary Linux driver, when running the 8- and 9-series cards:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=115916

http://techbase.kde.org/User:Lemma/KDE4-NVIDIA

But I'm pretty confident we can get your 9800GTX running. I'm a little jealous ....

[Objekt]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

Huh, what do you know, ATI has offered Linux drivers for some time:

http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/l...ous-linux.html

I'm downloading the latest one (Catalyst 8.7) and I'll probably be posting here later for help getting it to work. The last time I fiddled with video settings, there was quite a lot of wailing, gnashing of teeth, and lamentations of the form "ONOEZ MY VIDEO IS BROKE!?!!!!"

(I will likely be posting about it from Windows XP, seeing as a broken Xserver makes it pretty much impossible to read or post on a web forum.)

Here's hoping Kubuntu's Recovery mode "Attempt to fix Xserver" option will continue to pull my bacon from the fire.

[jumi]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

I have this same Nvidia Geforce 9800 GTX card, and I have been trying the 177 driver(Beta driver) and it works great but when I install compiz, my pc crashes and does a lot of weird things, such as no minimize, no maximize and no X close button on the window, no shutdown button, no restart button on Log Out option in the K menu.
But now I was thinking, is this because I installed the beta driver and should I try the recommended version 173.14.12 or is this one of those trial and error things?

[Objekt]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

You're having better results than I am. So far I have been unable to get any of these Linuxes to boot from a live CD/DVD:

Kubuntu 7.04 32-bit
Kubuntu 8.04.1 both 32- and 64-bit
Fedora Core 9 64-bit*

*Special case: Tried both the install + live DVD, and the live CD (from which you can also install, once it boots into the OS, just doesn't include a lot of stuff that's on the DVD). No dice either way. I got most of the way through installing from the DVD when the display shut off.

I've had some rather severe problems above and beyond this, even. When the above-mentioned Fedora Core 9 install failed, I found that my Windows XP install was messed up. I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly the machine would simply lock up, sometimes just a few seconds after reaching the Windows desktop. It was acting so odd that I elected to reinstall WinXP.

I had NO idea how bad it would get. It took about 20 attempts to finish reinstalling XP. Though I completely powered down the system, cleared CMOS, and reset BIOS to defaults several times, I kept having one of two things happen:
1) System would freeze up partway through the Windows setup process.
2) Display would turn off after a random amount of time, also disrupting the setup process.
Eventually I got lucky and Setup completed.

I'm spending a good chunk of this evening trying different video cards and hard drives to try to track down the problem. It may be with the motherboard. Right now, I've swapped an ATI Radeon X1950-based video card for the GeForce 9800 GTX, and am installing WinXP on an old IDE hard drive. Next, I'll put the GeForce 9800 back in to see what happens.

[kjjjjshab]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

Uggh. I feel for you. I have been extremely fortunate with my system builds, but know a few people who have not.... best of luck to you.

[Objekt]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

It just went from bad to even weirder. With the ATI X1950 card in, Fedora Core 9 64-bit installed, but produced an unbootable installation. I got pretty much the same error messages I've had when trying to boot the Kubuntu Live DVD: something about not being able to find an "interrupt endpoint," whatever that is.

Win XP setup is behaving even worse but I won't bother with the whole sad story here.

Another thing that I noticed during POST: my dual-channel RAM kit (2 modules of 2 GB OCZ RAM, model OCZ3SOE13334GK) is only running in single-channel mode.

I'm arranging RMAs for both motherboard and video card, maybe RAM too. Some of the hardware is clearly defective. I strongly suspect it's the motherboard, but can't tell for sure.

[kjjjjshab]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

Can you run memtest from a LiveCD? Or even just try booting with one stick of RAM?

[Objekt]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

Yes, I just booted the Memtest86 live CD. I'm going to let it run for a while to do a thorough test.

Update: Let it run for a few hours, all tests completed. No errors found. OK, guess it's not the RAM.

[jumi]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

Objekt, I see we both have the exact same build except for the MotherBoard, which mine is an Intel DX48BT2 64-bit, and I am trying the 32-bit Kubuntu 8.04 on it and it works great. I hope this helps...

[dibl]

Re: Nvidia GeForce 9800 GTX under Kubuntu

The 177.70 beta driver should work with any 8000 or 9000-series card. I'll attach my xorg.conf file -- you can see where I had to comment out a few lines. (Don't try to use my "monitor" stanza!) It's working fine on Intrepid/KDE 4.1.