Can't activate Nvidia driver

[Eljo]

I have tried all but still no activation and no 3d compiz fun

[dibl]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

Here are instructions -- just substitute 185.18.14 for the earlier driver:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...4892#msg164892

Hint: driver first, Compiz second.

[joneall]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

I can't get the driver to activate either. I can click on the activate button until I turn blue, either nothing happens or it remains in "downloading and installing" indefinitely.

I really do not care to go thru the procedure given in the last note. It looks too long and dangerous for me. It seems to me this should work by clicking on activate. After all, Jaunty has been around for a while now.

In the meantime, my screen is a mess, with shaking, squiggly lines all over the place. I suspect this is related to my panoramic (16:10 ratio) screen.

What to do? Thanks in advance.

[dibl]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

It doesn't reliably activate on my system either. I don't why it works on some, and not on others.

By the way, you should only click once, then go away for 5 minutes. It downloads and installs in the background and gives you no visual feedback until it is done. You might give it one more try that way, after a reboot of the system.

What is your Nvidia chip?

The proprietary driver installation procedure is really not dangerous, particularly -- nothing like what you did yesterday to the /usr/bin directory. You just need to follow the procedure, and don't try getting creative like the fellow who thought he could skip going to the CLI and do it all in a Konsole window. :P

[joneall]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

It doesn't reliably activate on my system either. I don't why it works on some, and not on others.

By the way, you should only click once, then go away for 5 minutes. It downloads and installs in the background and gives you no visual feedback until it is done. You might give it one more try that way, after a reboot of the system.

What is your Nvidia chip?

The proprietary driver installation procedure is really not dangerous, particularly -- nothing like what you did yesterday to the /usr/bin directory. You just need to follow the procedure, and don't try getting creative like the fellow who thought he could skip going to the CLI and do it all in a Konsole window. :P

Thanks for turning the knife in the wound. I needed a good chuckle.

The chip is an Nvidia GE Force 5200, dating from 2004. I can't complain tho since I date from a lot longer ago than that. Anyway, the chip was working fine before my debacle with /usr/bin. So was I...

I tried what you said, rebooted, clicked once and went away. 20 minutes later, nothing has happened. Any other ideas?

Obviously (as you noted...), this is a freshly installed 9.04 system which I have not yet updated. Maybe I should do a dist-upgrade and try again. What do you think?

I'm on another, smaller screen now and the squiggly lines have gone away. It looked like an old movie with scratched-up film. But that screen was working fine before ... too.

[joneall]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

I booted another Jaunty system and managed to install the Nvidia driver without any problem. So I'm happy now.

It's curious nevertheless: On one system, when I clicked on nvidia drivers it asked for my password right away, then did not work. On the other, which worked, it only asked for the password when I clicked to activate the driver.

Hmmm...

[dibl]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

I was visiting a different universe for a day -- sorry.

Sooooooooo, is this "[SOLVED] but we don't know why" or "partially [SOLVED]" or what? It looks the current driver version for your GF 5200 is the 173.14.18. Is that what "Hardware Drivers" installed?

[joneall]

RESOLVED for me, at least: Can't activate Nvidia driver

I'd say it's SOLVED for me but don't quite know why, nor why it is solved on one system and not on the other. There's still something quirky in the driver installation process.

Yes, it installed 173.14.18.

Thanks again for your suggestion.

[dibl]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

Sure, no problem.

So both systems have a GF 5200? Do you want to try installing the proprietary driver on the one that won't work with the *buntu driver installer? Nvnews shows a pre-release 173.14.20 -- you could be the first in your neighborhood to install it!

[joneall]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

"Both" systems are just different disk partitions on the same PC.

Uh, I'm in a bit of a hurry preparing for a trip and don't really feel like doing anything daring right now. I'll wait for Karmic before I do a big upgrade again.

Again thanks.

[dibl]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

Got it -- sure, no problem. Yell if you get stuck later.

[barbolani]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

On my system with an onboard GeForce 5200, the 173 version of the NVidia drivers works like a charm.

[joneall]

Re: Can't activate Nvidia driver

On my system with an onboard GeForce 5200, the 173 version of the NVidia drivers works like a charm.

Yes, it works well. My only problem was in "activating" it. Thanks for your reply, tho.

Actually, I realize now that the activation worked with a standard Jaunty desktop. The one where it didn't work was on a development system where I had lots of additional upgraded stuff. That explains the difference.

In any case, I close the problem.