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As of 2006-04-18, nvidia-graphics-drivers was removed from testing. Try getting the necessary files from
http://people.debian.org/~rdonald/index.php
Use something less than the -3 version of the 8756 driver to not have the dependency on Xorg 7.
As of 2006-04-18, nvidia-graphics-drivers was removed from testing. An update of this guide should be done. Meanwhile, try getting the packages from sid.
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There are four different methods that you can use to install the kernel module. If that sounds like a lot, don't worry—they're listed in order of difficulty. So start with the first one, and if it doesn't work for you, go on down the list. There are four different methods that can be uses to install the kernel module. It is suggested to start trying the first one.
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This method is very easy, and should work for most people, with either a stock or custom kernel. [[Anchor(Method1)]]
This method is easy, and should work for most people, with either a stock or custom kernel.
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If you are unable to install the module using module-assistant, try [#Method2 method 2] if you use a stock kernel or [#Method3 method 3] if you use a custom kernel.
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This method is easy if you're running a recent stock kernel for which a pre-built module is available; it will not work at all if you're running a custom kernel. If the module-assistant method doesn't work for you and there are pre-built modules available for your kernel, use this method.

In Sarge, pre-built modules are only available for kernel 2.4.27, Sarge's default kernel. There are no pre-built modules for 2.6.8. In Etch, as of this writing, there are pre-built modules for all kernels, but those for 2.4.27 are outdated and therefore useless. If you don't know your kernel version, run
[[Anchor(Method2)]]
This method is easy if you're running a recent stock kernel for which a pre-built module is available; it will not work at all if you're running a custom kernel or Debian amd64. If the module-assistant method doesn't work for you and there are pre-built modules available for your kernel, use this method.

In Sarge, pre-built modules are only available for kernel 2.4.27, Sarge's default kernel. There are no pre-built modules for 2.6.8. In Etch, as of this writing, there are only pre-built modules for stock kernels 2.6.16-2. If you don't know your kernel version, run
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If this step succeeds, you may now [#Libraries proceed to step 2]. If there are no pre-built modules for your kernel, try a different installation method.

====== Build manually, with a stock kernel ======
Use this method if you're running a stock kernel and the two previous methods failed or didn't apply to you. module-assistant should automate this process. In other words, if the first method failed but this one works, you should probably submit a bug report against module-assistant.

The following procedure is adapted from the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian and is known to be potentially inexact.

         1. Save the release number of your kernel (e.g. 2.4.27-2-k7 or 2.6.8-1-686) in a couple of environment variables:

                export KVERS=$(uname -r)
                export KSRC=/usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS

            Note that these variables are used by the build commands below, so you really do need to set and export them, as in the above commands.
         2. Install the kernel module source: run

                apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common

            This will give you a source tarball /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz. Unpack it with

                cd /usr/src
                tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz

            This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel.
         3. Install the header files for your kernel:

                apt-get install kernel-headers-$KVERS

            This will give you kernel header files in /usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS. Be sure to check that the installed kernel image and kernel header packages have the same version number: run

                apt-cache policy kernel-image-$KVERS kernel-headers-$KVERS

            and check that the version number listed as Installed is the same for both packages. If it isn't, find the distribution that has the version of kernel-headers that you need, e.g. testing, and rerun the above installation command, adding '-t testing' (or whichever).
         4. Build the kernel module package:

                cd /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel
                debian/rules binary_modules

            The result will be a package file /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb, which contains your kernel module.

            Note: several users have told me recently that their nvidia package file ends up in /usr/src/modules, instead of /usr/src. I don't know yet why this happens. If this is your case, please adjust the next command appropriately.
         5. Install the kernel module:

                dpkg -i /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb

            Use the fileglob as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information that I rendered as * above.
      Now proceed to step 2, below.
If this step succeeds, you may now [#Libraries proceed to step 2]. If there are no pre-built modules for your kernel, and [#Method1 method 1] fails, you may want to try [#Method4 method 4].
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[[Anchor(Method3)]]
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[#Libraries Proceed to step 2].

====== Build manually, with a stock kernel ======
[[Anchor(Method4)]]
Use this method if you're running a stock kernel and the two previous methods failed or didn't apply to you. module-assistant should automate this process. In other words, if the first method failed but this one works, you should probably submit a bug report against module-assistant.

The following procedure is adapted from the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian and is known to be potentially inexact.

         1. Save the release number of your kernel (e.g. 2.4.27-2-k7 or 2.6.8-1-686) in a couple of environment variables:

                export KVERS=$(uname -r)
                export KSRC=/usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS

            Note that these variables are used by the build commands below, so you really do need to set and export them, as in the above commands.
         2. Install the kernel module source: run

                apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common

            This will give you a source tarball /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz. Unpack it with

                cd /usr/src
                tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz

            This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel.
         3. Install the header files for your kernel:

                apt-get install kernel-headers-$KVERS

            This will give you kernel header files in /usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS. Be sure to check that the installed kernel image and kernel header packages have the same version number: run

                apt-cache policy kernel-image-$KVERS kernel-headers-$KVERS

            and check that the version number listed as Installed is the same for both packages. If it isn't, find the distribution that has the version of kernel-headers that you need, e.g. testing, and rerun the above installation command, adding '-t testing' (or whichever).
         4. Build the kernel module package:

                cd /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel
                debian/rules binary_modules

            The result will be a package file /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb, which contains your kernel module.

            Note: several users have told me recently that their nvidia package file ends up in /usr/src/modules, instead of /usr/src. I don't know yet why this happens. If this is your case, please adjust the next command appropriately.
         5. Install the kernel module:

                dpkg -i /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb

            Use the fileglob as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information that I rendered as * above.
      Now proceed to step 2, below.

This document explains how to make use of NVIDIA video hardware for ["Debian"] GNU/Linux users, who are the primary target. The [#free following section] shortly describes the free drivers while the [#non-free rest of the document] covers the non-free but 3D-accelerated drivers.

?TableOfContents

free drivers

?Anchor(free) Two free drivers in Debian support NVIDIA cards. You are probably reading this page using one of these drivers. The vesa driver is a generic video driver. You should get better results with the nv driver. You can see which one is in use by looking at the output of

$ grep Driver /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/xorg.conf 2>&1|grep 'nv\|vesa'

You can simply [wiki:ConfigureX configure X] to change the free driver to use.

However, both of these drivers do not support 3D acceleration. Only the non-free nvidia driver supports this. If you are willing to use this driver despite the fact that it is non-free, read the following section. If you do, keep in mind that using the non-free drivers is considerably more complex and things are much more likely to break. If this happens and you give up trying to get X working again due to the nvidia driver, remember that simply switching back to one of the free drivers should let you run X again until you find a way to get 3D acceleration working again.

non-free drivers

?Anchor(non-free)

Warning for Etch users

As of 2006-04-18, nvidia-graphics-drivers was removed from testing. An update of this guide should be done. Meanwhile, try getting the packages from sid.

Why a Debian-specific method?

To install the NVIDIA drivers, you can use either NVIDIA's official installer or the Debian driver packages. Each method has its advantages, as described below. NVIDIA's installer used to be easier to use; but with the advent of module-assistant, the Debian way is probably easier. Even if you choose to build your driver module manually, in the long run you'll probably find that the Debian way will save you work. The Debian way is of course the most reliable.

Unless you had issues with the Debian way, you probably just want to [#Installation skip to the Installation section]. NVIDIA's installer is already documented at other places (such as [http://www.gmpf.de/index.php/NVidia:Basic_Installation this one]), so the Installation section of this HOWTO is all about the Debian way. Either way, you may find the Troubleshooting section to be of interest.

Comparison of nvidia-installer and the Debian way

The method described here is "the Debian way": you install Debian packages as usual, for your specific kernel. This method has some advantages, compared to using NVIDIA's official installer:

  • It's more automated, so it saves you work if you change your kernel.
  • It uses the Debian package management tools, so it's cleaner.
  • It can be done while X is running. You only have to restart X at the end, when you want the driver change to be applied.
  • If you're already using make-kpkg to build your kernel, it fits easily into your existing build procedure.
  • It will also save you work if you build other kernel modules (e.g. lm-sensors or fuse) outside of the kernel tree, because all of the driver packages get built at the same time with a single invocation of make-kpkg.
  • You won't need to download NVIDIA's official installer from nvidia.com. The Debian packages contain all of the parts of it that you need.

However, you don't have to build your drivers this way. Many people prefer to use NVIDIA's official installer. This method also has advantages:

  • You may get more recent versions of the NVIDIA drivers, since the Debian packages tend to lag by a month or two, which can be needed if the version in Debian didn't support your hardware. You can compare the [http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html current version] and the [http://packages.debian.org/nvidia-glx version in your Debian release] to see how much difference there is.

  • The official installer is easy to use, although you will probably get tired of rerunning it if you rebuild your kernel more than a few times. (Every time you rebuild your kernel you have to wait until you reboot, wait for your X server to die, navigate the installer menus, and then start X. It gets old. That's why this guide was written :) ) Note: the Debian way is similarly easy.

  • People have occasionally reported that even after some work, they just couldn't get their drivers to work using the Debian way. Once they used the NVIDIA installer everything worked smoothly.

Target audience

The following method should work with any 2.4 or 2.6 Linux kernel, with either stock or custom kernels, and with ["Sarge"], ["Etch"] and ["Sid"] (assuming Sid works). Although there are Debian packages for the drivers in ["Woody"], if you are looking to make some fun gaming, consider the fun of upgrading to Sarge first.

Installation

?Anchor(Installation) Here are the instructions for installing the NVIDIA 3D drivers, the Debian way.

Overview

The NVIDIA 3D drivers consist of two parts: a kernel module, and a collection of user-space libraries. The libraries (sometimes called the "binary driver" or GLX libraries) are distributed in binary form by NVIDIA, and packaged for Debian in the nvidia-glx package. Since NVIDIA's 3D drivers are not open source, you will have to setup non-free sources to be able to install them. The kernel module (aka the "kernel interface to the binary driver") is distributed in source form (though with one binary component), and packaged for Debian in the nvidia-kernel-source and nvidia-kernel-common packages. The version of the kernel module has to match the version of the libraries. The user libraries and kernel module source only have to be installed once. Then the kernel module has to be rebuilt every time you change or rebuild your kernel. So, here's what you have to do:

  • 0. Make sure APT has non-free and contrib sources (consult sources.list(5) manpage for help on doing this)
  • 1. Build and install the kernel module
  • 2. Install the user-space libraries
  • 3. Configure X to use the nvidia driver

  • 4. Force the kernel module to load at boot

Step 2 has to be performed after step 1 because of some dependencies, as explained below.

Steps 2, 3 and 4 have to be performed only once. Step 1 has to be repeated every time you change your kernel, but with the help of module-assistant, apt-get, and make-kpkg, it's hardly any work at all. We'll come back to this after the installation section.

Steps

Build and install the kernel module

Stock or Custom Kernel?

Some of the installation methods below depend on whether you're running a stock kernel, i.e. a prebuilt kernel from the Debian distribution. If you know which kind of kernel you have, you can skip to the [#Methods following section].

By default, Debian comes with a stock kernel. If you don't know what kind of kernel you're running, then it's probably a stock kernel. If you're not sure, run

$ uname -r

and check if the output looks like 2.*.*-small number-architecture (e.g. 2.4.27-2-386 or 2.6.8-2-k7). If it does, you're most likely running a stock kernel.

Legacy drivers?

?Anchor(Legacy) If you use Sarge, you can consider that you don't use the legacy drivers, but rather the current drivers, and skip to the Methods section.

Up to version 1.0.7174, which is the version in Sarge, NVIDIA's proprietary drivers supported all NVIDIA cards, except a few very old ones. In the next version, the drivers dropped support for a few old cards, which NVIDIA now calls "legacy" GPUs. These legacy GPUs will continue to be maintained through special legacy GPU driver releases. As of March 2006, NVIDIA did not release any new drivers for legacy GPUs, so the "legacy" drivers correspond to version 1.0.7174. The version of the drivers in Etch does not support the legacy GPUs. To avoid dropping support for them, there are 2 versions of NVIDIA's proprietary drivers in Etch: the current and legacy drivers. New packages were created for the legacy drivers. For example, instead of being shipped in the nvidia-glx package, the user-space libraries for legacy GPUs are shipped in the nvidia-glx-legacy package.

Unless you use a legacy GPU, you can use the current drivers. A few new cards are only supported in the current drivers. Most cards are supported by any version. You should use the current drivers unless you use a legacy GPU or you are affected by a regression in the current drivers. The supported cards are documented in NVIDIA's README by NVIDIA chip name and Device PCI ID. If you don't know these information for your card and don't know how to obtain them, you may run [attachment:nvidia-legacy-check.sh this script] to determine if your card is supported by the current drivers.

Methods

?Anchor(Methods) There are four different methods that can be uses to install the kernel module. It is suggested to start trying the first one.

Use module-assistant

?Anchor(Method1) This method is easy, and should work for most people, with either a stock or custom kernel.

Install module-assistant and gcc if you don't have them, and nvidia-kernel-common. To do it with apt-get:

# apt-get install module-assistant gcc nvidia-kernel-common

Then run:

# m-a update

and

# m-a prepare

Run the following command, but substitute nvidia by nvidia-kernel-legacy-source if you want to install the [#Legacy legacy drivers].

# m-a auto-install nvidia

And that's it. If all went well, your nvidia kernel module is now built and installed; you may [#Libraries proceed to step 2]. If not, read the rest of this section.

You must use the same version of gcc to build your nvidia kernel module as was used to build your kernel. This might be a problem if you are running a stock kernel. If module-assistant fails, read its log output and look for messages suggesting that you need, for example, gcc-4.0 instead of gcc-4.1. Then install the corresponding package and retry auto-install.

The auto-install step is the biggest step of the procedure, and is the most likely to fail. auto-install can be divided in smaller module-assistant steps, which can help debugging:

  • get

  • build

  • install

If # m-a get nvidia; fails, try installing the nvidia-kernel-source package. If APT fails to install nvidia-kernel-source, you should go back to step 0 and make sure you didn't miss something.

If you are unable to install the module using module-assistant, try [#Method2 method 2] if you use a stock kernel or [#Method3 method 3] if you use a custom kernel.

Install a pre-built module

?Anchor(Method2) This method is easy if you're running a recent stock kernel for which a pre-built module is available; it will not work at all if you're running a custom kernel or Debian amd64. If the module-assistant method doesn't work for you and there are pre-built modules available for your kernel, use this method.

In Sarge, pre-built modules are only available for kernel 2.4.27, Sarge's default kernel. There are no pre-built modules for 2.6.8. In Etch, as of this writing, there are only pre-built modules for stock kernels 2.6.16-2. If you don't know your kernel version, run

$ uname -r

If there is a pre-built module for your kernel, install its package. The name starts with "nvidia-kernel-". This is followed by "legacy-" if you want to install the [#Legacy legacy drivers]. The name ends by the identifier of your stock kernel package. For example, to install the current drivers with apt-get:

# apt-get install nvidia-kernel-$(uname -r)

If this step succeeds, you may now [#Libraries proceed to step 2]. If there are no pre-built modules for your kernel, and [#Method1 method 1] fails, you may want to try [#Method4 method 4].

Build manually, with a custom kernel

?Anchor(Method3) Use this method if you're configuring and building a custom kernel.

1. Install the kernel module source. It comes in the nvidia-kernel-source package for the current drivers, or in nvidia-kernel-legacy-source if you want to install the [#Legacy legacy drivers]. For example, to install the current drivers with apt-get:

# apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source

This will install a source tarball in /usr/src/nvidia-kernel[-legacy]-source.tar.gz. Unpack it in /usr/src. For example, to unpack the source tarball of the current driver:

$ cd /usr/src
# tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz 

This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel[-legacy].

2. Configure your kernel. This step isn't documented here; if you need to learn how, see the kernel-package documentation. But in summary, what you have to do is

$ cd /usr/src/linux
# make xconfig

and then choose the options you want. Note, however, that each of the following kernel options has been reported to cause trouble with the nvidia driver:

  • Device drivers –> Graphics Support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA)

  • Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA) (only found in kernels > 2.6.11)

  • Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA)

  • Processor Type and Features –> Local APIC support on uniprocessors (X86_UP_APIC) (not available if you have an SMP kernel, including hyperthreading)

It is therefore recommended that you disable all of the above options in your kernel configuration. If for some reason you don't disable them, and then your X display doesn't work properly with the nvidia driver, you should suspect these options as the likely cause of the trouble. For more details, see the Troubleshooting section.

3. Build the kernel and the nvidia kernel module:

$ cd /usr/src/linux
# make-kpkg clean
# make-kpkg kernel_image modules_image

For an introduction to using make-kpkg to build kernel packages, see [http://newbiedoc.sourceforge.net/system/kernel-pkg.html Creating custom kernels with Debian's kernel-package system], or [http://www.debianuniverse.com/readonline/chapter/21 Compiling Kernels the Debian Way]. See also the make-kpkg man page, for a description of other options and targets that you can use in this command.

The result of the above command will be two Debian package files, { kernel | linux }-image-*.deb and nvidia-kernel-*.deb, both in /usr/src or /usr/src/modules. The first file contains your kernel, and the second contains your nvidia kernel module.

At the same time, if you have sources for any other add-on kernel modules in /usr/src/modules, then the "modules_image" target will cause make-kpkg to build Debian package files for them, too. For example, if you install the fuse-source package you'll get a source archive /usr/src/fuse.tar.gz, which you can unpack to get fuse module sources in /usr/src/modules/fuse. If you've done this, then this same invocation of make-kpkg will also build a fuse module package file, /usr/src/fuse-*.deb, that's specific to your new kernel.

4. Install the new kernel and kernel module:

$ cd /usr/src
# dpkg -i /path/kernel-image-*.deb /path/nvidia-kernel-*.deb

Use the fileglobs as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one kernel image or nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information rendered as * above.

5. Boot your new kernel. Before trying to get the NVIDIA 3D drivers to work, make sure that the new kernel boots and that X starts well using a free X driver.

[#Libraries Proceed to step 2].

Build manually, with a stock kernel

?Anchor(Method4) Use this method if you're running a stock kernel and the two previous methods failed or didn't apply to you. module-assistant should automate this process. In other words, if the first method failed but this one works, you should probably submit a bug report against module-assistant.

The following procedure is adapted from the instructions in /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian and is known to be potentially inexact.

  1. Save the release number of your kernel (e.g. 2.4.27-2-k7 or 2.6.8-1-686) in a couple of environment variables:
    • export KVERS=$(uname -r) export KSRC=/usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS
    • Note that these variables are used by the build commands below, so you really do need to set and export them, as in the above commands.
  2. Install the kernel module source: run
    • apt-get install nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-kernel-common
    • This will give you a source tarball /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz. Unpack it with
      • cd /usr/src tar -zxf nvidia-kernel-source.tar.gz
      This will unpack the kernel module sources into /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel.
  3. Install the header files for your kernel:
    • apt-get install kernel-headers-$KVERS
    • This will give you kernel header files in /usr/src/kernel-headers-$KVERS. Be sure to check that the installed kernel image and kernel header packages have the same version number: run
      • apt-cache policy kernel-image-$KVERS kernel-headers-$KVERS
      and check that the version number listed as Installed is the same for both packages. If it isn't, find the distribution that has the version of kernel-headers that you need, e.g. testing, and rerun the above installation command, adding '-t testing' (or whichever).
  4. Build the kernel module package:
    • cd /usr/src/modules/nvidia-kernel debian/rules binary_modules
    • The result will be a package file /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb, which contains your kernel module. Note: several users have told me recently that their nvidia package file ends up in /usr/src/modules, instead of /usr/src. I don't know yet why this happens. If this is your case, please adjust the next command appropriately.
  5. Install the kernel module:
    • dpkg -i /usr/src/nvidia-kernel-*.deb
    • Use the fileglob as above if you want, but watch out that you don't have more than one nvidia-kernel package file lying around in /usr/src. If you do you'll get a blizzard of error messages. It's probably better to explicitly type all of the version information that I rendered as * above.
  • Now proceed to step 2, below.

Install the NVIDIA user-space libraries

?Anchor(Libraries) Install the nvidia-glx package for the current drivers, or nvidia-glx-legacy if you want to install the [#Legacy legacy drivers]. For example, to install the current drivers with apt-get:

# apt-get install nvidia-glx

Note: The reason this step has to come after step 1 is that nvidia-glx depends on a virtual package called 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION', where $NVVERSION is the upstream part of the version of the nvidia-glx package. This virtual package should be provided by the kernel module package that you installed in step 1; so you have to complete that step first. If the installation of nvidia-glx fails because the 'nvidia-kernel-$NVVERSION' isn't satisfied, you should probably make sure that step 1 went OK.

Configure X to use the nvidia driver

Update your X configuration. There are two ways to do this. The one you should use depends on whether you manually edited your X configuration file. If you don't know if you did, you probably didn't. If you run Sarge and choose the debconf way but you did edit your X config file, your changes will be quietly ignored. To make sure, run one of the following commands, depending on your X server.

For XFree86 (Sarge):

$ md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4|diff -sq /var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum -

For X.org (Etch):

$ md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf|diff -sq /var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum -

If the files differ, choose the second way (the manual way).

As a suggestion, save yourself some possible grief later by backing up your current X config file. For XFree86 (Sarge):

# cp -p /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.bak

For X.org (Etch):

# cp -p /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak

The debconf way

Run the following command. For XFree86 (Sarge):

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

For X.org (Etch):

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

This will ask you a long series of questions, some of which you should have already seen at least when you installed Debian. You only need to change your answer to 2 of those questions. When asked to choose an X server driver, choose nvidia (note: this question apparently does not appear anymore after installing nvidia-glx in Etch. Fortunately, reconfiguring still selects nvidia, so you can probably just ignore this part. Philippe Cloutier (document maintainer) wishes to eventually investigate this, feel free to contact if you have more information. FilipusKlutiero - 20060330). Then, when asked to select X server modules, deselect (uncheck) GLCore (if present) and dri, and select (check) glx.

Finally, if you use Sarge, you may want to verify that your X config file was written. To do so, run:

$ ls -l /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

and check that the date printed is current. If this is not the case, you'll have to use the manual way. Otherwise, your X configuration should have been updated for the use of the nvidia driver.

The manual way

This method will allow you to preserve customizations you've made to your X config file. Etch users should simply install and use nvidia-xconfig. The rest of this section is for Sarge users.

Watch out for typos, and check your X log if things go wrong.

Edit your X config file:

  • In the "Module" section, be sure that you have a line:
     Load "glx" 
    and remove or comment out (prepend with a #) any lines that refer to the "dri" or "GLCore" modules.
  • In the "Device" section for your video card, change the driver (normally nv or vesa) to nvidia:

     Driver "nvidia"

Force the kernel module to load at boot

Since X is going to use the nvidia driver, it will need to have the nvidia kernel module loaded. Ensure that the nvidia module gets inserted into your kernel automatically at boot, by adding it to /etc/modules if it's not already there:

# grep -q ^nvidia /etc/modules || echo nvidia >> /etc/modules

Load the kernel module and restart X

This is the easiest but probably most crucial step. If it doesn't work for some reason, and you want to get back to X before fixing the problem, you'll have to revert step 3 (by choosing a free X driver again). When you think you've fixed the problem, you can do step 3 again and retry starting X. Remember that even if it works you'll want to read the [#Upgrades next section] to avoid future trouble. And if it doesn't...check the Troubleshooting section.

To avoid rebooting your system instead of just restarting X, load the nvidia module. You can do it that way:

# modprobe nvidia

Now to restart X. If you don't use a display manager, simply close your session. That should bring to a console. If it doesn't, you must be using a display manager (such as gdm, kdm or xdm). First identify which one you're using. If you don't know, it's probably gdm. You can know by checking whether a process ending with "dm" is running. Once you determined which one you use, close your session and go run the appropriate init script in a console. Here's an example for gdm:

# invoke-rc.d gdm restart

If you can't figure out how to restart X with those instructions, you can simply reboot your system. Otherwise, the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+Backspace should be reliable, despite being somewhat "unfriendly".

Check that it worked

To check that the acceleration is working, check if

$ glxinfo |grep rendering

returns "direct rendering: Yes". If it returns No, [#nodri see section "Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work"]. If it returns Yes, 3D acceleration (in games such as PlanetPenguin Racer and Neverball) should work. If it works in these games but not in a particular application you expected to be able to use, [#oldgame check section "Some old game doesn't start"].

How to deal with kernel changes and driver upgrades

?Anchor(Upgrades) Steps 2 and 3 are done for good. However, you'll have to repeat step 1 in certain situations. If you don't realize such a situation happens, X will fail to start. You can take two approaches with this : either remember when this will happen and try to prevent it, or remember to come back here when your X fails to start. Either way, you're not done for life. If X fails to start because of this, you can again revert step 3 (by choosing a free X driver again) and redo it when you want to retry using the nvidia driver for X.

When

Step 1 builds an nvidia kernel module for a specific kernel and NVIDIA driver version. You'll have to do it for each kernel, and you'll have to redo it for each new driver version. If you don't know what this means, read on.

...will the NVIDIA driver version change

If you're using Sarge, this won't happen until you upgrade to the next Debian release, but it will happen then.

In all cases, this will happen when the nvidia-glx package is upgraded. All versions of nvidia-glx depend on an nvidia-kernel-version virtual package. When you followed step 1, you built or installed a package providing this virtual package. However, if you upgrade nvidia-glx before doing step 1 again, APT will attempt to satisfy the virtual package by installing a prebuilt kernel module. You'll notice some new nvidia-kernel-something package being installed (or upgraded if you already had it). This may be what you want if you're using a 2.4 kernel. If you're not, APT will be installing a useless package. Instead of letting it do, do step 1 again to get an appropriate kernel module. Then, the virtual package will be satisfied and you can upgrade nvidia-glx safely and without installing a useless package.

...will your kernel change

If you build other modules using module-assistant, you have to redo step 1 everytime you'd have to run module-assistant for other modules, that is for every new kernel ABI. If you don't know what that means, read on.

If you install a kernel with a new ABI, a new kernel image package will be installed. For example, if the 2.4.27 kernel gets a new ABI and you currently use kernel-image-2.4.27-2-386, you will have to install the kernel-image-2.4.27-3-386 package to get the new kernel (the "-2" and "-3" part of the package names indicate respectively that these packages contain the second and third ABI of Debian's 2.4.27 i386 stock kernels). This may happen without your intervention when upgrading your system if the kernel-image-2.4-386 meta package is installed. This can also happen if you install a different kernel. For example, you can have both 2.4.27 and 2.6.8 in Sarge. If you did step 1 for 2.4.27 only, you'll need to do it for 2.6.8 too. You'll notice that a new kernel is installed when a new kernel-image-something or linux-image-something package is installed. X will fail to start after you booted a new kernel until you perform step 1 for that kernel.

Troubleshooting

X doesn't start

  • Make sure the nvidia module is loaded into your kernel:

     $ lsmod | grep nvidia

    If it's not, then use modprobe or modconf to load it, or else have it load automatically at boot by adding nvidia to /etc/modules.

  • Check that you have device files /dev/nvidia0 and /dev/nvidiactl:
     $ ls -l /dev/nvidia*
     crw-rw----    1 root     video    195,   0 date /dev/nvidia0
     crw-rw----    1 root     video    195, 255 date /dev/nvidiactl

    In Sarge, those files should be created by udev or devfs when the nvidia kernel module is loaded. Therefore, the absence of these files is most likely to be fixed by the previous solution. If the module is loaded but the files aren't created, you should verify that either udev or devfs is working correctly. If you use a kernel above 2.6.12, nvidia-kernel-common's /etc/init.d/nvidia-kernel is responsible for creating those files.

  • Make sure that your problem is related to the nvidia driver. Try switching back to a free driver: go back and repeat step 3, but this time select driver nv or vesa instead of nvidia. Then restart your X server. If it still won't start, then you have other problems that precede NVIDIA's drivers.

Lost Your Console

This may only apply to the nvidia packages in etch.

If you happen to lose your virtual terminals (Ctrl+Alt+F1) [i.e. the console is displaying garbage] after xorg starts, this might be a fix (it was for me):

# apt-get install nvidia-settings
$ nvidia-settings
click OpenGL Settings and check "Sync to VBlanc".

It should work now.

Trouble with Linux 2.6

Watch the kernel version you use.

Any reasonably recent version of Linux 2.4 should work with the NVIDIA drivers. However, Linux 2.6 is the development branch of Linux and has changing kernel interfaces. Each release of the NVIDIA 3D drivers can only warrant compatibility with already released Linux versions. This flaw comes from the fact that NVIDIA's 3D drivers are non-free and therefore can't enter the main Linux kernel tree. It is consequently possible that a version of the NVIDIA 3D drivers working with the Linux 2.6 minor version already in Debian enters unstable and testing, and then that a new minor version of Linux 2.6, incompatible with the version of the NVIDIA 3D drivers in Debian, enters Debian. In this case, problems that result from the incompatibilities should be reported in the [http://bugs.debian.org Bug Tracking System] against the NVIDIA 3D drivers. So, before installing the drivers for the first time, or before upgrading your kernel, check if the versions of both are compatible. If the NVIDIA drivers are more recent than Linux, there should be no problem. In the opposite case, consider checking whether problems were reported, in the Debian BTS are somewhere else. If you install the drivers or upgrade your kernel despite potential incompatibilities and then get undocumented issues, check if the issues exist with a compatible Linux version.

Despite this, you should try using a recent Linux kernel. Many old versions have bugs that are problematic with the NVIDIA 3D drivers. In summary, try using either the Linux 2.6 version in your Debian release, or the latest Linux version compatible with the drivers.

X (or the complete machine when running X) is unstable

  • Check whether you use a framebuffer, such as rivafb, nvidiafb and vesafb. The rivafb driver is known to conflict with NVIDIA's drivers. vesafb is known to work is some cases but also to be problematic in other cases. All of these drivers are compiled as modules in stock kernels, except for vesafb after 2.6.12. To see if you have one of these modules inserted in your kernel, run
     $ lsmod|grep 'rivafb\|vesafb\|nvidiafb'
    If this outputs something, get rid of the module(s) displayed.
     # rmmod rivafb vesafb nvidiafb

    will remove the modules temporarily (for this boot). If something causes one of the modules to load automatically at boot, blacklist the modules. If you are using a custom kernel, do not compile these modules in (Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Riva support (FB_RIVA), Device drivers –> Graphics support –> VESA VGA graphics support (FB_VESA) and Device drivers –> Graphics support –> nVidia Framebuffer Support (FB_NVIDIA)).

  • Several users have reported that they had hard lockups when switching virtual terminals or shutting down their X servers, until they recompiled their kernels with local APIC disabled. Local APIC support on uniprocessors (X86_UP_APIC) is enabled in stock non-SMP kernels. Note that the local APIC option isn't available if you have an SMP (e.g. hyperthreading) kernel. In that case the local APIC option probably has no effect, but one user reported that he still had success disabling it by manually editing /usr/src/linux/.config to comment out the line with CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC. He also had to repeat the operation every time he reconfigured his kernel. Alternatively, you might have to turn off SMP and then disable local APIC. :(

Hardware acceleration, aka direct rendering, doesn't work

?Anchor(nodri) We've covered how to check that the installation worked in section "Check that it worked". If it doesn't, check that you adjusted your X configuration properly. You can do so by checking that

$ grep Driver /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/xorg.conf 2>&1|grep nvidia

returns something. If this is the case and X was restarted since the configuration was changed, you may be affected by [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=208198 Debian bug #208198]. You can check if this is the case by running

$ glxinfo | egrep "glx (vendor|version)" 

If you see different vendors or versions for the client and server, this is your problem. In that case you can run

# NVVER=`dpkg -s nvidia-glx|grep Version|cut -d ' ' -f2|cut -d '-' -f1`
# ln -fs /usr/lib/libGL.so.$NVVER /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so
# ln -fs /usr/lib/libGL.so.$NVVER /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1
# ln -fs          libGL.so.$NVVER /usr/lib/libGL.so.1.2

to fix the problem.

If that's not your problem but you get an error when trying to use OpenGL apps like glxinfo that looks like this one:

Error: Could not open /dev/nvidiactl because the permissions
are too resticitive.  Please see the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
section of /usr/share/doc/NVIDIA_GLX-1.0/README for steps
to correct.
Fatal signal: Segmentation Fault

you should make sure that the user running the application is in the video group.

Various problems with X

Look in your X log file (/var/log/XFree86.0.log for XFree86, /var/log/Xorg.0.log for X.org). The X server writes a lot of information there about what configuration files it's reading, what display modes it's trying, and errors (EE) it encounters along the way. You can very often find hints there to the source of whatever problem you're having.

Some old game doesn't start

?Anchor(oldgame) If some software (probably old games) complains about missing libGL.so, try installing nvidia-glx-dev. If this doesn't help, this application is probably buggy or doesn't support your system. This document probably can't help you with these problems.

"nvidia license taints kernel"

If you get such a warning message on your console or in your syslog, don't worry. Your kernel is fine...or at least as fine as a kernel that can run NVIDIA's 3D driver can be. All this message means is that because your driver isn't open source, you won't get any support from the kernel maintainers if anything goes wrong with your kernel while the module is loaded. See the [http://www.tux.org/lkml/#s1-18 LKML FAQ] for more.

Last resort

You can check [http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=14 the NVIDIA Linux Forum at nvnews.net] for issues not related to Debian packaging. For Debian-specific issues, you may look at the bug tracking system or ask a question on Debian help resources, such as the debian-user mailing list and #debian on irc.freenode.net. If you still have a problem that you can't solve, you can write and [mailto:andrex@alumni.utexas.net?subject=Debian-NVIDIA tell the author] about it. He'll do what he can to help, subject to his knowledge and time constraints.

More information

  • For more information about the drivers, see:
    • /usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.Debian
    • /usr/share/doc/nvidia-glx/README.gz
    • /usr/share/doc/nvidia-kernel-source/README.Debian

    These files have loads of information about options and for troubleshooting NVIDIA's proprietary drivers. Here's an enticement for you to read them: somewhere in one of them you can find an explanation of how to suppress the NVIDIA splash screen every time you start an X server (hint: search for "NoLogo").

  • You can adjust the clock rates of your GPU and video RAM by running nvclock, nvclock_gtk, or nvclock_qt, available respectively in the nvclock, nvclock-gtk, and nvclock-qt packages. Obligatory warning: you can destroy your video hardware with these tools if you're not careful.
  • You can adjust some other, relatively obscure settings of the driver by running nvidia-settings, available in the nvidia-settings package.
  • [http://people.debian.org/~rdonald/index.php The Debian page of Randall Donald], the maintainer of Debian's NVIDIA packages, has news about the packaging work being done.

About this document

This wiki page was created by Filipus Klutiero to publish an update of [http://home.comcast.net/~andrex/Debian-nVidia/index.html Andrew's Debian-nVidia HOWTO] after Andrew agreed to share his rights on the original HOWTO. You are free to modify this page as long as you agree to let copyright of your changes to the author. For problems, comments, or questions about the information in this document, you can [mailto:cheal@hotpop.com?subject=Debian-NVIDIA write to the maintainer]. He's no expert, but he'll do his best to make the document useful.

Licensing

This document is Copyright 2005, by Andrew E. Schulman. Permission is hereby granted to freely copy, distribute, and/or modify any of the contents of this document in any way and for any purpose.