[mythtv-users] [ATrpms-users] Updated from fedora 10 to 12 and have issues with nvidia driver loading

Jarod Wilson jarod at wilsonet.com
Fri Nov 27 02:02:13 UTC 2009


On 11/26/2009 01:06 PM, Gabe Rubin wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 9:46 AM, Jarod Wilson<jarod at wilsonet.com>  wrote:
>> On 11/26/2009 12:08 PM, Gabe Rubin wrote:
>>>
>>> As many pointed out, adding  "nouveau.modeset=0" at the end of the
>>> kernel line in grub.conf is the solution.  I also specified a VGA
>>> mode, but that caused more problems so I changed that to "vga=normal".
>>>   Not sure if a vga argument is needed.
>>
>> Its not. And nouveau.modeset=0 isn't strictly required. If you have the
>> nouveau module blacklisted, a newly built initrd won't include the nouveau
>> module, and you can boot w/o any extra params.
>
> I have this stanza in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf:
> blacklist nouveau
>
>
> That did not help me until I actually added the kernel parameter in
> grub.conf.  I did reboot.

You're missing a step. The nouveau module is already in your existing 
initrd, where it will be loaded *before* your root filesystem is 
mounted, *before* the blacklist file can be read. You have to rebuild 
your initrd after adding the blacklist entry. I've done this. I know it 
works. Later kernels will get installed and have their initrd generated 
with the blacklisting already in place, and their initrd won't have nouveau.

>>> I guess I will need to add this to the kernel line each time I upgrade
>>> the kernel.
>>
>> No. The kernel update mechanism is bright enough to carry args from your
>> existing grub stanza to the new one.
>>
>> However, as I said above, if nouveau is blacklisted, a newly created initrd
>> (including the one that'll be created when you install a new kernel) won't
>> have have the nouveau module in it, and thus won't need the param anyway.
>
> That is good to know (although, as I said, blacklisting did not seem to help).

See above.

>>> Also strange, it appears that atrpms script write to
>>> /etc/modprobe.conf to specify the driver version when that has been
>>> depreciated and it should go into /etc/modprobe.d/local.conf.
>>
>> Or better yet, /etc/modprobe.d/<somethingunique>.conf.
>>
>
> Any way to make this automatic or is that just the choice of the
> package distributor (i.e., should I let Axel know about this situation
> or can I fix it myself)?

Package distributor. I believe RPM Fusion's nvidia drivers include 
either an /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf or nvidia.conf for this purpose.

...
>>> I personally don't think that fedora should make it
>>> this difficult to run the nvidia drive and attempt to impose the
>>> nouveau driver upon users.
>>
>> Um. I'm not even sure where to begin with a reply to this. Fedora ships a
>> functional driver that Just Works, complete with kernel mode setting,
>> dual-head support, etc, and that shouldn't be "imposed" on people? And the
>> Fedora project is supposed to do what exactly to make it as easy as possible
>> for you to install a 3rd-party binary-only driver?
>>
>
> Re-reading what I wrote, I see why offense could be taken to what I
> said.  I respect that fedora comes shipping with a free (in all senses
> of the word) and functional driver for nvidia cards.  I said "impose"
> because my thinking was if you have to much with grub.conf and add
> kernel parameters, that is very tricky for most users to figure out
> how to get the binary drivers going.  Of course, the reality is
> probably is that fedora wants to ship a highly functional system that
> works out of the box without resorting to the binary non-free stuff
> and if someone wants to use the nvidia binary, they should figure out
> how to do it.  My frustration was that it took a lot of time for me to
> figure out how to do that, which was the result of the choice to put
> in nouveau.  But upon reflection, that was not a bad thing that the
> fedora team did, and I should not have implied or directly stated that
> it was.


Wasn't offended, just saddened that all the hard work being done to 
create a free and open driver that Just Works gets stomped on because it 
made it harder to install a 3rd-party binary blob. :)

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod at wilsonet.com


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