Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-nv package

NVIDIA 5200m driver not working

Asked by Josh Crane

I am currently running a dell e6430 with a NVIDIA 5200m card in it running ubuntu 12.10. I have been trying to install the driver for this card with 12.04 and even xubuntu and have been unsucessful. when looking at nvidia-settings it states that I am not using the nvidia x-driver and to install the nvidia-xconfig file in order for this function to work. This also does nothing.

I have tried installing this card through apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings as well as
 trying to add the repository sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
 and this fails to update as it cant find the correct update for the repository
I also tried downloading the official driver off of NVIDIA's web page. Everytime I install this driver my screen defaults to 640x480 and I cannot get it back to display the full screen. My screen also goes to 640x480 if I try installing the xconfig file.

One user suggested "sudo apt-get install linux-source) and headers (sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic) and these also did not work at all for installing this specific NVIDIA driver.

I am at a loss here for fixing this issue and praying to the Ubuntu gods that there is a fix out there somewhere!

Any help would be greatly appreciated or even a hint on what step to take next as I feel like I have ran out of options.

Thanks

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Ubuntu xserver-xorg-video-nv Edit question
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Solved by:
actionparsnip
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Revision history for this message
N1ck 7h0m4d4k15 (nicktux) said : 		#1

Hi ,

please see this answer :
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers/+question/212219

An open bug(error) exists with the Nvidia driver and Ubuntu 12.10 .

Try to follow the instructions to re-install the driver properly.

Thanks

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#2

Can you please give the output of:

sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a; dpkg -l | grep nvidia

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Josh Crane (psycholomo) said : 		#3

I tried the suggestion from NikTh, this did not solve my problem. It ended up going right back to 640x480 resolution. nvidia-settings states that I do not have the nvidia-xconfig file and when I create it it does not do anything.

my lshw log

*-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: NVIDIA Corporation
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:f5000000-f5ffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:f0000000-f1ffffff ioport:e000(size=128) memory:f6000000-f607ffff
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:48 memory:f6400000-f67fffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:f000(size=64)
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10
Codename: quantal
Linux josh 3.5.0-17-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 9 19:31:23 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ii nvidia-current 304.51.really.304.43-0ubuntu1 amd64 NVIDIA binary Xorg driver, kernel module and VDPAU library
ii nvidia-settings 304.51-0ubuntu2 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

note this machine has 2 cards in it the intel 4000 and the nvidia graphics driver. the machine believes that it is only a vga compatible device and not the actual card in the system . .

Revision history for this message
Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#4

Seems you have a switchable video chip. This is nothing but pain under Ubuntu (and other Linux variants) and I doubt you will get this working well, if at all. I have never seen a success story with this mess and it is best avoided if you intend to use anything but Windows. This link may help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HybridGraphics

Revision history for this message
Kieran Boyce (kieran-boyce) said : 		#5

I'm having a similar problem to Josh. I'm running Ubuntu 12.10 on a Dell PowerEdge T410 - a small server that I'm using as a workstation. (I had some issues installing 12.04 with the RAID card, so I went with 12.10).

Out of the box, the T410 doesn't have a hardware graphics accelerator, so the screen refresh is slow but it was displaying at a reasonable resolution (1280 x ...). I've installed a GeForce GT610 graphics card and tried a number of different driver sources, either from Nvidia themselves (version 304.60) or earlier versions from the standard ubuntu ppa and from ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates.

At this stage, using the standard VGA port my screen displays at 640x480 and I don't have the left-hand-side launch bar. I'm getting no signal from the Nvidia card.

Any help or suggestions in fixing this would be very much appreciated.

kieran

Revision history for this message
Josh Crane (psycholomo) said : 		#6

Thanks for the info actionparsnip, this solved my question and I will have to look into this issue further until a fix comes a long.

Thanks

Revision history for this message
Josh Crane (psycholomo) said : 		#7

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.