[SOLVED by replcement] Sparkle nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Drivers - VL 5.8

[solex]

Hi,
I just purchased the video card mentioned in the subject line, also have VL 5.8.  Will the standard O/S nv drivers work with this card?  Also I tried installing an update to the nVidia legacy drivers and it could not compile due to missing source code for the kernel.

Can someone point me in the right direction as to how to compile a new driver (e.g. where do I get the source and were should it be placed)  I will need to install a different set of nVidia drivers for the new card.

Thank you,
Dan

[retired1af]

That's a pretty old card, so the drivers that are included with 5.8 should work just fine.

[solex]

The nVidia legacy drivers are not compatible according to the nVidia site.  Are you saying that the open source nv drivers will work?

Thank you,
Dan

[retired1af]

They should.

Bear in mind, the 5200 is an old card, first released in April 2003. nVidia doesn't even support the card any longer and has ceased to support the drivers as well. It's doubtful the latest proprietary Linux driver will even work with the 5200 series card.

The open source drivers should work well with that card. However, it's possible that the proprietary driver was included with 5.8. You can run VASM and see if the proprietary driver is an option to set.

[solex]

I will get it next week and will report back, thank you.

[rbistolfi]

The card is in the supported list at nvidia site:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_display_ia32_173.14.25.html

GeForce 5 FX series:
FX 5700LE, FX 5600, FX 5600 Ultra, FX 5100, FX 5200 Ultra, PCX 5900, FX 5600XT, FX 5700 Ultra, FX 5950 Ultra, FX 5700, FX 5500, FX 5700VE, FX 5900 Ultra, PCX 5300, PCX 5750, FX 5900XT, FX 5900, FX 5800, FX 5200, FX 5800 Ultra, FX 5200LE, FX 5900ZT

Download the 173.14.25 driver. Give it execution permissions:

chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.14.25-pkg1.run

Be sure you have kernel sources installed, if you dont check the kernels directory from the repository.
Switch to the text user interface running as root init 2. Then login as root, go to the folder where you downloaded the driver and execute the installer with ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-173.14.25-pkg1.run
Follow the instructions, they are pretty simple.
After install finish, run init 4 and that should be all.
Post back if you find any problems.

HTH

[solex]

Thanks rbistolfi, I will get the kernel source tonight and see if I can compile.  I saw that as well when I tried to update the driver I currently have.

[solex]

Got the card today and it was a bit difficult to get running at first.  I could not get the DVI connection to work, it would not go above 1600x1200 and the monitor was flickering also when I exited the X-Session it left the monitor in a mode that would not display the text console so my only option was to reboot ctrl+alt+del.

Finally put the analog cable back and it works but had to use the following settings to get it work:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Samsung"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 60.0
    Modeline "1920x1080_60.00"  172.80  1920 2040 2248 2576  1080 1081 1084 1118 -HSync +Vsync

EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
Modes     "1920x1080"
    EndSubSection

This is not ideal because the refresh rate is at 50 Hz or 75Hz according to the control center (I set it to 60 using nvidia-settings.

Ideally I would like to get this to 60Hz and displaying properly with the DVI cable, any assistance would be appreciated.

I have the following
Sparkle GeForce FX 5200
Nvidia Drivers 173.14.25 (no problem compiling or installing)
Samsung 24" LCD P2450H

Thanks,
Dan

[nightflier]

Is the nVidia control panel available on your menu?

[solex]

I did not check, but used nvidia-settings from the command prompt.  This was good at setting the refresh rates but did not allow me to change the screen resolution.

I also used a modeline calculator to determine the settings in modeline.

Regards,
Dan

[nightflier]

If you comment out the lines about HorizSync, VertRefresh and Modeline, DDC settings should take precedence. Normally this results in the max resolution being chosen. I think nvidia-settings can override that. Worth a try.

[solex]

Ok will try this, with the DVI adapter correct?

Thanks,
Dan

[solex]

unfortunately this did not work, researching why my resolution is not being picked up.

[solex]

I simply cannot get the DVI cable to work, any help would be appreciated.  VGA works fine

[solex]

This is one of those times where I love and hate Linux. 

I'm learning new things but it is taking a long time to be where I want to be.  Further research led be to a command utility: ddcprobe.  This utility pulls the monitor information directly from the monitor (called EDID).

It is clear from the output now why the monitor will only display 1600x 1200, it is because that is what the monitor is telling the system.  The interesting thing is when using the VGA connector you can use the modeline to override but this does not work with the DVI.  With the VGA connector I'm at the proper and recommended resolution of 1920x1080

So I continued my search an apparently you can redirect X to look at a EDID on the file system.  I found another utility to read/write EDID so I will try this as well.  BTW here is my EDID as read by ddcprobe:

Code:

EDID ver. 1 rev. 3.
Manufacturer: SAM
ID: 1483
EISA ID: SAM1483
Serial number: 4c523234.
Manufactured in week 2 of 2010.
Input signal type: composite sync, sync on green, analog signal.
Screen size max 53 cm horizontal, 30 cm vertical.
Gamma: 2.200000.
DPMS flags: RGB, active off, no suspend, no standby.
Established timings:
        720x400 @ 70 Hz (VGA 640x400, IBM)
        720x400 @ 88 Hz (XGA2)
        640x480 @ 75 Hz (VESA)
        1024x768 @ 87 Hz Interlaced (8514A)
Standard timing 0: 60 Hz, 1280x1280
Standard timing 1: 60 Hz, 1280x960
Standard timing 2: 60 Hz, 1280x1024
Standard timing 3: 60 Hz, 1440x1440
Standard timing 4: 60 Hz, 1600x1200
Standard timing 5: 60 Hz, 1680x1680
Detailed timing 0:
        Pixel clock: 148500000
        Horizontal active time (pixel width): 384
        Horizontal blank time (pixel width): 1816
        Vertical active time (pixel height): 56
        Vertical blank time (pixel height): 1069
        Horizontal sync offset: 88
        Horizontal sync pulse width: 44
        Vertical sync offset: 5
        Vertical sync pulse width: 4
        Dimensions: 274x556
Monitor details 1:
        Timing ranges: horizontal = 30 - 81, vertical = 56 - 60
Monitor details 2:
        Name: SyncMaster
Monitor details 3:
        Serial number: HVLZ102639