nVidia Drivers Support Thread - PC-BSD Forums

sblevin · #1 11-20-2005, 11:26 AM

nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PV03.pbi Support

[b]The below support info is for PV03 ONLY!!!!

The 8174 drivers are at http://www.pbidir.com now - PC-BSD10.rc1 only.
This is a NON CRITICAL update, and I have not heard of any reported performance imprvements. I would recommend you do NOT install this driver if your current ones are working OK.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PV03.pbi will now attempt to update any existing XF86Config OR xorg.conf file it finds (after backing it up) to use existing refresh/sync rates and modes. However, if you uninstall any BLEVO release (pbi version) of the nVidia Driver, it will replace your existing config file with a generic XF86Config file, thus removing your existing sync/refresh and mode settings.

LATEST UPDATE
nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PV03.pbi has been released. This version adds support for newer nVidia cards (see list below). Older nVidia chipsets are still not supported as yet (see belowerer : )

DROPPED CHIPSET SUPPORT
Support for one relatively recent chipset was dropped from this release, but in the process of updating my custom nVidia chipset ID database I've lost track of what it was (has become a needle in the 200+ chipset haystack). DOH! Please read the instuctions below to determine if your chipset is supported.

KNOWN PROBLEMS
This driver can make some charactors of some fonts appear to be a different colour from other charactors. To fix this try:

KDE Start Button -> Control Centre -> Appearance & Themes -> Fonts

Try checking the "Use anti-aliasing for fonts" box and clicking the "Configure" button. Then try altering the settings in here. Reported successes have been

Code:

Exclude Range: UNCHECKED
Use sub-pixel hinting: CHECKED
Vertical BGR
Hinting Style: Full
"OK" button

To see the effects of these changes: Log out ("End Current Session" option) and then press and hold the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace keys to hard restart X windows, or just reboot.

This will serve as a support thread for the nVidiaDriver-Blevo releases for PC-BSD 1.0rc1 and hopefully higher : )

Be very carefull to read the driver description on the download page to make sure you get the correct download for your operating system version!

PC-BSD 0.8x
The download described as nVidia Driver 1.0-7667 is an old release for PC-BSD 0.8x and lower. NEVER INSTALL THIS DRIVER INTO PC-BSD1.0rc1. This is an old release and will not be updated, it was only ever intended for early beta releases of PC-BSD. It should be considered unsupported.

PC-BSD1.0rc1
The download described as nVidia Driver for 1.0rc1 and is called nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PV0x.pbi is for PC-BSD1.0rc1 only. This is the new line of drivers and will be developed in the future.

Supported Hardware
How to Determine your Chipset
Open Konsole and enter
pciconf -lv | grep -A 3 class=0x03

On the first line you should see
chip=0x????XXXX
XXXX at the end identifies the maker: 10de is nVidia; 12d2 is nVidia/SGS Thomson

WARNING
You MUST match the exact DEVICE PCI ID. The Chip name is not good enough.

Code:

GeForce 6800 LE                      0x00C2 IS supported
GeForce 6800 LE                      0x0042 is NOT supported

Supported NVIDIA Graphics Chips

Code:

NVIDIA chip name		Device PCI ID

GeForce 6800 Ultra		0x0040
GeForce 6800			0x0041
GeForce 6800 XE			0x0043
GeForce 6800 GT			0x0045
GeForce 6800 GT			0x0046
Quadro FX 4000			0x004E
GeForce 7800 GTX		0x0090
GeForce 7800 GTX		0x0091
GeForce 6800 GS			0x0093
GeForce 6800 GS			0x00C0
GeForce 6800			0x00C1
GeForce 6800 LE			0x00C2
GeForce Go 6800			0x00C8
GeForce Go 6800 Ultra		0x00C9
Quadro FX Go1400		0x00CC
Quadro FX 3450/4000 SDI		0x00CD
Quadro FX 1400			0x00CE
GeForce 6800/GeForce 6800 Ultra	0x00F0
GeForce 6600/GeForce 6600 GT	0x00F1
GeForce 6600			0x00F2
GeForce 6200			0x00F3
Quadro FX 3400			0x00F8
GeForce 6800 Ultra		0x00F9
GeForce PCX 5750		0x00FA
GeForce PCX 5900		0x00FB
Quadro FX 330/GeForce PCX 5300	0x00FC
Quadro NVS 280 PCI-E		0x00FD
Quadro FX 330			0x00FD
Quadro FX 1300			0x00FE
GeForce PCX 4300		0x00FF
GeForce2 MX/MX 400		0x0110
GeForce2 MX 100/200		0x0111
GeForce2 Go			0x0112
Quadro2 MXR/EX/Go		0x0113
GeForce 6600 GT			0x0140
GeForce 6600			0x0141
GeForce 6600 LE			0x0142
GeForce Go 6600			0x0144
GeForce 6610 XL			0x0145
GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE	0x0146
GeForce Go 6600			0x0148
GeForce Go 6600 GT		0x0149
Quadro FX 540			0x014E
GeForce 6200			0x014F
GeForce 6200 TurboCache(TM)	0x0161
GeForce Go 6200			0x0164
GeForce Go 6400			0x0166
GeForce Go 6200			0x0167
GeForce Go 6400			0x0168
GeForce4 MX 460			0x0170
GeForce4 MX 440			0x0171
GeForce4 MX 420			0x0172
GeForce4 MX 440-SE		0x0173
GeForce4 440 Go			0x0174
GeForce4 420 Go			0x0175
GeForce4 420 Go 32M		0x0176
GeForce4 460 Go			0x0177
Quadro4 550 XGL			0x0178
GeForce4 440 Go 64M		0x0179
Quadro NVS			0x017A
Quadro4 500 GoGL		0x017C
GeForce4 410 Go 16M		0x017D
GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X	0x0181
GeForce4 MX 440SE with AGP8X	0x0182
GeForce4 MX 420 with AGP8X	0x0183
GeForce4 MX 4000		0x0185
Quadro4 580 XGL			0x0188
Quadro NVS with AGP8X		0x018A
Quadro4 380 XGL			0x018B
Quadro NVS 50 PCI		0x018C
GeForce2 Integrated GPU		0x01A0
GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU	0x01F0
GeForce3			0x0200
GeForce3 Ti 200			0x0201
GeForce3 Ti 500			0x0202
Quadro DCC			0x0203
GeForce 6800			0x0211
GeForce 6800 LE			0x0212
GeForce 6800 GT			0x0215
GeForce 6150			0x0240
GeForce 6100			0x0242
GeForce4 Ti 4600		0x0250
GeForce4 Ti 4400		0x0251
GeForce4 Ti 4200		0x0253
Quadro4 900 XGL			0x0258
Quadro4 750 XGL			0x0259
Quadro4 700 XGL			0x025B
GeForce4 Ti 4800		0x0280
GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X	0x0281
GeForce4 Ti 4800 SE		0x0282
GeForce4 4200 Go		0x0286
Quadro4 980 XGL			0x0288
Quadro4 780 XGL			0x0289
Quadro4 700 GoGL		0x028C
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra		0x0301
GeForce FX 5800			0x0302
Quadro FX 2000			0x0308
Quadro FX 1000			0x0309
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra		0x0311
GeForce FX 5600			0x0312
GeForce FX 5600XT		0x0314
GeForce FX Go5600		0x031A
GeForce FX Go5650		0x031B
Quadro FX Go700			0x031C
GeForce FX 5200			0x0320
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra		0x0321
GeForce FX 5200			0x0322
GeForce FX 5200LE		0x0323
GeForce FX Go5200		0x0324
GeForce FX Go5250		0x0325
GeForce FX 5500			0x0326
GeForce FX 5100			0x0327
GeForce FX Go5200 32M/64M	0x0328
Quadro NVS 280 PCI		0x032A
Quadro FX 500/600 PCI		0x032B
GeForce FX Go53xx		0x032C
GeForce FX Go5100		0x032D
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra		0x0330
GeForce FX 5900			0x0331
GeForce FX 5900XT		0x0332
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra		0x0333
GeForce FX 5900ZT		0x0334
Quadro FX 3000			0x0338
Quadro FX 700			0x033F
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra		0x0341
GeForce FX 5700			0x0342
GeForce FX 5700LE		0x0343
GeForce FX 5700VE		0x0344
GeForce FX Go5700		0x0347
GeForce FX Go5700		0x0348
Quadro FX Go1000		0x034C
Quadro FX 1100			0x034E

Below are the legacy GPUs that are no longer supported in the unified driver. These GPUs will continue to be maintained through the special legacy NVIDIA GPU driver releases. This driver has NOT YET BEEN RELEASED

Unsupported NVIDIA Graphics Chips

Code:

NVIDIA chip name		Device PCI ID
RIVA TNT			0x0020
RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro		0x0028
RIVA TNT2 Ultra			0x0029
Vanta/Vanta LT			0x002C
RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro	0x002D
Aladdin TNT2			0x00A0
GeForce 256			0x0100
GeForce DDR			0x0101
Quadro				0x0103
GeForce2 GTS/GeForce2 Pro	0x0150
GeForce2 Ti			0x0151
GeForce2 Ultra			0x0152
Quadro2 Pro			0x0153

Support for these chipsets will be added when they become available. The nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PVxx driver releases will be updated to supply support for newer chipsets as drivers are made available from nVidia.

nVidia has recently dropped support for it's older chipsets in it's main driver release file. The nVidiaDriver-Blevo-PVxx series of drivers will also include support for the older chipsets mentioned above when nVidia releases it's "legacy drivers".

Testing the drivers

The easiest way to test the drivers is to try to test the OpenGL screensavers that ship with KDE. These should display quickly and clearly if the driver installed correctly.

Another simple test is to select the "Run Command" option from the start menu and enter glxgears. If the drivers are installed some very fast spinning gears should appear in a window. This command can also be run in a Konsole command line session.

The installer will generate a diagnostic file with a pointer to this thread for people having difficulty installing the driver. Sample output of the diagnostic file looks (roughly) like this:

Code:

nVidia Detect-O-Matic
Agonised over by sblevin

IF YOU ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE INSTALLATION:

Cut and paste any information BELOW the stars to
THIS URL HERE -> http://www.pcbsd.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2069

************************************************************
nVidia Detect-O-Matic version Infinityfinityfinity+2

Full OS info: FreeBSD PCBSD.localhost 6.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE #1: Wed Nov 9 09:23:44 PST 2005 root@PCBSD.localhost:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386

PCI Info: none0@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x032210de rev=0xa1 hdr=0x00 vendor = 'NVIDIA Corporation' device = 'GeForce FX 5200 [NV34.3] Driver-BOTH' class = display

Tue Dec 6 20:17:04 PST 2005
report_destination: /home/sblevin/Desktop/nVidia.REPORT
OS release level: 6.0-RELEASE (uname -r)
kernel_ok: true (checks for above output)
nVidia Database Version: Database-Version-0001 (my custom pci_vendors file)
pci_id_vendor: 10de-NVIDIA-CORPORATION (from chip= pciconf output)
company_valid: true (checks above for chip=????10de or chip=????12d2)
device: device = 'GeForce FX 5200 [NV34.3] Driver-BOTH' (custom pci_vendors output)
driver: Driver-BOTH (from above)
worries: false (states if incompatibilities found)
major_problem: unset (used to determine if expert mode is required)
abort_select 0 = NOT aborted: unset (set from expert mode abort dialog)

tassoman · #2 11-21-2005, 10:17 PM

Please forgive my "n00b-ness" on bsd: wouldn't be enought to overwrite drivers each time we would up/downgrade?
I suppose 1 only version of them could be used at time.
So they could need uninstalled only in case of hw changes (hopefully rarely).

Then we could return temporally to vesa mode, until other brand drivers will be installed.

cb22 · #3 11-22-2005, 05:52 AM

Yeah with the installation maybe Kris should modify it so it runs
PBI.PreScript.sh before anything else? We could also use that script to check checksums?

Dingens · #4 11-27-2005, 05:34 PM

ie tested it and it works (i think :-) ) . but i can't see the nvidia screen at startup. and i can't set 60hz to my tft. but that is another topic.

Ramraid · #5 12-09-2005, 07:33 AM

Hi not sure about this install no change in fps on glx gears no xorg conf file just a xfree86 dont think driver installed checked download twice sure i got the correct driver Strange tho cos 12 meg came down in seconds way too fast. rebooted and still showing the vesa driver. gonna ditch the download and try again

nVidia Detect-O-Matic version Infinityfinityfinity+2

Full OS info: FreeBSD PCBSD.localhost 6.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 6.0-RELEASE #1: Wed Nov 9 09:23:44 PST 2005 root@PCBSD.localhost:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386

PCI Info: none1@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x004210de rev=0xa1 hdr=0x00 vendor = 'NVIDIA Corporation' device = 'NV40.2 GeForce 6800 LE Driver-NONE' class = display

Fri Dec 9 20:53:57 UTC 2005
report_destination: /home/Ramraid/Desktop/nVidia.REPORT
OS release level: 6.0-RELEASE
kernel_ok: true
nVidia Database Version: Database-Version-0001
pci_id_vendor: 10de-NVIDIA-CORPORATION
company_valid: true
device: device = 'NV40.2 GeForce 6800 LE Driver-NONE'
driver: Driver-NONE
worries: false
major_problem: unset
abort_select 0 = NOT aborted: unset

sblevin · #6 12-09-2005, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by Ramraid

device: device = 'NV40.2 GeForce 6800 LE Driver-NONE'
driver: Driver-NONE

These lines tell me that there is no support in that driver for your GeForce 6800 LE

The nVidia driver DOES say it does supports 6800 LE, but only chips that identify as chip=0x00C2 (the 10de on the end of chip=0x004210de means nvidia corp) You can see this for yourself by typing in a terminal
pciconf -lv
or
pciconf -lv | grep -A 3 class=0x03

I created a custom file to give more pciconf data about nvidia chips if you wonder why the output looks a little different.

The line chip=0x0042 in your report is a problem. It still may be a 6800 LE, but not the exact type supported by the driver. I requested information at the nvidia forums about chip names with multiple chip ID's, and got very plain, no chip ID no driver support from the nvidia unix guy. So I didn't support it.

The lines:
worries: false
major_problem: unset
abort_select 0 = NOT aborted: unset
tell me you were not offered "Expert Mode" installation, which basically hacks the driver in place even if the kernel or chipset report as bad.

Perhaps I should change this behaviour a little and give some more feedback. The driver SHOULD have told you that no driver was installed. Did it? I'll check the code anyway, but it would be good to hear from you.

You said the system was still using the "vesa" driver. This is correct behaviour for my installer. If there is a problem then the driver install will NOT alter your system. In this case, it detected that your exact chipset did not have driver support so the package installed, but your system was not modified.

Does that help? New Linux drivers have recently been released with expanded chipset support, so hopefully soon I will have a BSD version to upgrade to.

In the meantime, I'll look at offering "expert mode" in more situations like yours, and allow people to blow X out of the water, prevent your kernel from loading, or report undocumented successes with unsupported hardware : )

Thank you for reporting this!!!!!!

sblevin · #7 12-09-2005, 08:38 AM

Hoping to get this reply moved higher

sblevin · #8 12-09-2005, 08:40 AM

Hoping to get this reply moved higher

Ramraid · #9 12-09-2005, 10:13 AM

Thanks Sblevin. No the driver never reported. and here is the info i should of checked
%pciconf -lv |grep -A 3 class=0x03
none1@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x004210de rev=0xa1 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
device = 'GeForce 6800 LE NV40.2'
class = display

Ramraid · #10 12-09-2005, 10:58 AM

Hi Steve yep i should of read the whole post 1st.That info is right on the button

pciconf -lv |grep -A 3 class=0x03
none1@pci1:0:0: class=0x030000 card=0x00000000 chip=0x004210de rev=0xa1 hdr=0x00
vendor = 'NVIDIA Corporation'
device = 'GeForce 6800 LE NV40.2'
class = display
when you say did the driver report it didn't install, well it does say none in the report if thats what you mean