Installing new NVIDIA driver fails

Question

I hope this is as easy as an already answered question I didn't find on SE.

So, I have an LTSP server running CentOS 6. Linux kernel version of both LTSP image and server are the same: is 2.6.32-504.8.1.el6.x86.64 (uname -r), yum is up to date on both as well. Numerous disk-less clients with a nVidia Quadro FX570 card, dual monitor which we recently replaced with a Quadro K620. My problem is trying to install the new nVidia driver, v346.59.

An overview of actions and results:

• chroot to LTSP x86_64
• run nVidia driver .run file and answer prompts (choosing Yes to include DKMS).
• driver file (nvidia.ko) builds
• fails to install (not a surprise, as the server has no GPU).
• manually copy /opt/ltsp/x86_64/usr/src/nvidia-356.59/nvidia.ko to /lib/modules/uname -r/extra
• echo "nouveau" >> /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau.conf
• cd /boot and mkinitrd with running kernel (producing initram.img).
• ensure vmlinuz.ltsp points to correct kernel, initrd.ltsp points to the newly made initramfs
• ltsp-rewrap-kernel
• exit chroot
• as root ltsp-update-kernel /opt/ltsp/x86_64
• boot thinclient to run level 3
• run X -configure
• validate xorg.conf.new contains a Device with "nvidia" driver.
• start X: both with startx and X -conf xorg.conf.new

And now, the problem: X11 loads, some minor complaints about keyboards, and then hangs with a blank/black screen. X kill command works fine, X apps don't start.

I suspect the nvidia.ko is not being included in the initramfs because:

lsinitrd  /boot/initram.img | grep nvidia

produces no output.

I also suspect something isn't correct with the nouveau black list because:

lsinitrd /boot/initram.img | grep nouveau

contains all the .ko files installed in /lib/modules/uname -r/

Also, for reference I have manually used dkms to make/install the nvidia.ko module with the same results.

If someone could help me understand why the initrd doesn't contain the nvidia.ko driver and why X is stuck on the blank screen I would be very happy. I apologize for not having the actual error messages - the machine is on a different network and I can't copy/paste to it.

EDIT: Some additional improvements/notes.

• when I start a thinclient in run level 3, and run startx, after stopping the X server if I look at /var/log/X.org.conf I see the nvidia module initializing and it correctly identifies the K620 device as well as the Dell monitor connected to it.

If this is the case, could the issue still be related to the nvidia module not being compatible with the running kernel? Or is a xinitrc incorrectly configured? or some other issue?

Answer 1

Please realize this problem has nothing to do with xinitrc, or your XOrg Setup. I stand by my statement that you can:

1. Either freeze the NVIDIA driver at 3.11.x, as this is the last driver to support the 2.6 series kernel, or:
2. Update the kernel in your environment to at least 3.11.

See justification below.

---

This entry is in my changelog:

05 Sep 2013; Jeroen Roovers nvidia-drivers-173.14.38.ebuild: Raise compatible kernel to 3.11.

This indicates that even the bar for the older set of drivers has been raised to 3.11, and this bit of code is sitting in the 346.59 ebuild file:

pkg_pretend() {
    if use amd64 && has_multilib_profile && \
        [ "${DEFAULT_ABI}" != "amd64" ]; then
        eerror "This ebuild doesn't currently support changing your default ABI"
        die "Unexpected \${DEFAULT_ABI} = ${DEFAULT_ABI}"
    fi

    if use kernel_linux && kernel_is ge 4 1 ; then
        ewarn "Gentoo supports kernels which are supported by NVIDIA"
        ewarn "which are limited to the following kernels:"
        ewarn "<sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-4.1"
        ewarn "<sys-kernel/vanilla-sources-4.1"
        ewarn ""
        ewarn "You are free to utilize epatch_user to provide whatever"
        ewarn "support you feel is appropriate, but will not receive"
        ewarn "support as a result of those changes."
        ewarn ""
        ewarn "Do not file a bug report about this."
    fi

This is a warning that gets printed out during install if my kernel is greater than or equal to 4.1. Notice that I'm told not to file a bug. So using both bits of information, I come up with the following:

To use the 346.59 driver my kernel cannot be less than 3.11, and cannot be greater than or equal to 4.1, and I cannot enable 32-bit emulation, when using a multilib system.

---

As a final option, you may also consider using the nouveau driver, which is available as a standard driver in kernels greater than or equal to 3.19.