Serg Posted November 17, 2011 Share Posted November 17, 2011 So I'm pretty sure my Ubuntu will die on me if I dare to unplug my GTX8800 and replace it with a GTX580, or at least play dead... Last time I tested "plug and play" with nvidia hardware on Ubuntu I ended up giving up and reinstalling Ubuntu. This time I want to do it right! My current drivers are nvidia's closed source stuff, Linux-x86_64_195.36.24 Some pointers would be great, I'm scared to fubar this installation! Thanks S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malexander Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Depending on your version of Ubuntu, it'll either refuse to boot, boot and run with MESA, or work perfectly. You do need to update your Nvidia driver to one that supports the newer GTX580, so you're looking at a 270 series or above driver. It's a bit tricky, but here's how I do it: 1. Download the Linux Nvidia driver. 2. Change the permissions to execute chmod 544 NVIDIA-Linux-[driver-version].run 3. Reboot and either: enter maintenance mode or a non-X windows shell. 4. Login as root 5. run the command: init 3 6. For ubuntu: rm /lib/modules/[linux-version]/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko , if it exists 7. run ./NVIDIA-Linux-[driver-version]run 8. ignore the warnings (runlevel, etc), unless it's a gcc version warning. Setenv CC to the appropriate gcc version if that occurs. 9. Once complete, ensure that the driver installed the kernel object, via /sbin/lsmod | grep nvidia * If it did not, /sbin/insmod /lib/modules/[linux-version]/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.ko * run /sbin/depmod * do an lsmod again to ensure it's installed this time 10. Reboot into X. ...replacing driver-version with the driver you downloaded and linux-version with your current kernel (uname -r). I'm currently using Ubuntu 9.10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symek Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Great itinerary! That actually should find its place in a wiki. I'm usually scratching my head, when I attempt to upgrade drivers less than once a 6 months (though recently I'm doing it constantly). Thanks, skk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malexander Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I upgrade about once a month, and I occasionally need to refer to that list. It'd certainly be nice if the driver package could act more like the Windows version (install, create a startup script to finish the install on reboot, reboot). I forgot to add: if you get into a bad state, it should still boot into Ubuntu's GUI but with MESA, and you can select UbuntuMenu > System > Hardware Drivers and re-enable the original Nvidia driver that the version of Ubuntu is paired with. So you should never be stuck with a broken OS the way you could several years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serg Posted November 20, 2011 Author Share Posted November 20, 2011 Thanks guys, Happy to report the procedure went very smoothly. Fortunately Ubuntu went into basic graphics mode. From there I got my bearings as to where my nvidia.run was, went into non UI mode and closed gnome completely with a gdm stop command, and run the installer. Reboot, done. Glad to see Ubuntu is less sensitive these days Cheers S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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