Nvidia 9500GT a no-go

[gaten]

I don't know how or why, but I've gotten two Nvidia 9500GT cards working in the last couple days. One is a EVGA 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...VGA-_-14130378) and the other is a Gigabyte 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...YTE-_-14125228). Here's the odd-should-not-have-worked process I went through.

Installed the EVGA card on my second computer, with 4GB ram and onboard video card. After booting into Hardy for the first time, downloaded the Nvidia drivers from their site and followed the instructions on the Ubuntu NvIdia Binary Howto (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia). Rebooted the computer, every thing worked like a dream. I'm running WoW with full settings on 1400x900 in a window through Wine with compiz running and I'm getting 120+ fps.

I installed the Gigabyte model on my second computer, with 2GB ram and Hardy. Nothing worked, at all. Installing the binary drivers failed miserably, using manual install and EnvyNG. Even tried the beta drivers. Nvidia settings manager did not even reconize that my system has an Nvidia card installed, and lspci gave the following:

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Unknown device 0640 (rev a1)

Note: this is also what the other computer reported, but the card still works.

Just before I started to tear my eyes out in frustration, I decided to try the working Xorg config from my other computer, and what do ya know, it worked! No idea why, but I really don't care.

I'm running WoW on the 2GB computer with modest settings and I'm only getting approx 30fps, I have no idea why. Yes, the other computer has double the ram, but it shouldn't make that much difference. I'm also noticing that compiz on my 2BG seems much more sluggish than before, with my 2 Nvidia 6600GT cards. I might experiment and switch the Gigabyte and EVGA cards to see whats up at a later date.

Here's my xorg.conf

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder57)  Thu Jul 17 18:39:19 PDT 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 110.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 150.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

I hope that helps you all.

It should be noted that I'm using Nvidias binary drivers from their site, version 173.14.12

[arang]

i'm tempted to buy a 9500GT from gigabyte but i dunno what driver to use? what driver did u use with the eVGA??

[gaten]

Sorry I wasn't more clear. I'm using version 173.14.12 for both cards, it's the latest stable driver for Linux.

[spoons]

A 9800GTX is just a rebadged 8800GTS 512mb. The 9800GTX+ is identical but more power efficient and cooler. You should get an 8800GTS, it would be faster than your current card and the same as a 9800GTX.

[oronte]

@Galen
Thank you very much for posting your config. My new 9500 wouldn't work at all until I replaced mine with yours, now it works perfectly. Go figure.

[PacketCollision]

For my 9500GT, I ran "sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk && sudo update-pciids" and then ran Envy and chose version 173.14.12 manually. It seems to have worked perfectly.


Unfortunately, I have an unrelated with my 9500GT. The card shows red lines and static all across the screen when using DVI (both HDMI and the D-SUB adapter work fine). The lines and static occur even in the BIOS, so it's obviously not Ubuntu's fault. I don't know what the issue is, but I RMA'ed the card and hopefully will end up with a working one in a few days.

[richbl]

For my 9500GT, I ran "sudo apt-get envyng-gtk && sudo update-pciids" and then ran Envy and chose version 173.14.12 manually. It seems to have worked perfectly.


Unfortunately, I have an unrelated with my 9500GT. The card shows red lines and static all across the screen when using DVI (both HDMI and the D-SUB adapter work fine). The lines and static occur even in the BIOS, so it's obviously not Ubuntu's fault. I don't know what the issue is, but I RMA'ed the card and hopefully will end up with a working one in a few days.

Worked like a charm for my eVGA 9500GT.

However, the command string offered here is syntactically incorrect: it's missing an "install" in the apt-get commmand:

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk && sudo update-pciids

Otherwise, I'm a happy Nvidia 9500GT user.

[PacketCollision]

Worked like a charm for my eVGA 9500GT.

However, the command string offered here is syntactically incorrect: it's missing an "install" in the apt-get commmand:

sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk && sudo update-pciids

Otherwise, I'm a happy Nvidia 9500GT user.

Thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it in my post above.

I'm waiting on a new card, hopefully that one will work properly.

[eldiabolosk]

Anybody got the 9800 GT working? I have the problem as Jaxco.

Just got a few fresh reinstalls (in frustration) both on 8.04 and 8.10 and as soon as i install the 177 driver i am dead on blank screen. Any clues?

[Skripka]

Anybody got the 9800 GT working? I have the problem as Jaxco.

Just got a few fresh reinstalls (in frustration) both on 8.04 and 8.10 and as soon as i install the 171 driver i am dead on blank screen. Any clues?

171 driver? In Ibex, the current stable driver is 177.80, which works like a charm on Kubuntu Ibex---I've heard bad things about 177.x when combined with Gnome and Compiz under Ubuntu.