Salix Forums

Recently installed the most recent version of Salix -- a fresh install. When I get to the "desktop" and try to click on something the screen goes zigzaggy and nothing but restarting the computer will bring it back. It first happened when I tried to open Mozilla. I changed the resolution to 800x600 from 1024x768. I was able to open mozilla. Then I tried to click on help--same thing happened. Also happened when I tried to change screen savers. Screen goes to zigzag and have to reboot. The mbd is a ECS Geforce6100 --on board video. The monitor is a Compaq Monitor FS7600 crt (yes several years old). This zigzag also happened with Ubuntu only worse--couldn't get past the login screen plus gave me an out of frequency type error. Before I even tried any linux distro I had WinXP on the system--and a different mbd. Any suggestions on how to fix it would be nice. Thanks.

tklamb64 wrote:Any suggestions on how to fix it would be nice. Thanks.

First approximation would be that the video card/chip would benefit from a proprietary driver. A quick check of the nvidia site for the 6100 series gives this: http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverRe ... 9826/en-us (32 bit, 64 bit is there but I didn't search for it). Combine that driver with these instructions ( http://docs.salixos.org/wiki/How_to_Ins ... DIA_driver ) would be my suggestion (don't panic, it's easy...really

Thanks ElderD...I will give it a shot. I haven't used anything Linux since 2011 so I'm really quite rusty at running the commands--and back then it was only a few classes I had taken. Frankly I'm not even sure what running as root means--I'm going to assume it means administrator. Anyhow, I will do my best. I'll let you know if it all works out well.

Running as root does indeed mean as what Windows calls administrator. You do so by putting 'sudo' in front of the command. You will then be asked for your normal user's password:
Do check out http://guide.salixos.org, which includes a short chapter on using the command line, as well as other aspects of using Salix you might find helpful, such as package maangement.

Thanks Mimosa...I'm hoping it all comes back to me when I start running the commands. As I had mentioned I haven't worked with Linux since 2011 and then it was with CentOS and Fedora.

So, tried to run the commands but no JOY. First couldn't find nouveau-blacklist. Second, after running the kernel-source said nothing to update nothing to remove etc etc etc. Tried running the install of the nvidia and said the kernel-source needed to be configured. So, how does one do that? I will do some more reading but hopefully someone can explain to me the problem and how to fix it before I pull all my hair out.

tklamb64 wrote:...hopefully someone can explain to me the problem and how to fix it before I pull all my hair out.

I do things a bit different than the wiki:

1) DL the video driver you want from the nvidia site and place it where you want.
2) Open a terminal and type "sudo slapt-get --update" then "sudo slapt-get -i kernel-source"
3) CTRL-ALT-F1 and log in as your user.
4) cd to where you placed the nvidia driver.
5) type "sudo init 3"
6) type "sudo sh $DRIVER" ($DRIVER is the real name of the driver file, for me it's NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-325.15.run). Running the nvidia script and properly answering the questions it asks will automagically remove the neaveau driver.
7) When the script is done, reboot.
8) When the reboot is done and you're logged in, CTRL-ALT-F1 and log in as your user.
9) cd to where you placed the nvidia driver.
10) type "sudo init 3"
11) type "sudo sh $DRIVER" ($DRIVER is the real name of the driver, for me it's NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-325.15.run). This time running the script and answering (different) questions will install the nvidia driver.
12) When the script is done, reboot.

If everything was done correctly, you should see a (quick) nvidia screen during the reboot and the nvidia driver should be installed and working.

I sort of did that...do you run the vid driver twice??

tklamb64 wrote:I sort of did that...do you run the vid driver twice??

Yes. The first time kills the neaveau driver and the second installs the nvidia driver.

This supposes that you answered both sets of questions correctly for your machine. If I remembered what they were exactly, I'd say, but I don't

Right after accepting the license it gives me this: Error: The kernel header file
'/lib/modules/3.10.17/build/include/linux/version.h' does not exist. The most likely reason for this is that the kernel source files in '/lib/modules/3.10.17/build' have not been configured. Then the only option is ok. Next screen states installation failed and to see the log file or see the readme file on nvidia website.