I looked at my card a little more thoroughly - it's not an nVidia, but the drivers that came with it are nVidia. It's made by Cine3D or something, and it's still called a 5200. But it doesn't say nvidia anywhere on the box.

Also, I can't SSH into it. It just gives me an "operation timed out" whenever I try to connect. After playing with some BIOS settings, it only displays the flashing pink/darker pink in the top right about 25% of the screen.

Anybody got anything? I really appreciate everyone's help. I hate being "that guy" that nothing ever seems to work for, and then always posts on the forums, but I've been trying for a acouple days to get this working, but to no avail. Thanks!

I don't believe Nvidia makes video cards. They just provide the GPU.

Well it sounds like your problem may be differnt from mine. It does sound like you have the nVidia chipset on your card, which is what we mean when we say nVidia card.

And I am the guy that nothing works for. Been at it for weeks.

_________________
GA-K8NS-939 Ultra
AMD 64 939 Venice 3200+
1GB RAM (2 512MB DDR400 184PIN DIMM )
HD3000
2 160GB SATA Seagate Barracuda 7200.7s
MSI Nx6200ax-td128 video card
Cooler Master Cavalier 2 - 350W PS
BenQ DW1640

Thanks,

Chris Lopeman

so is there any other reason that it should be flashing like that? something incompatible? When it starts flashing, I can't <crtl><alt><F1>, and i can't ssh into it. I see on my router that it has an IP, and I try to use putty to ssh into that IP, but it always times out. Becuase of these things, I assume that it's actually hanging right before X starts. Is there anything I can do to test anything else? Sorry guys, but I'm just at kind of a loss here. If I at least knew what the problem was, I could begin to try to fix it...

Thanks in advance.

- chris

If anyone wants pics or videos (if that will help), I can take a few and post them.

ok, I tried to boot a ubuntu live CD, and once it loads X, its just garbled. I can see the mouse and move it around but everything else is just garbled.

I guess this makes something in my system incompatible, or what? The reason I did this was so that I could load the drivers since I couldn't get to the cmd line in knoppmyth. unfortunately, no key or mouse click does anything once everything is garbled.

Does anyone know if this is a video card issue, or motherboard issue, or pci card issue, or what?

ANY help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Here is the link to the actual card I bought.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.a ... 6814139165

Would I be better off (save myself lots of trouble) by just getting a card like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814140038

I guess my only option is to break apart the computer and test the install, then add a component, reinstall, repeat until I find the culprit?

Well I did this ^^^. Turns out it was the video card. Guess it wasn't supported after all. On to a new video card!

I was looking through the posts and didn't see a resolution to the blinking when trying to start X. My mobo has no onboard video so I can rule out that conflict. Other distros seem to work very well so I'm stumped. I can't get a prompt or ssh into the system. It just hangs. Any ideas

Update:

I was able to boot into single user mode and bring up an interface. Here's the output from my messages file.

Oct 1 18:53:39 mythbox kernel: NVRM: loading NVIDIA Linux x86 Kernel Module 1.0-8774 Tue Aug 1 20:54:08 PDT 2006
Oct 1 18:53:39 mythbox kernel: agpgart: Found an AGP 3.0 compliant device at 0000:00:00.0.
Oct 1 18:53:39 mythbox kernel: agpgart: Device is in legacy mode, falling back to 2.x
Oct 1 18:53:39 mythbox kernel: agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:00:00.0 into 4x mode
Oct 1 18:53:39 mythbox kernel: agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 0000:00:05.0 into 4x mode


lspci -v output for nVidia

0000:00:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Unknown device 196e:01ad
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 26
Memory at de000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at c0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Expansion ROM at 20000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0

Hi,

You guys make things difficult, two problems simular but for this ol' dog, makes it hard to follow in the same thread

Anyway, some of the SIS stuff works a little, video for me was if I recall correctly, usable with a vesa driver, ethernet worked ok, audio is funky in that it works, on/off and nothing in between. I stuck an old MX4000 just to make my video work a little better when I play with the HD.

If you can't run ubuntu 6.06.1 live cd then there are some serious problems that may be very tough to resolve for KnopMyth. Of course it may be wise just to do a testcd to be sure your burn was good in the first place.

As for ssh not working, you leave us assuming that netcardconfig worked ok and if you do ifconfig it reports an ip.. If you ssh in using putty from a windows machine, then you may choose who you login as, however if you ssh from a linux box it uses the current user as login and if there is not an account on the other end at myth, it will fail.

Hope this helps a little.
Mike

Sorry about that. I was trying not to create a new thread for what appears to be the same issue. My video card works with Fedora and Centos so I know it's just a matter of tweaking the X11 config file. Unfortunatley I don't see anything that sticks out in the wiki that might indicate why my screen blinks when starting gdm. Maybe I'll give gentoo a try.

Hi,

No problem except that it makes harder to help First off, if I didn't look in the wrong area, it appears you have an agp FX5200 nvidia board. What kind of a tuner? Did you select bootsplash? Does the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 list the Driver as "nvidia" ? if you as root do:
# killall gdm
then do
# startx
what are the error messages?

Mike

The driver is listed as nvidia in the XF86Config-4 file. As for starting gdm, I don't receive any error messages. The entire system comes to a halt. I'm using a machspeed main board and have a hunch that knoppmyth isn't playing nice with the XGP slot.

Hi,
Check out tjc's link and also you could try using the "vesa" instead of nvidia for the driver. After you # killall gdm and then # startx, one of two things will occur.. It will error out and tell you why or it will go to a gray desktop. If you get a gray desktop do ctl alt backspace then # gdm

Once you have vesa as a driver, you can put any video card in and it should work, just not quite as well as the nvidia. At this point, you don't care, just want to get it to fire up
Mike

I tried reinstalling the driver from nvidia and had no success. I have an amd64 but I'm assuming that knoppmyth a 32-bit OS. So I installed the 32-bit drivers.

Here's the output from startx

root@mythbox:~/drivers# startx

XFree86 Version 4.5.0
Release Date: 16 March 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.17-chw-2 i686 [ELF]
Current Operating System: Linux mythbox 2.6.17-chw-8 #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jul 30 12:38:47 PDT 2006 i686
Build Date: 22 June 2006
Changelog Date: 17 March 2005
Before reporting problems, check http://www.XFree86.Org/
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Command line: /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (EE) error, (WW) warning,
(II) informational, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Mon Oct 2 13:21:48 2006
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4".

No gdm process are running though:

root@mythbox:~# ps -ef | grep gdm
root 7393 7381 0 13:26 ttyp1 00:00:00 grep gdm

But I do see X server processes running

root@mythbox:~# ps -ef | grep X
root 7197 1 99 13:16 ? 00:10:33 [X]
root 7335 4783 0 13:21 ttyp0 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/X11R6/bin/startx
root 7346 7335 0 13:21 ttyp0 00:00:00 xinit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc -- /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
root 7347 7346 0 13:21 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp

With the X process consuming all the cpu and just about locking the system


PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
7197 root 21 -1 0 0 0 R 99.9 0.0 18:38.40 X
1 root 0 0 160 80 52 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.84 init
2 root RT 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 migration/0


And the XFree logfile


Using keyboard-interactive authentication.
Password:
Last login: Mon Oct 2 12:58:40 2006 from 192.168.1.116
root@mythbox:~# ps -ef grep gdm
ERROR: Process ID list syntax error.
********* simple selection ********* ********* selection by list *********
-A all processes -C by command name
-N negate selection -G by real group ID (supports names)
-a all w/ tty except session leaders -U by real user ID (supports names)
-d all except session leaders -g by session OR by effective group name
-e all processes -p by process ID
T all processes on this terminal -s processes in the sessions given
a all w/ tty, including other users -t by tty
g OBSOLETE -- DO NOT USE -u by effective user ID (supports names)
r only running processes U processes for specified users
x processes w/o controlling ttys t by tty
*********** output format ********** *********** long options ***********
-o,o user-defined -f full --Group --User --pid --cols --ppid
-j,j job control s signal --group --user --sid --rows --info
-O,O preloaded -o v virtual memory --cumulative --format --deselect
-l,l long u user-oriented --sort --tty --forest --version
-F extra full X registers --heading --no-heading --context
********* misc options *********
-V,V show version L list format codes f ASCII art forest
-m,m,-L,-T,H threads S children in sum -y change -l format
-M,Z security data c true command name -c scheduling class
-w,w wide output n numeric WCHAN,UID -H process hierarchy
root@mythbox:~# ps -ef | grep gdm
root 7393 7381 0 13:26 ttyp1 00:00:00 grep gdm
root@mythbox:~# ps -ef | grep -i gdm
root@mythbox:~# ps -ef | grep X
root 7197 1 99 13:16 ? 00:10:33 [X]
root 7335 4783 0 13:21 ttyp0 00:00:00 /bin/sh /usr/X11R6/bin/startx
root 7346 7335 0 13:21 ttyp0 00:00:00 xinit /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xinit/xinitrc -- /usr/X11R6/l ib/X11/xinit/xserverrc
root 7347 7346 0 13:21 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/X11/X -dpi 100 -nolisten tcp
root@mythbox:~# cd /var/log
root@mythbox:/var/log# ls
XFree86.0.log daemon.log gdm mail.info mysql.log scrollkeeper.log
XFree86.0.log.old debug isdn mail.log mythtv syslog
apache distccd.log kern.log mail.warn news user.log
apache-perl dmesg lastlog messages ntpstats uucp.log
auth.log exim4 lpr.log mysql nvidia-installer.log webmin
btmp fontconfig.log mail.err mysql.err samba wtmp
root@mythbox:/var/log# less XFree86.0.log
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/western" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/ttf/decoratives" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) "fonts.dir" not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/truetype".
Entry deleted from font path.
(Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/truetype").
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) "fonts.dir" not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera".
Entry deleted from font path.
(Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/ttf-bitstream-vera").
(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/latex-ttf-fonts" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/CID" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/defoma/TrueType" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(**) FontPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/li
b/X11/fonts/75dpi,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fo
nts/cyrillic,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
(**) RgbPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
(**) ModulePath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
(**) Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
(II) Checking for unused ServerFlags options:
(II) LoadModule: "pcidata"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/libpcidata.a
(II) Module pcidata: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.5.0, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: XFree86 Video Driver, version 0.8
(II) LoadModule: "bitmap"
(II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libbitmap.a
(II) Module bitmap: vendor="The XFree86 Project"
compiled for 4.5.0, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: XFree86 Font Renderer
ABI class: XFree86 Font Renderer, version 0.5
(II) Loading font Bitmap
(--) using VT number 8