Tried a new install using an AGP nvidia card. Everything seemed go go fine untill it tried to boot into X. Just prior to launching X it tried and failed to download the nvidia driver from a web address, then X failed to launch because of the missing video drivers. Back in the console, I logged in, and did some testing only to find networking was not functioning yet. I could have fumbled through it on redhat, but not on debian.

I did the install again, with a pci ATI card, and this time it worked, and low and behold, networking is configured _after_ you get into X. So how was it ever supposed to be able to download a video driver?

Something about chickens and eggs...

What should I do to get it working on the nvidia card?

Toss the card back in. Boot. When X fails login at one of the v-consoles as root. Run netcardconfig and make sure everything in good. Run the /usr/local/bin/install-nvidia.sh (I'm probably misspelling the name) script with the version of the driver to use like "1.0-7174".

See the wiki for more examples.

Note that the script (install-nvidia-debian.sh) in R5B7 and R5C7 only works for nvidia drivers up-to 8178.
With all nvidia drivers after that, it craps out! It needs a rewrite.

Also note that with the newer nvidia graphics chips, you need to use AT LEAST version 8178. The older versions of the nvidia driver don't work with the newer chips.

Here's how I updated my nvidia drivers to the latest:
get a shell (CTRL-ALT-F1) and login as mythtv and then login as su or root,
Some of the nvidia packages will restart restart gdm for you, so the last line may not be necessary to type.

Good luck!
Eric

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KnoppMyth R5.5, Asus A8N-VM CSM (nvidia 6150 onboard video), AMD Athlon 64 dual-core 4200+, two 1GB sticks DDR 400, HD-3000 HDTV card, PVR-150 card, Iguanaworks RS-232 IR receiver/transmitter, Pioneer DVR-110 DVD burner

Eric,

Thanks for the post above because I too was having the same problem. Your solution finally fixed the issue.

Darkk

In R5D1 and up the install script has been fixed to work with the newer Nvidia driver bundles, so you should just be able to run this as root and have it do the right thing with or without networking, since the bundles are already on the box:

Shutting down gdm as shown is still probably a good idea.

I performed a clean install of R5D1 right after it was rleased, and it worked perfectly. Now if I could just find a nice quiet HD frontend machine...