[Whiskers]

I've got the nvidia driver and did the sh installername
and it says


ERROR: Unable to find the system utility `ld`; please make sure you have the
package 'binutils' installed. If you do have binutils installed,
then please check that `ld` is in your PATH.

then i heard that im supposed to change something inna file.

Thanks for any help

[martouf]

I think you need to be root, not a regular user, when you run the "sh installername".

Login as root or "su - root", then try the Nvidia driver install again.
Note that's "su - root" not just "su".

You'll need the full root environment just as if you've logged in as root.

[Whiskers]

I tried that I logged out of X and logged in a pure root while in the text environment

[Dapper Dan]

Whiskers, first, welcome!

Are you trying to install the .rpm's or a file that is similar to:
NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5336-pkg1.run ?

[martouf]

It's good you're aware you needed to be root to do the install.

Ah, well then it seems you might not have the 'binutils' package installed (although it
occurs to me you really ought have 'ld' on your system somewhere or else many more
things than the nvidia driver install would have problems).

'ld' ought to be in /usr/bin and '/usr/bin' should be in the execution path
(check with "echo $PATH" ).

hmmm...

the installation instructions indicate there's nothing you need to do other than
"sh installername.run".

What's your "echo $PATH" looks like? can you "ls -l /usr/bin/ld"?
Can you tell me what you have when you run "uname -a"?
Can you verify the 'binutil' package is installed?
Would you know how to install the package if it's missing?

[Whiskers]

That exactly the file I'm trying to install. I pooched the install just half hour ago so im truging through reinstall as we speak, i did some updates and it got rid of all the programs in my start menu or whatever you call it in Linux.

How do I install that package? I dont know what it would be under, and I had to configure my card as a Geforce rather than the proper version of geforce else i wouldnt have X, and that woulb e baddddd

Without laughing too much at me, I've grown tired of Windoze and all its blue screens and irq errors, and ive looked into that I can play my games in Linux so this will be my gaming system :), but I need some help getting it set up.

[Whiskers]

er correction when i set up the card during install , it said

"vesa" whatever that was but it gave me the resolution i wanted, the geforce fx drivers and other geforce drivers wouldnt give me that.

[Dapper Dan]

Whiskers, "binutils" should be included with your distro install cd's. What distro are you using?

There is a special way to install that nvidia driver package.


You'll have to edit your /etc/inittab file. Become root and type "gedit", without the quotations and press enter.

click "open", and in the left hand pane, double click the "../ " 2 times.

In the left hand pane, scroll down to /etc and double click it.

look for "inittab" in the right pane, and double click it. gedit will then open the inittab file.

look for the line..

id:5:initdefault:

edit this line and change the "5" to a "3"

save, exit and reboot the computer.

This time, your "user manager thingie" will not come up for you to enter your name and password because you will now not be in X windows. You will have to enter your username and password at the command line to become root. Then go:

./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-5328-pkg1.run [enter]

..and follow the instructions.

After completion, and at the command prompt, type "startx" and press enter. This will start X and will put you back in runlevel 5.

log in as usual, and return to gedit as above. Go back to /etc/inittab and change the "3" back to a "5". Also while in gedit, find and open /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, and look for a line under...

Section "Device"

and where you see "nv", change it to "nvidia" (this time only, with the quotes just as you see them)

save this file, exit out of gedit, reboot, and everything should work as before except your new updated Nvidia module will be installed. If it is installed properly, from here on out all you will have to do is update your drivers which is very easy. Just become root and not in Xwindows, (and if you're online) type:

nvidia-installer --update [enter]

That's it!

[Whiskers]

I have the download edition of Mandrake 9.2

Its already set to boot into the text mode, then i have to
login and type startx

do i need to do everythign you mentioned or is some of that null becaue it already starts in text mode?

[Dapper Dan]

It's null because you are starting X by the "startx" command. Yes, you can do all of it before a startx, only you won't be able to use gedit. You'll have to use vi. Are you familiar with vi? If not, it would be easier to do startx, then go into gedit, and proceed as prescribed above.

[Dapper Dan]

By the way, on that binutils deal, become root and go:

urpmi binutils [enter]

and tell me what happens...

[Dapper Dan]

By the way, on that binutils deal, become root and go:

urpmi binutils [enter]

and tell me what happens...

[Whiskers]

It ALWAYS crashes after installing the drives, some crash in the XWindows for device it said
Driver "vesa" and I chnaged that to nvidia
but it said an option below it but i cant
tell you what it is caue it crashed
and this stupid thing isnt automounting my pendrive anymore
sometimes it did that, go in as root and it would automount the drive when i plugged it in

[Whiskers]

I guess i changed the right thing
but does linux not support 32 bit?
i get 24 bit as maximum
and oh when i start x
it shows an nvidia splash logo before

I guess it should be a new post but when i run update all the programs disapear from the menu, and you cant do jack, cant edit the menu or anything.

[Dapper Dan]

If you got the NVIDIA splash logo, the drivers are installed correctly!

You did replace "nv" with "nvidia"?

Did you do urpmi binutils?

[Whiskers]

"You did replace "nv" with "nvidia"?

Did you do urpmi binutils? "

It didnt say nv in the file

it said vesa (that was the previous driver)

so i replaced vesa with nvidia


I didnt do the binutils thing because when I reloaded the system after 5 or so times of messing misc stuff up, It never gave me that error.

If its working do I still need to do that bin util command?

[Dapper Dan]

If you're not getting that error then I wouldn't worry about it. I just found out from this page that you also can replace "vesa" with "nvidia" rather than just "nv".

I love learning new things in Linux!!

So, yes, you did the right thing, and should be good to go!