GPU FAQ: HOW TO install NVIDIA drivers on Linux 64 bit

Message boards : Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) : GPU FAQ: HOW TO install NVIDIA drivers on Linux 64 bit

Author	Message
[B^S] Stefan Ledwina Forum moderator Project tester Volunteer tester Send message Joined: Jul 16 07 Posts: 464 Credit: 13,414,611 RAC: 0	Message 1385 - Posted 29 Jul 2008 10:00:33 UTC Last modified: 25 Aug 2008 18:11:55 UTC
	A little guide how to install NVIDIA drivers on 64bit Linux PCs Before we start, you should know that normally you would have to recompile the NVIDIA kernel modules after every kernel update. Therefore some people have developed tools which will automatically install the NVIDIA drivers for you, and will also update the kernel modules after a kernel update to make your live easier... Additionally you could also download and install the the NVIDIA graphics drivers directly from the NVIDIA website which should work an almost all Linux OS. How to manually install the NVIDIA graphics drivers (the recommended way for GPUGRID) You will need to have the kernel sources and the development environment installed! * Download the drivers from the NVIDIA website into a directory (for instance /tmp) * Press ctrl-alt-F1, a text login screen will appear * login as root * type "init 3" to stop the X server * type "sh NVIDIA....pkg.run" to install the driver from the directory where you had downloaded it * answer yes to all questions from the installer * type "init 5" * press "ctrl-alt-F7" to get back to X Windows The easier way (not recommended for GPUGRID because the drivers are mostly older than the newest) Fedora For Fedora Linux we can use the livna repositories to easily install the NVIDIA graphics drivers. This way the driver's kernel modules will also be auto-updated after a kernel update. To add the livna repositories just go to http://rpm.livna.org/rlowiki/ and click on the link that fits your Fedora version in the repository RPMS section to add the livna repos to your software sources. Open a Terminal and become root by typing su - root Enter your root password and press the enter key. Now you are root and are able to install the NVIDIA drivers with yum install kmod-nvidia That's it - after a reboot the NVIDIA drivers should be automatically loaded at boot time. Ubuntu For Ubuntu Linux there's a software called Envy which will automatically install the NVIDIA drivers and auto-updates the NVIDIA kernel modules after a kernel update. To be able to install Envy make sure you have enabled 3rd party repositories in your software sources. For Ubuntu 8.04 open the Synaptic package manager and search for Envy. The package manager should find Envyng, Envy-gtk and Envy-qt. Simply click on Envy-gtk to install it, which will also install Envyng. After the installation you should find a new entry in the Applications menue for Envy. Just start it and you will see a GUI program which allows you to install NVIDIA and also ATI drivers. I don't give any guarantee for these instructions! If you kill your system or it is in an unbootable state, don't make me responsive... ;) If you have suggestions to make this HOW TO better, just leave a message here. ____________ pixelicious.at - my little photoblog
	ID: 1385 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

Venturini Dario[VENETO] Send message Joined: Jul 26 08 Posts: 44 Credit: 4,112,015 RAC: 6,291	Message 2102 - Posted 5 Sep 2008 17:47:33 UTC Last modified: 5 Sep 2008 17:47:56 UTC
	Your method didn't work for me. I couldn't stop the X server with "init 3" So, the solution was to use instead "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop" (or sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop if you're using KDE) and to restart "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start" Dario Boinc.Italy
	ID: 2102 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

Paladin* Send message Joined: Sep 18 08 Posts: 301 Credit: 35,848,203 RAC: 0	Message 3186 - Posted 21 Oct 2008 0:48:08 UTC - in response to Message 1385. Last modified: 21 Oct 2008 0:49:59 UTC
	This is what worked for me to install the Video card drivers on Linux Ubuntu 8.04 after about 12 hours of trying spread out over 3 days ... Maybe it can help somebody else ... LINUX Ubuntu 8.04 CUDA Video Card Driver Installation Procedure: Download the drivers from the NVIDIA website into a directory (for instance /tmp) * Press ctrl-alt-F1, a text login screen will appear * login as root * type "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop" to stop the X server * type "sh NVIDIA....pkg.run" to install the driver from the directory where you had downloaded it * answer yes to all questions from the installer * type "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start" to start the X Server again The init 3 & init 5 Commands don't work as far as I can tell on Ubuntu 8.04 You don't need to install the Toolkit or SDK Files for the WU's to run !!!
	ID: 3186 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

Paladin* Send message Joined: Sep 18 08 Posts: 301 Credit: 35,848,203 RAC: 0	Message 3191 - Posted 21 Oct 2008 9:03:49 UTC Last modified: 21 Oct 2008 9:44:40 UTC
	My post below is inaccurate in a sense since once I Re-Booted everything was messed up again & I couldn't run the CUDA Wu's again. Trying to figure it out now again ... PS: The only solution I found so far is to re-install the Video Card Drivers again & then I can run CUDA again that way. But re-boot again and it's gone again until doing another re-install of the Video Drivers again. Stefan, you can delete\hide these posts if you want to because they probably don't belong here really ...
	ID: 3191 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

[B^S] Stefan Ledwina Forum moderator Project tester Volunteer tester Send message Joined: Jul 16 07 Posts: 464 Credit: 13,414,611 RAC: 0	Message 3193 - Posted 21 Oct 2008 13:13:00 UTC - in response to Message 3191. Last modified: 21 Oct 2008 13:14:20 UTC
	I think it's not necessary to hide your posts, maybe they can help someone... I think I have read about problems with the NVIDIA drivers and Ubuntu 8.04. And a fix for the problem, but it will be the best to have a look at the Ubunut Forums for that fix. I had also problems with Xubuntu 7.10 and the NV drivers. I had to switch to runlevel 1 (init 1) to install them... With Fedora 8 and 9 the guide in the first post should work. If init 3 does not work, try sbin/init 3... (I think it was Fedora 10 beta where I had to use sbin/init ...) ____________ pixelicious.at - my little photoblog
	ID: 3193 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

Paladin* Send message Joined: Sep 18 08 Posts: 301 Credit: 35,848,203 RAC: 0	Message 3216 - Posted 22 Oct 2008 10:17:49 UTC Last modified: 22 Oct 2008 10:18:29 UTC
	I messed with it a few hours again this morning, the "sbin/init 3" command does nothing & tells me I haven't exited the X Server when trying to install the Video Drivers. You can get the Video Drivers installed using the "init 1" command but I won't put the procedure here because once you re-boot you lose the drivers & CUDA useage again until you re-install the V-Drivers again. I'll check around the Ubuntu Forms & see what I can find, it's no big deal anyway as running the Wu's in Windows is faster for me anyway than Linux. I'd just like to figure it out & have the Option to run in Linux since all my Box's are Dual Boot Linux & Windows Box's ...
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bzm Send message Joined: Jun 18 07 Posts: 3 Credit: 7,337,781 RAC: 0	Message 3334 - Posted 26 Oct 2008 0:17:52 UTC
	Installing on a headless box (no X-windows) Since required devices are normally created during X startup. I had to add the following to /etc/rc.local: mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidiactl c 195 255 mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidia0 c 195 0 If you have a second card, add: mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidia1 c 195 1
	ID: 3334 \| Rating: 0 \| rate: / Reply Quote

Jens-Ola Send message Joined: Sep 28 08 Posts: 5 Credit: 7,370,500 RAC: 5	Message 3452 - Posted 28 Oct 2008 20:33:11 UTC
	This was my inelegant workaround to access init 3 in Mandriva 2009 64. Nothing of what was said in prevoius posts worked for me. Edit the file /etc/inittab, line ”id:5:initdefault:” to ”id:3:initdefault:”. Reboot and install the driver, and edit back file /etc/inittab to ”id:5:initdefault:”. Hope this is helpful.
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trigggl [SETI.USA] Send message Joined: Mar 6 09 Posts: 10 Credit: 105,839 RAC: 1,516	Message 12403 - Posted 6 Sep 2009 13:15:43 UTC - in response to Message 3334.
	Installing on a headless box (no X-windows) Since required devices are normally created during X startup. I had to add the following to /etc/rc.local: mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidiactl c 195 255 mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidia0 c 195 0 If you have a second card, add: mknod -m 0666 /dev/nvidia1 c 195 1 Something I saw elsewhere and should probably fix the need to do this is to add user boinc (or BOINC) to the video group. When I look at /dev/nvidia* in Ubuntu 8.10, I see this: crw-rw---- 1 root video 195, 0 2009-09-05 23:24 nvidia0 crw-rw---- 1 root video 195, 255 2009-09-05 23:24 nvidiactl The shows that root is the owner and that video is the group that have read and write permissions. If you add boinc to the video group, it will have the group rw permissions. This is the correct way to allow a user access to hardware. If you do 666 to the device, you give access to anyone. I can't get my computer to use CUDA either despite it recognizing the card. It just won't request GPU tasks at all on any project. I tried 185 and 190 nvidia drivers. The SDK programs work, so I have no idea why boinc isn't using the card.
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Ingvar Send message Joined: Sep 7 09 Posts: 5 Credit: 322,713 RAC: 0	Message 13541 - Posted 14 Nov 2009 0:01:35 UTC
	On the most recent version of Ubuntu there's no need to install the NVIDIA driver. Apparently it's already installed. All you have to do is use BOINC to attach to GPUGRID, and it works. I just upgraded from Ubuntu 9.04 Intrepid Ibex to 9.10 Karmic Koala. On Intrepid, GPUGRID complained about the driver. I couldn't get the above instructions to work (but I only put limited effort into it). Now, after the upgrade to Karmic, GPUGRID just works, there were no problems.
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Ingvar Send message Joined: Sep 7 09 Posts: 5 Credit: 322,713 RAC: 0	Message 13556 - Posted 15 Nov 2009 2:43:38 UTC - in response to Message 13541.
	On the most recent version of Ubuntu there's no need to install the NVIDIA driver. Sadly, I was too optimistic. Each time the system is booted, BOINC randomly finds or doesn't find the GPU. Usually it doesn't find it, occasionally it does. Is there some easy way to get BOINC to make a new attempt to find the GPU? I'm guessing that maybe it can find the GPU more reliably once the bootup process is finished and everything is stable. Unfortunately, running the CPU benchmarks doesn't make it look for the GPU again. I'd try stopping and restarting the boinc client if I knew how to stop it safely and how to start it as the "boinc" user. The BOINC version is 6.4.5.
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Ingvar Send message Joined: Sep 7 09 Posts: 5 Credit: 322,713 RAC: 0	Message 13571 - Posted 16 Nov 2009 0:51:22 UTC - in response to Message 13556.
	Sadly, I was too optimistic. I found a solution. See this post by Skip Da Shu and also my reply.
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liveonc Send message Joined: Jan 1 10 Posts: 241 Credit: 18,152,229 RAC: 94,908	Message 15124 - Posted 10 Feb 2010 18:11:13 UTC Last modified: 10 Feb 2010 18:14:08 UTC
	I hope you don't mind that I place a link to my N00B guide to Nvidia Driver & BOINC installation on Ubuntu/Mint here. http://www.gpugrid.net/forum_thread.php?id=1553 ____________
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Roy Strachan Send message Joined: Dec 23 09 Posts: 1 Credit: 1,083,492 RAC: 292	Message 16486 - Posted 22 Apr 2010 2:19:05 UTC - in response to Message 13556. Last modified: 22 Apr 2010 2:24:40 UTC
	On the most recent version of Ubuntu there's no need to install the NVIDIA driver. Sadly, I was too optimistic. Each time the system is booted, BOINC randomly finds or doesn't find the GPU. Usually it doesn't find it, occasionally it does. Is there some easy way to get BOINC to make a new attempt to find the GPU? I'm guessing that maybe it can find the GPU more reliably once the bootup process is finished and everything is stable. Unfortunately, running the CPU benchmarks doesn't make it look for the GPU again. I'd try stopping and restarting the boinc client if I knew how to stop it safely and how to start it as the "boinc" user. The BOINC version is 6.4.5. Something in the startup happens too quickly so when you get control open a terminal and type sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart and all should be well.
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Skip Da Shu Send message Joined: Jul 13 09 Posts: 31 Credit: 38,667,124 RAC: 122,223	Message 17922 - Posted 11 Jul 2010 5:24:31 UTC - in response to Message 16486.
	I stuck a "sleep 5" in the startup script. open terminal type sudo gedit /etc/init.d/boinc-client scroll down till you see "start()" insert the sleep 5 line as in below example: start() { sleep 5 log_begin_msg "Starting $DESC: $NAME" if is_running; then log_progress_msg "already running" else start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --background --pidfile $PIDFILE \ --make-pidfile --user $BOINC_USER --chuid $BOINC_USER \ --chdir $BOINC_DIR --exec $BOINC_CLIENT -- $BOINC_OPTS fi ____________ - da shu @ the BOINC farm, SkipsJunk, Guru Mountain, Crunchers
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Message boards : Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) : GPU FAQ: HOW TO install NVIDIA drivers on Linux 64 bit