Can't install Nvidia Drivers under Ubuntu 9.04

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Author: Mike Bushroe
Date:  
To: plug-discuss
Subject: Can't install Nvidia Drivers under Ubuntu 9.04
I have been having multiple problems installing the latest (or even several
versions back) Linux X86_64 Nvidia drivers.

I am running Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope on an AMD Athelon 64 with 2GBytes
RAM, and initially my Kernel was 2.6.28-17. When I first tried to install
the kernel modules, I did something wrong and the kernel began to fail,
losing the ability to read CDROM disks, USB drives, run modprobe or depmode.
So I downloaded a pristine Kernel source package from Kenrel.Org, 2.6.32 and
installed that and started over trying to install the Nvidia video drivers.

My first step was to download the latest version from Nvidia,
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run. Then I ran chmod 777 to make it
executable. But when I try to run it, it verifies the archive file then
fails to extract the nvidia-installler, or any other file. This happens if I
run as me, "sudo sh", "sudo su", and even rebooting to run level 3
(difficult to do under Ubuntu!). I also tried adding the Kernel Source
directiry option "sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run
--kernel-source-path=/usr/src". In each case, the output is:

root@mike-desktop:/home/mike/Downloads# sh
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run
Verifying archive integrity... OK
Uncompressing NVIDIA Accelerated Graphics Driver for Linux-x86_64
190.53...............................................................................................................................................................
NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-190.53-pkg2.run: 880: ./nvidia-installer: not found


Since it never extracts the nvidia-installer, there is no log file in
/var/log. I tried under earlier, Ubuntu installed Kernels, but apparently
they are all 32bit, so the 64bit version would not install. Since only the
2.6.32 Kernel was running properlly, there was no point in downloading the
32bit version and trying again in a kernel that could read USB flashdrives.

My next attempt was to use the Ubuntu supplied driver, version 180. I used
the System/Administration/Hardware Drivers. In the pull down menu, NVIDIA
accelerated graphics driver (version 180) [Recommended] is not activated.
When I select activate, it requests my password, downloads a copy of the
driver, but fails to activate it. I have tried using version 173 but it also
fails to become activated.

Next I Googled installing Nvidia drivers on Ubunutu and found a third party
package to help with the install, EnyNG. I was able to download an run this
program, but it reports that the Kernel Headers were not available, even
though I had just downloaded the source, ran menuconfig, and compiled for 2
hours the current Kernel from source, and had not deleted anything. The
sample output is:

root@mike-desktop:/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build# envyng -t


+-------------------------------------------------+
 |                                                 |
 |             Welcome to EnvyNG                   |
 |    Developed by Alberto Milone (aka tseliot)    |
 |                                                 |

+-------------------------------------------------+


+-----------------------------------------------------------+
 |    EnvyNG Menu                                            |
 |                                                           |
 |    1 - Install the NVIDIA driver                          |
 |                                                           |
 |    2 - Uninstall the NVIDIA driver                        |
 |                                                           |
 |    3 - Install the ATI driver                             |
 |                                                           |
 |    4 - Uninstall the ATI driver                           |
 |                                                           |
 |    5 - Restart the Xserver                                |
 |                                                           |
 |    6 - Restart your computer                              |
 |                                                           |
 |    7 - Exit                                               |
 |                                                           |
 |    NOTE: IF THE SCREEN TURNS BLACK, PLEASE TYPE ALT+F1    |

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
Please select one of the activities displayed above and press ENTER:

1
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Number | Candidate Version | Installed Version | Compatible |

Recommended |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
 | 0      | 180.44-0ubuntu1    | 180.44-0ubuntu1   | +          |

+           |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 | 1      | 173.14.16-0ubuntu1 | -                 | +          |

-           |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 | 2      | 96.43.10-0ubuntu1  | -                 | -          |

-           |
 |----------------------------------------------------------------------------|

 | 3      | 71.86.08-0ubuntu1  | -                 | -          |

-           |
 +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Please select the number corresponding to the desired driver and press ENTER


(or type another number and press Enter to go back to the previous menu):
0
Compiled Kernel


+--------------------------------------------------------+
 |    Error:                                              |
 |                                                        |
 |    EnvyNG has detected that the headers for            |
 |    your kernel are missing and cannot be installed     |
 |                                                        |

+--------------------------------------------------------+

root@mike-desktop:/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build#


My Fourth attempt to load the Nvidia video drivers involved finding the
directory "/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build". I tried "make module",
according to the README file, but the compile failed with the message:
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c: In function ‘nvos_proc_create’:
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:596: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:597: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:598: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:618: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:632: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:643: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:653: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:663: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:674: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:681: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c: In function
‘nvos_proc_add_warning_file’:
/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.c:708: error: ‘struct proc_dir_entry’
has no member named ‘owner’
make[4]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build/nv.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/nvidia/180.44/build] Error 2
make[2]: *** [sub-make] Error 2
NVIDIA: left KBUILD.
nvidia.ko failed to build!
make[1]: *** [module] Error 1
make: *** [module] Error 2



Next I tired to download a copy of my Kernel headers, but since I ran
menuconfig, I realized that I could not download them from somewhere else
and tried to figure out how to extract the headers from the source files. I
ran "fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --revision=custom1.0 kernel_image
kernel_headers so that I coudl then load the Kernel headers, but that failed
to build also. I also tried adding soft links to help EnvyNG to find the
headers, adding /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.32 and /usr/src/linux, both
pointing to /usr/linux-2.6.32, but that did not work either.


Could someone please recommend a way to get _some_version of the NVIDIA
graphics drivers running on my system? I really miss having that second
sreen when running schematic capture and PCBoard layout. Thanks in advance.

Mike
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