Old Nvidia hardware video output is unreadable

[MrDrage]

Hi there,

Firstly: The system I've installed Fedora (Fedora 16 32bit Desktop i386) onto doesn't meet the minimum graphics requirement - In fact i think it only has around 64MB of video memory (32MB of that is shared from physical memory in BIOS).

The install looked horrendous, the screen pulsates, none of the buttons line up on the screen (output) - So i tried the install from USB onto another machine - it worked fine, and that machine runs it really well.

I think the mainboard has Nvidia (possibly MX 2 - really old now) built in, it's perfectly capable of running Win XP, Win Vista and Win 7 - all things I've run on it previously.

The monitor and cable are fine (use them on other setups with no issues).

I'd say this is a driver issue or a configuration problem - possibly an incorrect screen resolution or something? - I have the same problems with video output on Ubuntu (i think 11.10?) - I'm not going to be using the GUI all that often as I will be running it as a simple LAMP server - but I do want the GUI there in case anything goes wrong.

Tried searching Google and these forums but I've not found any answers that I can understand or that I think are related..

I'd appreciate any help you can give - But please make sure you give any advice as though I didn't even know what 'root' or 'sudo' mean - Although I am confident at following terminal/command line based instructions, I am as yet unable to 'read between the lines' (so for example when someone says "Just run this__ as root and you're done" I would get a bit stuck.

Edit:
I'm not looking to make this a pretty experience - I wouldn't mind if it was in black and white in 640x480 resolution - Perhaps there is a way to run the graphics in a similar way Windows used to use 'Safe mode' ? - If it's not possible could you suggest a way I can run Fedora on this hardware? Perhaps I'll have to go for an older release?

Cheers Guys/Girls
Paul

[RupertPupkin]

Probably related to this problem: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=277844

As you'll see in that thread, I had a similar problem with an old GeForce4 MX440.

[Dan]

Anything fedora since F15 is going to be a full-on mess with the FX5200 series, as well ... unless you install the proprietary 173xx driver wad from Nvidia, as it is no longer available in fedora.

The new default open source nvidia driver (nouveau) does not play well with the older Nvidia chips. Sadly, the go-to guy for most things nvidia isn't hanging around the forums much anymore -- and is sorely missed.

[MrDrage]

So is it a case of 'It can't be done' ?

Edit:
If it can't be done I'll settle with a non GUI based install - Or perhaps something like MINT ?

[Dan]

Not that I'm aware of through the fedora repos. I think you can get the driver from Nvidia, though.

I ran into this same issue yesterday afternoon trying to set up a box as a home file server, and Adam's thread confirms exactly what I saw. I may try the Nvidia driver wad later this weekend, and I'll post any successes or failure here.

[CronoCloud]

If the machine can handle a 6150, or other 6*** class card, perhaps you could add one in. As far as I know the 6*** series IS supported by the latest driver in the RPM fusion repos and I know that the 6150 at least is unaffected by the Nouveau bug. (it's the integrated chip in this thing that I used before putting the GT220 in it)

CronoCloud

[secipolla]

I haven't installed the driver from NVIDIA yet as I must see if the installer works with kernel 3.3 (and my GF6200 is working fine with nouveau). But what I would do to install the NVIDIA driver is add "nomodeset nouveau.modeset=0" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX in /etc/default/grub, run "# grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg" and blacklist nouveau (/etc/modprobe.d) then reboot and run the installer.

[Dan]

Hmmm. Well ... if the experience I just had was any indication, you'll want to avoid the Nvidia slug like the plague. <....>

Re-installing F17 Beta RC3 now ... <....>