Howto Install NVIDIA 3D Drivers

I find myself retelling how to manually install the NVIDIA 3D drivers an awful lot. Here's a short tutorial that should work on any distro: **Installing the Drivers** 1. Make sure you have the kernel-sources, gcc and make packages installed. 2. Download the latest driver from Nvidia's site 3. Go into runlevel 3 (no GUI). This can be acheived several ways: a) By typing CTRL+ALT+F1(or F2-F6), then logging in as root and typing init 3 b) By typing a 3 at the GRUB boot prompt. c) By editing your /etc/inittab. See below for details. d) Debian/Ubuntu users may need to use /etc/init.d/gdm stop instead. 4. Log in as root user, if you aren't already. 5. Find the driver you just downloaded and run it using something like sh NVIDIA-1.0.8174.run 6. If it gives you any of the errors below, ignore them and continue: a) It warns you about rivafb support. b) It tells you it can't find a precompiled kernel module off the Nvidia website. 7. Stay logged in as root and type modprobe nvidia NOTE:As of version 8174 of the Nvidia driver, you no longer need to manually edit your xorg.conf file. Skip steps 8 and 9 if you are installing this version or newer. 8. Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf in the section marked "Devices" that looks something like this:   Code: Section "Device" Identifier "Nvidia Geforce 2" Driver "nv" 9. Change the "nv" line to "nvidia" NOTE: Some distributions use XFree86 instead of X.org. The steps are the same, you're simply editing a different file: the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file. 10. Log out as root, and back in as a regular user, then type startx 11. If you see the Nvidia logo flash then you're done. If not your X Windows will error out. Start a thread, post the errors, and we'll try and help you from there. **Editing your /etc/inittab** Some distributions require you to edit your /etc/inittab file in order to boot in to non-graphical mode, which is required in order to install the Nvidia drivers. Here is how you do it: 1. Log in as root user from a console window by typing su and your root (administrator) password when it prompts you. 2. Open up your /etc/inittab file with a simple text editor. Any one will do but I like pico, so for example purposes that's what I'll use:   Code: pico /etc/inittab 3. Look for a line that looks something like this:   Code: id:5:initdefault 4. Change the 5 to a 3 5. Save the file and reboot. 6. Once Linux goes through its regular boot screens you should be greeted with a simple text login screen. Continue from step 4 above.