linux nVidia driver 304 319 . installation by hand

It's so painful to install nVidia driver by hand on linux.

If you remove it or you want to upgrade by all your hand, you ought to need be very patient about this stuff coz it will kill you a lot of time.

first you need to download the latest driver from their site.

it looks like "NVIDIA-{version number}.run"

download it and run it after closing your X service.

　　　　# Tips : how to close X service

　　　　　　　　　　when booting your PC, you could use this key conbination to get into new TTY "Ctrl + Alt + F{1,2,3,...,7}"

　　　　　　　　　　then, log in using 'root' account.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　then 'service kdm stop' # if your display manager is from others such as lightdm, mdm, gdm. do the same

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　'service gdm stop'

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　then execute the binary you've downloaded by "sh NVIDIA-{version number}.run"

You need to know what those commands mean:

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lsmod   # to see how many kernel modules have been loaded already

modprobe # to probe a module whichi is registered in /lib/modules/modules.alias by using command 'depmod'

rmmod     # to remove a module dynamically

　　　　## after using 'rmmod xxxx' , we will not be able to get ' lsmod | grep xxxx'

modinfo    # to check out one registered module's infomation

depmod    # to set modules , and document them in order to make the docments used by command 'modprobe' next time if necessary

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the lib folder

which contains system's libs

/usr/lib32/

a folder which contains kernel modules and other settings before booting the PC up.

/lib/modules/

Remember to use 'depmod -aq' to ensure all neccessary kernel modules will be used when booting up next time

it's good to use ' man depmod ' when you don't what what it is. :)

************

nVidia's var lib folder

Almost everytime when nVidia package is trying to install its new features, they will check out /var/lib/nvidia.

it's easy to find confilictions. then it will dump. if you don't dig it, you will be stuck there.

I solved this sucessfully by 'mv /var/lib/nvidia /var/lib/nvidia_backup'      . or you can just delete it.

then,

re-install it using the binary package downloaded from the offical nVidia site.

/var/lib/nvidia

REMEMBER:

　　　　you will need to set other lnk files well in folders such as:

　　　　　　　　/usr/lib, /usr/lib32    (make soft links of those files in from these folders)

　　　　　　　　　　 something like this: "#ln -sf libnvidia-opencl.so.1 libnvidia-opencl.so.304.88" , you need to make sure the 304.88 is a geninue one.

******

Then my KDE came back to me.

It's because it's a little bit too unstable when using nVidia's 304 series drivers.

That's the reason I put my PC down for serveral hours . :(

Now I sucessfully upgrade the driver to the lasted which is very neat.

Hope no more screen zoggling...