The nForce chipset contains a number of hardware devices that can be run under Linux; a network device (MAC), audio hardware, storage controllers (IDE and SATA), and OHCI/EHCI USB controllers. Many of the components of the nForce chipset use industry standard interfaces; thus, not all components require custom drivers to be used on Linux.
Bug reports and installation questions may be directed to:
Before submitting a bug report, please read the Troubleshooting and FAQ
sections first, and review the Known Problems list for the driver
version you are using. This can be found at NVIDIA's web site, on the
release page for the driver version.
If you decide to submit a bug report, make sure to run nforce-bug-report.sh,
which will create the file nforce-bug-report.log in the current directory,
and include this log file with the bug report. (The nforce-bug-report.sh
script is normally installed in /usr/bin/ when you run the driver
installer.)
This package can be found at the NVIDIA web site:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp
We strongly urge you to only use software obtained from this website or a trusted Linux distribution for your nForce hardware.
At the current time, the nForce drivers require a 2.4 or 2.6 series
kernel running on 32- or 64-bit AMD CPUs.
NVIDIA's audio driver is an OSS driver, and requires OSS sound support
in the kernel. NVIDIA's audio control panel is a Qt-based application,
and requires Qt run-time libraries in order to run.
The network and audio driver provided by NVIDIA is subject to the NVIDIA software license; the license is available on the NVIDIA website, and is included in this package. By using this software, you are agreeing to the terms of the license.
The package contains the following items:
This installer will prepare a network driver and an audio driver,
then place them in the appropriate locations for loadable kernel
modules. The network and audio drivers are from NVIDIA. If
the audio driver is installed, the installer will also install the audio
control panel application.
Nvidia has provided a self-extracting installer that will prepare
the drivers and install them into the appropriate location for your
kernel's module tree. Note that there is a 32-bit installer as
well as a 64-bit installer. The 64-bit installer is required for
x86_64 kernels. You can check what kind of machine you are
currently running on by checking the output of uname -m
.
If the output reports x86_64
, you are running a 64-bit
kernel and should use the 64-bit installer.
To install the drivers, simply run the installer binary under a
shell with root privileges, and follow the onscreen instructions.
The .run file accepts many command line options. Here are a
few of the more common options:
--info
Print embedded info about the .run file and exit.
--check
Check integrity of the archive and exit.
--extract-only
Extract the contents of the .run file, but do not run
'nforce-installer'.
--help
Print usage information for the common command line options and exit.
--advanced-options
Print usage information for the common command line options as well as
the advanced options, and exit.
The installer will use an ncurses-based user interface if it can
find the correct ncurses library. Otherwise, it will fall back to
a simple interactive text interface. To disable use of the ncurses
user interface, use the option '--ui=none'.
The installer contains pre-built drivers for major Linux
distributions. In the event that the installer cannot find a
pre-built driver for your kernel, the installer will attempt to build
the driver. In this case, it is necessary to install the kernel
source corresponding to the kernel for which the driver will be
installed for.
You might want to check the BIOS configuration on your system to
ensure that the audio and networking devices will be detected. See the
System BIOS Configuration description in the Troubleshooting section.
NOTE that for network driver
updates, you must first deactivate the NVIDIA network device prior to
running the installer. Otherwise the module count for that device will
not be zero and installation of network driver will fail.
The installer does not update configuration files. After installing the drivers, configure the system to use the drivers by using the distribution's built-in configuration mechanisms for networking and sound, or edit the required files manually.
Module configuration files are different for 2.4 and 2.6 series kernels. The various Linux distributions also differ in how they handle module configuration.
/etc/modules.conf.
/etc/modprobe.conf
.
Some distributions use a subdirectory, /etc/modprobe.d/
,
to hold individual configuration files for sound modules, etc. /etc/modules.conf
.
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux version
4, Fedora Core 2 and later,
follow the instructions in other
distributions to edit the configuration file
/etc/modprobe.conf
.
mcc
command) to configure the network
driver. Select "Network & Internet", then select "New Connection".
Select "LAN Connection", select "Next", then select "Manual
Choice". From the list of available network drivers, select
"nvnet", then select "Next". and select "autoprobe". At this point, the
driver will be configured and a new interface made availabe; select the
newly-added interface to configure IP address settings, etc./etc/modules.conf
. Once this is done,
Mandrake Control Center can be used to configure IP address settings,
etc., on the network interface supported by nvnet.#
or removed:# alias eth0 forcedeth
Add the following lines to the configuration file:
alias eth0 nvnet
alias forcedeth off
If your system has multiple ethernet interfaces, you may need to use
'eth1' or higher in place of 'eth0'.
/etc/modprobe.d/sound
./etc/modules.conf
./etc/modprobe.conf
.
/etc/modprobe.conf
.
For earlier distributions that run 2.4 kernels, the configuration file
is /etc/modules.conf
.
#
or removed:# alias sound-slot-0 i810_audio
alias sound-slot-0 nvsound
alias snd-intel8x0 off
alias i810_audio off
sound-slot-0
with snd-card-0
.post-install nvsound sleep 1; /usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 ||:
pre-remove nvsound /usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 ||:
install nvsound /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install nvsound ; sleep 1; /usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1 || :
remove nvsound { /usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1 || : ; }; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove nvsound
/etc/rc.d/init.d/halt
, or
/etc/init.d/halt.local
on SuSE distributions. On Mandriva
distributions, add the code at the end of function stop_mixer()
in /etc/rc.d/init.d/sound
.
if grep -q "\(nvsound\)" /proc/modules && [ -x /usr/bin/nvmix-reg ]; then
/usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -S >/dev/null 2>&1
fi
(In /etc/rc.d/init.d/halt
, this code is best located next to
any existing code that saves ALSA mixer settings.)
For Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4,
Fedora Core 3 and later, add the
following line in /etc/rc.local
:
/usr/bin/nvmix-reg -f /etc/nvmixrc -L >/dev/null 2>&1
The installer may or may not leave the new modules loaded after the
installation, depending on the existing configuration. You can force the
module to be loaded using insmod or modprobe :
insmod <modulename>
or
modprobe <modulename>
On subsequent reboots, the modules should load automatically.
options nvnet optimization=1
Or if loading the module manually from the command line:modprobe nvnet optimization=1
modinfo -p nvnet
example% nvmixerFor those that are migrating from an existing NVIDIA audio driver, note that the old "nvaudio" control panel will not work with the new audio driver.
Pre-requisites and instructions for building nvmixer are included in the source code package.
ftp://download.nvidia.com/linux/nforce/nvmixer/nvmixer.tgz
This section covers problems that commonly occur when installing
nForce drivers on Linux. If you encounter problems, please read this
section and the FAQ , and review the Known Problems
list for the driver version you are using. This can be found at NVIDIA's
web site, on the release page for the driver version.
If you decide to submit a bug report, make sure to include
nforce-bug-report.log in the bug report by running nforce-bug-report.sh.
Bug reports and installation questions may be directed to:
Since the audio and network drivers work on the nForce chipset, these devices along with other motherboard devices are controlled by the System BIOS. If the installed drivers don't recognize hardware on your system, the problem may be your System BIOS's plug and play configuration. If your audio or network devices are disabled in the BIOS, or the system BIOS expects the operating system to configure hardware devices, and your Linux kernel doesn't support ACPI-style configuration, you'll need to change your BIOS settings.
Warning: You should make a note of the original BIOS configuration
settings before changing them. Changing your system BIOS configuration may
adversely affect the operation of the system, and even make it
unbootable.
To view or change an Award-style system BIOS, reboot the machine, and press the Delete key. When you get a configuration screen, select "PnP/PCI Configurations" in that screen if "PNP OS Installed []" Has "Yes" chosen, change the selection to "No".
If your BIOS is Phoenix-style, use the F2 key instead of Delete, and scroll through the menus to find OS Type, and chose "Other". The exact details of System BIOS configuration vary with BIOS vendor, so the screens may not be exactly the same.
A: You need to install the sources for your kernel. Please
download and install the appropriate kernel-source package for your
kernel
Q: How do I tell if I have my kernel sources installed?
A: If you're running on a distro that uses RPM (Red Hat, Mandrake, SuSE, etc), then you can use RPM to tell you. At a shell prompt, type:
example% rpm -qa | grep kernel
and look at the output. You should see a package that corresponds to your kernel (often named something like kernel-2.4.18-3) and a kernel source package with the same version (often named something like kernel-source-2.4.18-3). If none of the lines seem to correspond to a source package, then you'll probably need to install it. If the versions listed mismatch (ex: kernel-2.4.18-10 vs. kernel-source-2.4.18-3), then you'll need to update the kernel-source package to match the installed kernel. If you have multiple kernels installed, you need to install the kernel-source package that corresponds to your running kernel (or make sure your installed source package matches the running kernel). You can do this by looking at the output of "uname -r" and matching versions.
A: Try adding the following lines to the system's module configuration file:
alias snd-intel8x0 off
alias i810_audio off
A: Check that xmms is configured to use the OSS output plugin (nvsound is an OSS driver). The xmms output plugin settings can be viewed on xmms's Options->Preferences submenu.
A: This is most likely caused by your system not having legacy/compatibility run-time libraries installed. Use your distribution's installer or online update mechanism to install these libraries. For example, on Red Hat / Fedora distributions, the "Legacy Software Development" package contains these libraries.
A: This is most likely caused by your system not having the Qt run-time libraries that nvmixer requires in order to run. Refer to the section on nvmixer's system requirements for details on how to fix this.
Q: When I start KDE with the
nvsound driver loaded, I get an error message, "Sound server fatal
error: AudioSubSystem::handleIO: write failed len=-1,
can_write=1024, errno=11 (Resource temporarily unavailable)".
A: Open the KDE Control Center (using a menu or the kcontrol
command). Select "Sound & Multimedia", then select "Sound System".
Select the "Hardware" tab and, in the "Select the audio device"
pulldown control, select "Threaded Open Sound System". Select "Apply",
then exit the Control Center. This should fix the sound server error
message seen on startup.
A: Try adding the following line to the system's module configuration file:
alias forcedeth off
A: IDE on nForce is normally supported by the amd74xx driver. First,
try enabling DMA for your hard drive using the hdparm
utility,
for example,
example# hdparm -d 1 /dev/hdX
where /dev/hdX is the IDE device you wish to enable DMA for. Assuming this
works, you will probably want to add this to an rc script so it takes effect
each time the system boots (e.g. /etc/rc.local
).
If hdparm fails to enable DMA, it may be that the amd74xx driver is not being used because the version in your distibution does not recognize the specific revision of nForce IDE controller you are using. In this case, obtain the most recent version of the amd74xx driver from the www.kernel.org kernel source tree, and rebuild your kernel with this driver included.
A: The USB and USB2.0 devices use the industry standard OHCI and EHCI interfaces, and will work with the standard Linux USB drivers.
A. Unresolved symbols are most often caused by a mismatch between your kernel sources and your running kernel. They must match for the nForce driver modules to build correctly. Please make sure your kernel sources are installed and configured to match your running kernel.
A: The Linux 1394 driver supports the nForce2 IEEE 1394 controller in kernel versions 2.4.21 and newer.
A: IDE on nForce is normally supported by the amd74xx driver, though
the ide-generic driver may be used to provide non-DMA operation. Although
amd74xx is included in all popular distributions, the specific version
included in older distributions may not support the latest nForce hardware.
To remedy this, install the distribution using the ide-generic driver
(some distros may require you to force the installer to use this by specifying
insmod=ide-generic
), then obtain the most recent version of the
amd74xx driver from the www.kernel.org kernel source tree, and rebuild your
kernel with this driver included.
A: Open-source drivers for Intel 810 audio hardware generally work with nForce AC97 audio hardware. The Intel driver is called i810_audio or snd_intel8x0, depending on which distribution you are using.
A: Yes, forcedeth is an open-source network driver for nForce ethernet hardware. Most distributions include forcedeth, but some distributions may require you to manually install it once installation is complete. The version of forcedeth included in older distributions may not support the latest nForce hardware. To remedy this, obtain the most recent version of the forcedeth from the www.kernel.org kernel source tree, and build it as a loadable module for your kernel.
A: Yes, nvnet supports WOL functionality and there is no need to configure it because it is enabled by default.
A: Our priority in shipping the nvsound driver was to provide support for nForce hardware features that were missing in the earlier nvaudio driver. NVIDIA plans to provide an nForce ALSA driver in future as our resources allow.
The most recent changes are at the top of the list. Each bullet
indicates a public release on NVIDIA's web site.
Fixed 8bit playback support.
Fixed restricted volume ranges for nForce3 and higher.
Fixed nvnet stack overflow bug.
Fixed nvnet forced mode operation.
Fixed nvnet handling of packets with length field errors.
Fixed nvsound operation with Skype.
Fixed nvsound operation with Xine.
Added support for 2.6.12 kernels.
Added support for 2.6.10, 2.6.11 kernels.
Added support for restore of nvmixer settings over reboots.
Fixed nvsound compatibility issues with various applications.
Fixed WOL support in nvnet.
Fixed some nvnet performance issues.
Added pre-built 64-bit binaries for various distributions.
Added support for kernel installations that use separate kernel source
and generated kernel object trees.
Fixed nvnet problem that caused rmmod to crash on systems with more
than one network interface.
Fixed nvnet build issue on uniprocessor systems that have spinlock
debugging enabled.
Fixed nvsound module hangs when APIC is enabled on some distributions.
Fixed nvsound module bugs causing lack of sound or delay in sound with
some games.
Changed installation method to use the new self-extracting
installer instead of RPM or tarball
Added support for SoundStorm (Hardware Mixing supported)
Added AC3 pass-through
Added support for ethernet driver statistics and configuration
information through procfs
Added support for 2.6 series kernels
Audio control panel executable is now "nvmixer", not "nvaudio"
Fixed performance problem in network driver that was causing
stuttering in audio playback
Added support for nForce3 platforms
Added support for x86-64 architecture
Added binary RPMs for SuSE Enterprise Server 8 x86-64
Added audio control panel application
Added 6 channel output, audio input selection, speaker selection, per
channel volume control, and analog / digital enable to audio driver.
Added GART patch for kernel 2.4.21
Changed installation script to use lowest available number when enumerating network and audio devices in modles.conf
Changed audio driver to be self contained source file based off
i810_audio driver.
Added SPDIF support to audio driver
Updated binary packages for latest releases of RedHat kernels.
Added FAQ section to release notes.
Some cleanup of spec file and Makefiles
SRPMs and tar files now use local system's i810_audio.c file, and complain if it's not there; this makes them more distro independent.
Added support for Mandrake9.0 and Redhat8.0
nForce2 support for network driver