NVIDIA nForce Linux Driver Release Notes __________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS: (sec-01) OVERVIEW (sec-02) PACKAGE AVAILABILITY (sec-03) MINIMUN REQUIREMENTS (sec-04) LICENSING (sec-05) WHAT THE PACKAGE CONTAINS (sec-06) WHAT THE PACKAGE DOES (sec-07) INSTALLATION (sec-08) REMOVAL (sec-09) TROUBLESHOOTING __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-01) OVERVIEW __________________________________________________________________________ The nForce chipset contains a number of hardware devices that can be run under Linux. Along with a display processor, the chipset includes a network device (MAC), audio hardware, an IDE controller, and an OHCI USB controller. 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: linux-nforce-bugs@nvidia.com Please be sure read the TroubleShooting section first, and to report all relevant details, such as Linux Disribution, Kernel version, binary or source RPM, the fact that you checked the SBIOS configuration, the contents of /etc/modules.conf, and a listing of any error messges you find (you can run dmesg, or look at /var/log/messages as root). If you are having operational problems, please be as specific as possible, so we can try to reproduce the problem, and determine if we have a fix for it. __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-02) PACKAGE AVAILABILITY __________________________________________________________________________ This package can be found at the NVIDIA web site: http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=linux We strongly urge you to only use software obtained from this website or a trusted Linux distribution for your nForce hardware. __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-03) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS __________________________________________________________________________ At the current time, the nForce drivers require a 2.4 series kernel. __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-04) LICENSING __________________________________________________________________________ The network 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 rest of the software is provided under the GNU public license, which is also included in this package. __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-05) WHAT THE PACKAGE CONTAINS __________________________________________________________________________ The packages contain the following items: * A README file * This Installation Guide * The GNU license * The NVIDIA license for the network driver software * Makefiles with 'all', 'install', and 'uninstall' targets * A patch for adding PCI ids to the i810 driver to make it recognize NVIDIA hardware * A patch for fixing a problem with older i810 drivers when running NVIDIA hardware * A copy of the i810 driver in case it doesn't exist on the target machine * Source and binary files for building a network driver for NVIDIA hardware __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-06) WHAT THE PACKAGE DOES __________________________________________________________________________ This package will build a network driver and an audio driver, then place them in the appropriate locations for loadable kernel modules. For older distributions, a patched version of the existing i810 audio driver is included; latter versions of the i810 audio driver support the NVIDIA hardware directly; in those cases, no audio driver is provided. The network driver is from NVIDIA. The binary packages will also update the modules configuration file, commenting out existing network, audio and usb entries, and add entries for the new drivers. If the package has been built for a newer Linux distribution, the modules configuration file will be set to use the i810 driver as the designated audio driver. A backup file is created before any changes are made to the configuration file. If the binary package is uninstalled, the package attempts to restore the original version of the file from this backup. The tar files don't try to modify the module configuration files. You should make sure the following lines are in the configuration file (it will be named /etc/modules.conf on most current distributions): alias eth0 nvnet alias sound-slot-1 i810_audio alias usb-interface usb-ohci Neither the binary nor the source packages will load the kernel drivers at install runtime. You can do this manually using insmod or modprobe. (USAGE: 'insmod modulename' or 'modprobe modulename') Upon reboot, the kernel modules should insert themselves automatically. __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-07) INSTALLATION __________________________________________________________________________ Nvidia has provided precompiled binary RPMs for systems running Red Hat 7.2 and Mandrake 8.1. You should select the RPM appropriate to your current kernel version. You can check what kernel your machine is running by checking the output of 'uname -r'. If you are using a different version of Red Hat or Mandrake, a modified kernel, or a different rpm-based distribution, you should use the SRPM to build an RPM appropriate for your system. If you are using the SuSE RPM, see NOTE: SuSE INSTALLATIONS, below. If you are using a non-RPM based system, or if you prefer not to use RPM, you should download and install from the source tarballs. To install a binary rpms, you only need use rpm to install the package. This should install and configure the drivers. A source rpm requires building and installing the drivers yourself. The files in this package are organized into a build hierarchy to make this task easier. 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: SuSE INSTALLATIONS Upgrading the SuSE Kernel: If you are using the SuSE Linux distribution, note that the binary RPM for SuSE only supports SuSE versions using the upgraded kernel. This note contains directions from SuSE on upgrading to the new kernel for SuSE versions 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3: Get the upgraded kernel from one of the following sites (depending on SuSE distribution): ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.1/kernel/2.4.16 (for SuSE 7.1) ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.2/kernel/2.4.16 (for SuSE 7.2) ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/update/7.3/kernel/2.4.16 (for SuSE 7.3) For update instructions, see the SuSE's SBD article, located at http://sdb.suse.de/en/sdb/html/ftpkernel.html Alternative SuSE Installations: The following instructions should be used before proceeding with a source RPM or tar file installation. You will need to use one of these installation methods if you want to install nForce drivers without upgrading your kernel. Please note that these installation methods won't work for SuSE 7.1 or 7.2. Install with YaST(2) the following d (development) series packages - make - gcc - binutils - glibc-devel - kernel-source Use the following commands to set up your development environment example% cd example% su Password: ****** example# pushd /usr/src/linux example# make cloneconfig example# make dep example# popd You can now proceed with the tar file or source RPM installation steps below, omitting the steps to become root. BINARY RPM INSTALLATION The binary installation procedure involves downloading the binary RPM file appropriate to your distribution and installing it. If you are using the SuSE distribution, see NOTE: SuSE INSTALLATIONS, above. Become root and install using rpm: example% cd example% su Password: ****** example# rpm -i nforce{package name}-1.0-1.rpm SOURCE RPM INSTALLATION The Source RPM will create an RPM appropriate for your system. If you are using the SuSE RPM, see NOTE: SuSE INSTALLATIONS, above. To install: example% cd example% su Password: ****** example# rpm --rebuild nforce{package name}-1.0-1.src.rpm At this point, the SRPM will be recompiled. When this command has completed, look for a line that says: Wrote: /usr/src/{RPM root dir}/RPMS/i386/nforce{package name}-1.0-1.rpm This will provide you with the name and location of the new RPM. You should then install this RPM per the instructions in the Binary RPM Installation section. TAR FILE INSTALLATION The tar file package contains source code, libraries, makefiles and documentation organized into a single tar file. To install the tar file, unpack it, build the sources and install them. If you are using the SuSE RPM, see NOTE: SuSE INSTALLATIONS, above: example% tar -xvzf nforce.tgz example% cd nforce example% make example% su Password: ****** example# make install __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-08) REMOVAL __________________________________________________________________________ To remove the contents of one of the binary rpm files, use rpm to remove it: example% cd example% su Password: ****** example# rpm -e nforce-1.0-1.rpm To remove the contents of one of the source rpm or tar file, go to the build directory, and run "make uninstall": example% cd example% cd nforce example% su Password: ****** example# make uninstall __________________________________________________________________________ (sec-09) TROUBLESHOOTING __________________________________________________________________________ System BIOS Configuration 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 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. 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'' choosen, 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. Warning: You should write down the original configuration of the BIOS before changing it. Changing your system BIOS configuration may adversely affect the operation of the system, and even make it unbootable.