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ZORIN 9 (32 bit) Core with a Nvidia GT240

DaveI

Mon Sep 29, 2014 1:35:15 am

I tried countless ways to install a Nvidia GT240 on an already installed version of Zorin 9 (32Bit) using every method I could find on the 'net
and everytime I either ended up with the scrambled mosaic mutli colored screen or a black screen...Booting into a safe mode always
just resulted in a black screen...Sometimes I could get to a screen during a safe boot if I hit a magic keystroke combo but only sometimes
and even then if I rebooted after either installing the Xorg driver OR the Nvidia driver it will still go to a mosaic or black screen.
I have three other Nvidia cards that all work fine with it (but only using the Xorg driver not the Nivida drivers)...A G210, G310, and GT220 all
work fine using the Xorg driver but no way with the GT240 whether the Xorg driver or Nvidia drivers...

Has anybody managed to install a Nvidia GT240 on Zorin 9 (32Bit)? I actually tried two different GT240 cards...One with GDDR3 and one with GDDR5 memory...Both of those will not work...I can't help but think there's some magic installation combination that I have not tried yet that is specific to Zorin...Can anyone help? I've been struggling with this since installing Zorin two weeks ago. I'm hoping there's something particular with Zorin that I did not know about...Thanks.

Swarfendor437

Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:22:14 pm

Absolutely no guarantees but try following this guide (Zorin 9 is a derivative of Ubuntu 14.04):

http://www.howopensource.com/2012/10/in ... -ppa/5086/

Keep us posted! :D

DaveI

Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:01:30 am

Swarfendor437,

Thanks for the link...
Well there was a little success...
I loaded the PPA as advised them updated the repositories...
Then I ran a software update and a whole bunch more updates were shown regarding video...
Installed those and rebooted...Then went to software updates/additional drivers and there were additional updated NVIDIA drivers...
BTW I first tried this with the G310 card in place...I picked the latest NVidia driver that was on the list 340.32...Let it load and rebooted.
Much to my suprise the Nvidia 340.32 driver loaded (This again is with the G310 card installed)...
So I thought it might just work with the GT240....Shutdown and installed the GT240 card and rebooted...
BLACK SCREEN...Rebooted and edited Zorin start menu Grub (E Edit) with NOMODESET after QUICK SPLASH so I could get
back to a screen (I had failed to mention that I can boot with any card including the GT240 using NOMODESET but this results with low res)....
Got back into the system with video and tried the other options...Nope....Still goes to black screen with the GT240 using any driver....
So I put the G310 back in and rebooted...But then the G310 wouldn't accept the Nvidia drivers so I had to do a restore from a previous image
and then run through the whole process again to load the Open Source drivers...Then selected the 340.32 driver and rebooted and so now
I have a small success that although I still can't get the GT 240 to work I do now have the NVIDIA driver 340.32 working with the G310 card.
The whole problem with the GT240 is a hardware/bios issue on the card...It may have to do with ACPI...
THANKS for your help and the link...At least now I'm running the latest Nvidia driver with the G310 card...I think the GT240 card may be a lost cause....

DaveI

Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:53:06 am

Swarfendor437,

Thanks for the link...Using the PPA I was able to get the Nvidia driver working with the G310....So that was an improvement over the Nouveau driver
but unfortunately the GT240 still will not work...There problem seems to be a hardware/bios issue with the GT240...It may be a ACPI issue...The GT240 goes
to black no matter whether the Nouveau driver is loaded or the updated Nvidia drivers. The only way I am able to get the GT240 to boot with video
is to edit the Grub on the Zorin boot menu (E) and put NOMODESET before QUICKSPLASH...Then it boots to video with the GT240 but of course that's
in low res. So it also has to do with the driver in the kernel because when the GT240 went to black I would do a CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to the prompt on screen
and then do a CTRL-ALT-DEL and watch the system shutdown and it was still shutting down the NOUVEAU driver even though the NVIDIA driver was loaded.
In fact even though I have the NVIDIA driver loaded now (340.32) and that shows as installed in the Additional drivers as being loaded I'm a little suspect that the
Nouveau driver from the kernel is still most likely loaded as well...Oh well...I think the GT240 video card is a no go as it is now...
Had to send this second response as something happened to my first response??

Swarfendor437

Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:43:28 am

Hi, I am aware that your GT240 has had similar issues in earlier incantations of Ubuntu - that is why I posted that Link - the most stable nvidia driver, even for up-to-date cards is the 304.xx+ driver - which is what I use for my GT620.

I too was puzzled why you had to await approval for your second post - this usually only occurs with the very first post with the forum - I will PM zorink who maintains this to see if there is an issue?

Thanks for keeping us posted! :D