Nvidia driver issues

I have been using Linux for about 7 years now and this is the first time I have had to ask for help....may be it is my age!

I came across the mention of Zorin 8 in Linux Format, down loaded it and was blown away. It found my NAS box it found my RAID Array and it just looked so slick.

All was well until I came to set up the twin screen arrangement I wanted. With the standard driver the operating system knew there were two monitors and I could drag a window to the second screen however the second screen was blank and I could not see what I was doing. So I tried to install the Nvidia driver.... Everything I tried would prevent the OS booting much past the splash screen and I was left with a blank screen with a flashing cursor.

Next I tried Zorin 9. Oh it was even better and this time the Nvidia driver installation was built in..Brilliant.....But the same issue. It wont boot after the installation.

Question: Am I missing something or do I have an machine that was just doomed from birth due to an inappropriate selection of hardware?

(ECS Geforce 7050M-M, AMD Phenom 8450, Geforce 9600GT, 4Gb RAM)

Any hints or tips would be gratefully received.

Hi, normally, the default that comes with any GNU/Linux these days is the Nouveau experimental driver - can you boot into safe graphics mode and download Nvidia 304 post drivers (theres 304 and 304 post available in additional drivers). I don't have dual-monitors but advise you install X R and R - I hope they include it in the final release as I am aware that other distros have X R and R present by default!

Many thanks Swarfendor437

libxrandr2 is installed by default. So I think that should be covered.

I have to confess I have not tried to load the Nvidia drivers from the graphics safe mode. I will try this later.

OK I tried selecting the 304 driver from the additional driver whilst in safe graphics mode.
When I reboot I get a lot of text flash up the screen and then I get left with a blank screen and just a cursor flashing at the top. I don't seem to do anything from there as the keyboard does not respond.

OK, when you get to boot screen (GRUB menu) - press the 'Tab' or 'e' key to edit the boot command and add at the end after pressing the space bar once:

Code:

xforcevesa acpi=off nomodeset

Keep us posted!

Thanks Swarfendor437 I tried this but I got a message saying that xforcevesa could not be found. and it booted to the blinking cursor.

I tried a number of things but I was not able to get the machine to boot at all it would just boot to a flashing cursor, even in safe mode!

As well as Zorin 9 I tried a copy of LXLE and Mint 16 and I found that all the system knew there were two screens, I know this because I can drag a window off the working screen and onto the blank screen (Although I cant see it). It seems to be the graphics card is not sending the signal to the monitor. I'm guessing I need the right driver installed but the driver just seems to mess things up........or perhaps it is me that messes things up?

I will have a bit more of a hunt around for a solution but if you have any ideas I would be interested to hear.

I did a bit more digging around the internet and I think I may have two problems!

1. This graphics card (Geforce 9600GT) may be the reason I only have one screen displaying as I found some reference to a similar problem back in 2011-2012 (I would have liked to think that this would have been resolved by now)

2. When I install the Nvidia driver the machine wont reboot.

And I think problem 2 is preventing me resolving problem 1!

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

OK, my bad, back to basics,

1. Specs of machine - sorry if I have missed this - lunch-break coming to an end quickly!

2. Are you dual-booting? If you are then follow this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlTgaWs9BD0

Thanks Swarfendor437

ECS Geforce 7050M-M, Motherboard
AMD Phenom 8450, Processor
Geforce 9600GT 512Mb GV-NX96T512HP, Graphics card
4Gb RAM
Ocz ssd

I'm not dual booting as I really want to stop using windows (I think I can do it for 99% of what I do)

Tried Zorin os8 now on Zorin os9

I'm running with the two monitors connected at the moment and one is blank but I can drag windows off the main screen, to the blank screen, although I cant see it. So the operating system has seen two screens and has configured it's self correctly. I think it is that the graphics card is not outputting to the second screen.

When I reboot after installing the Nvidia driver the machine locks with a blank screen and flashing cursor.

I hope that helps outline the problem.

This is an old thread but may be relevant - do you have 'nvidia-settings' installed?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... gt-741829/

Thanks Swarfendor437

I found this thread too.

If I install the Nvidia driver from System Tools - Preferences - Additional Drivers then when I reboot I get the splash screen/grub menu then I get a lot of text flash up the screen, the screen goes blank and I have just a flashing cursor. I am then not bright enough to get any further and I have found the only way out is to live boot and start again with a fresh install.

Can I install 'nvidia-settings' without installing the driver. (I'm loathed to try it as if it goes wrong again I will have to do another install!)

Just installed 'nvidia-settings' without any drivers (but I have the driver installed already I should point out):

I'm really cautious about doing this as I don't want to lock my machine again.

I have just found Wolfman's thread viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2490 and I think I should follow this to the letter.

I will update you when I have tried it.

OK I have this resolved! But I don't really know exactly how.

My original monitors were both VGA. This graphics card is 2 x DVI. I had one DVI to VGA adaptor.

For the test I borrowed a DVI monitor. What ever combination I set up I could only get one monitor to display.

In the mean time I have got another monitor (DVI) and I bought a new DIV to VGA adaptor.

So using the new monitor and the new DIV to VGA adaptor it all worked first time! No need to install the Nvidia driver an risk locking my PC.

I have not decided why but it must be something to do with the adaptor!

The second monitor is only running at 1024x768 when it should be 1280x1024 but I do not have any option higher than 1024x768.

I loaded arandr to see if that would give me any other options but I am still limited on resolution.

Hi, Zorin 9 (Final release) is now out

http://zoringroup.com/blog/2014/07/15/z ... -released/

Would be curious to know if this is now fixed!