# installing nvidia driver in Fedora



## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

Hi,
I'm having problem installing nvidia drivers in Fedora 11.
I went to nvidia home page and i downloaded NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14-pkg1.run file which was recommended for geforce 800m series. Then i tried to install it ,but i got error "something, something, binutils ", so i install the package,and now i got error " You appear to be running an X server; please exit X before installing."


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

You are going to have to stop the gdm or kdm. Gdm stands for Gnome desktop manager, and kdm is KDE desktop manager. To do this you need to press CTRL + ATL + F1-F6. Once there you will need to login and then type this:

```
su -
/etc/init.d/gdm stop
```
From there you can find the file and run it from the command prompt.

Cheers!


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## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

i did what you told me to ,but i got "- bash: /etc/init.d/gmd: No such file or directory"
do i need to have kernel-sources, gcc and make packages installed??
i think i have kernel-source , but im not 100% sure
how do i find out which packages i have and where can i find additional packages that im missing?

thx


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I am pretty sure that you have gcc installed as it is part of gnome. If you want to check you can type

```
su 
yum install gcc or yum install kernel-sources
```
Cheers!


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## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

ok i had to install gcc 
and today i installed nvidia,but when i try to set it up i get error " You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file.
can u tell me how to set it up pls
im soo close


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I would have a look at this. It should tell you how to change the X.org config file. There are a couple of things that you should do before you change your xorg.conf file. The first is to make sure that you have a backup copy incase you mess things all up. 

To create a copy of your xorg.conf file do the following.

```
cd /etc/X11/
ls 
su -
cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.old [color=blue]This makes a copy of the file xorg.conf and calls it xorg.conf.old. I case something gets messed up.[/color]
ls
```
Once that is done follow the instructions above and you should be all set.

Cheers!


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## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

Thx for your help i got it working.
This is how i installed NVIDIA drivers in Fedora 11

1. Install kernel-source, gcc,and make packets
2. Download your driver from here
3. Press CTRL + ALT + F2 (open terminal in fullscreen)
4. Log in as root
5. Type #init 3
6. Log in as root
7. Find your NVIDIA driver (#cd /home/User/Download)
8. Install Package (#sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14-pkg1.run)

Is the installation same for different distros like BT4?


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

Without saying too much about BT4 per the rules. I would say that it would be very similar. I don't use it so I don't know.

Cheers!


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## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

Hi,
Today i have reinstalled Fedora and nvidia drivers for education purposes
When i was installing NVIDIA drivers i got error :

```
ERROR: Unable to find the kernel source tree for the currently running        
         kernel.  Please make sure you have installed the kernel source files   
         for your kernel and that they are properly configured; on Red Hat      
         Linux systems, for example, be sure you have the 'kernel-source' or    
         'kernel-devel' RPM installed.  If you know the correct kernel source   
         files are installed, you may specify the kernel source path with the   
         '--kernel-source-path' command line option.
```
to fix it i typed:#yum install kernel
#yum install kernel-devel
and my questions are what is kernel-devel and init 3 ??


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## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I feel that this would be a good time to let you do a couple google searches or search the web with your favorite search engine. I could give you all the answers to this question as I know them myself but I don't want you to loose a learning experience.

If you still don't know the answer in a couple of days feel free to come back and I will explain it for you.

Cheers!


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## gtk29 (Oct 3, 2008)

You dont need kernel source or gcc.

On Login screen pres Ctrl-Alt-F1
Login as normal user
type sudo pkill gdm
type sudo NVIDIA-Linux-x86-185.18.14-pkg1.run
When install completes type sudo gdm


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## tomm89 (Aug 17, 2008)

OK,so i did some research about kernel-devel, and i found that Kernel-Devel is a Development package for building kernel modules to match the kernel.But i don't know why i had to install it before i could install NVIDIA drivers and where is this module most commonly used.
About init 3 i still don't understand the purpose of init 3 could you explain why i had to use it before i could install NVIDIA.
thanks


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## fuzzy_nutz (Aug 9, 2009)

firstly kernel devel is needed so that nvidia installer can compile a new modile which fits in with your current kernel. init 3 runs a console only mode (no X server) init 5 is the X server runlevel there are other like init 0 which if remember correctly is a single user console. I like you was trying to install the nvidia drivers to stop the X server i tried pkill (gdm just restarted) and gdm-stop (restarted again).
happy linuxing


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