[Solved] Nvidia video driver issues on an old Laptop

[nemodot]

I'm trying to refurbish a very old MSI notebook (MSI VR630) with an AMD Turion X2 Mobile RM-70 processor and a NVIDIA GeForce 9100M G GPU.

I installed Linux Lite 5.8 x86_64 to it, a Ubuntu-based XFCE lightweight distro that was recommended on several forums.

The default video drivers used are Nouveau, but these are really annoying due to the intense flickering that's going on.

If I go to Additional Drivers I can get to install nvidia-340 (340.108) suggested drivers. And if I install them, at first everything looks great but it crashes whenever I try to do anything and I have to REISUB the laptop.

I've tried to manually install new nvidia drivers: nvidia-470. But it defaults to 640x480 resolution and the nvidia config app is completely broken, and can't switch up the resolution.

So I removed all nvidia packages and Im back with noveau, with the flickering still going strong.

What can I do? Is there a way to find the proper version of nvidia drivers?

 

[CrazedNerd]

I read your post and did a little research when the laptop was released...and i think your best bet is to try a different lightweight distro:

AMD Turion X2 RM-70 Notebook Processor

Benchmarks, information, and specifications for the AMD Turion X2 RM-70 laptop processor (CPU).

www.notebookcheck.net

Unfortunately, 2008 is pretty old laptop by todays standards. Kinda annoying, right? The problem with drivers and code in general is a lot of stuff doesn't stay supported.

I think the tiny core operating system does support browsing and internet usage, which is the bulk of what people tend to use computers for...there are lots of operating systems out there you can find for free, so i'd recommended just keep trying something until you find something that works. If you are trying to use it for gaming, it's going to be harder, but you'll definitely find something worthwhile if you keep searching.

There are also plenty of illegal versions of windows floating around the internet if you're comfortable with that, but i'll stop there...

 

[forester]

You need the 304.137 driver. Had similar issues with Latitiude D630 laptops with old Quadro GPUs.
Probably won't work well with some of the kernels around 5.10.x and up to a certain point, either.
I suggest antiX-21 or PCLOS openbox (a Community edition)

You're not using a CRT, are you? (flicker, flicker,flicker) Just kidding!

Welcome!

 

[nemodot]

You need the 304.137 driver. Had similar issues with Latitiude D630 laptops with old Quadro GPUs.
Probably won't work well with some of the kernels around 5.10.x and up to a certain point, either.
I suggest antiX-21 or PCLOS openbox (a Community edition)

You're not using a CRT, are you? (flicker, flicker,flicker) Just kidding!

Flicker is the best word I can think of to describe the behavior. I'm not native to english, haha.
Thanks for the info, I'll try it out with or without kernel downgrades.

 

[forester]

Got rid of the old D630 laptops. So, I cannot remember exactly when the kernels became 'friendly' to older nVidia GPUs, again, but think it was around 5.12.x

Your English is good enough

 

[CrazedNerd]

You need the 304.137 driver. Had similar issues with Latitiude D630 laptops with old Quadro GPUs.
Probably won't work well with some of the kernels around 5.10.x and up to a certain point, either.
I suggest antiX-21 or PCLOS openbox (a Community edition)

You're not using a CRT, are you? (flicker, flicker,flicker) Just kidding!

Welcome!

Great post, i found it immediately here:

Download NVIDIA, GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla Drivers

Download drivers for NVIDIA graphics cards, video cards, GPU accelerators, and for other GeForce, Quadro, and Tesla hardware. US / English download.

www.nvidia.com

.run files are a new concept for me, it basically just started installing automagically but i closed it since i don't have this hardware, haha

 

[KGIII]

.run files are a new concept for me,

They're pretty much the worst way to install Nvidia drivers. You need to redo it with every kernel upgrade and it's really flaky - sometimes not working/installing properly on the new kernel.

Where possible, the best way is to do so through your distro's package manager.

Alas, this is not always possible. But, yeah, the .run files are just a bad idea.

 

[forester]

They're pretty much the worst way to install Nvidia drivers. You need to redo it with every kernel upgrade and it's really flaky - sometimes not working/installing properly on the new kernel.

Where possible, the best way is to do so through your distro's package manager.

Alas, this is not always possible. But, yeah, the .run files are just a bad idea.

@KGIII --

run files were the ONLY way to install drivers from nVidia for many years.

I got the process down because I had to in order to get old laptops to run the way I wanted. Now, they are a bad idea?

Yes, it would be more convenient if APT or other Package Managers reinstalled the correct driver with each dist-upgrade, but do they? Oftentimes they install the incorrect, 'latest and greatest,' driver which will not work (an nVidia problem) with older cards. User still has to correct the issue.

ASIDE: I suppose tarballs are a bad idea, also​

Whatever works, is what I say!

I think GNU/Linux users just got lazy when it comes to the command line; they want everything
'like windows' -- point-and-click, no thinking involved (heaven forbid having to remember the path)!

 

[KGIII]

run files were the ONLY way to install drivers from nVidia for many years.

Yeah, and it was terrible. It was flaky, wouldn't always install with each new kernel, and sketchy as all get out. Those were the dark times. Today, you can install the drivers right from your repositories. They include things like dkms, meaning you needn't use the barbaric .run file.

Granted, some folks still have to use it - but if you can avoid it, it's a good idea to do so.

 

[nemodot]

This tutorial worked perfect for me even if it was meant for Mint:

Nvidia legacy driver 304.137 working with Linux Mint 20.3 x64 xfce - Linux Mint Forums

 

[forester]

Very glad you figured it out to your own satisfaction, @nemodot !