more help with debian

[slap]

Well after playing around with Debian on my PIII box I decided to set up a dual boot on my main rig...and then the trouble started.

Three days and a new ethernet card later Debian is up and running but XP is not bootable. I have a few questions so I'll go one by one.

1. How to install linux drivers for my motherboard
The Debian installer did not see my onboard LAN (thus the new card) and I'm sure there are a few other things not working (printer port) I have the cd with the drivers but I'm not sure what to do with it. I figured out how to mount my cdrom drive and I can see the files on it but I don't how run the install program. From the GUI is see the installer is in a folder system drivers then folder linux drivers. From the command line see directory SYSTEM\ DRIVER. After "ls SYSTEM\" I get a ">" prompt. I'm sure I'm supposed to do something there but I don't know what.

2. I used the generic VESA video driver during the setup. Should I use a better driver from my spefic video card?

3. Getting windows bootable
Each OS is one a different hard drive. Debian is on the Samsung drive with is IDE Master, XP is on the Sata Raptor. I know what I did wrong but I don't know how to correct it. During the install GRUB did not detect XP on the SATA (because its an NTFS?) and I allowed it to install on the MBR.
Entered XP recovery mode using the CD and ran fixboot and fixmbr but that didn't fix anything and honestly I'm not sure if I did it right. From what I read GRUB can boot windows but I need to edit the GRUB config file, correct? Also I read XP needs to boot from the MBR, is it a problem that Debian is on the IDE master and XP is on the Sata?

Thanks in advance for your help. Learning this stuff is tough but fun and I'm learning a lot. I read more than I post here and I learn from all your guys post.

[slap]

ok I'm making a little progress...

I dowloaded the nforce drivers from a website then
"sh /root/NFORCE-Linux-x86_64-1.0-0306-pkg1.run"
This starts an installer. Now I get an error...
"No precompiled kernen interface found, installer will compile new interface" then
"Unable to find kernal source tree, please make sure you install kernel soure files"

Thanks

[mikeL]

You need to install the kernel source file from your install CD, also make sure your logged in as root for the install of both drivers (kernel source, and nvidia drivers). Either physically logon as root, or su - from the terminal while logged on as a regular user.

Mike

[slap]

Okay a little more progress...

Is there a certain file the nvida drivers will look for the kernel? I found a website with some instructions to install the kernel source and now the installer runs but I have new errors. It looks like the modules build but the installer can't load them.

unable to load module nvnet.ko and nvsound.ko
Most likely because module was built with the wrong kernel source files. you may specify the kernel source with "--kernel-source-path" command line option.

thanks again for you help and suggestions

[ffreeloader]

The easiest way to install any Nvidia drivers is to use module-assistant. It has to be run when when you are booted into the console, not the gui. You can't run it with the xserver running.

It's the easiest way I've found to do install the Nvidia drivers. Just run an apt-get install module-assistant. I then reboot into recovery mode at the grub screen and give the root password when it asks for it. Then just run module-assistant and it will walk you through it and download any packages it needs and run the install routine. It works very well and is a whole lot easier than doing this manually.

[slap]

Thanks for the advice Freeloader.

I just discoverd the linuxquestions.org site and there are multiple threads describing the module-assistant method. I'm going to give it a try when I get home tonight. I'm sure it won't work the first time but I have patience and I'm learning new stuff.

It seems if you search around the net enough you can find possible solutions to any linux problem. I'm a newbie but I'm really impressed with the amount of help you can get on forums.

[ffreeloader]

It seems if you search around the net enough you can find possible solutions to any linux problem. I'm a newbie but I'm really impressed with the amount of help you can get on forums.

Another very good Debian resource is the Debian-user mailing list. You can subscribe to it from the Debian site. I've received a lot of help from there on some pretty difficult problems. I'd say it's probably the #1 resource for getting help with the really tough Debian problems. When I haven't been able to find an answer anywhere else that mailing list has always come up with one.

[slap]

ok problem with module-assistant. Here are the errors I'm getting...

nvidia-kernel-source (source package not installed):
-- Binary package(s) for kernel(s):
+ (2.6.8-11-amd64-generic): not found
Some packages could not be found. The "search" command can search in the
package pool for precompiled packages.

debian:/# module-assistant
Starting the Dialog UI...
W: Unable to locate package bcm5700-source
W: Unable to locate package ftpfs-src
W: Unable to locate package qla2x00-source
W: Unable to locate package xdslusb-source
W: Unable to locate package plex86-kernel-src
W: Unable to locate package ipw2100-source
W: Unable to locate package e100-source
W: Unable to locate package qce-source
W: Unable to locate package at76c503a-source
W: Unable to locate package slmodem-source
W: Unable to locate package syscalltrack-source
W: Unable to locate package thinkpad-source
W: Unable to locate package unicorn-source
W: Unable to locate package cryptoloop-source
W: Unable to locate package xlibmesa-drm-src
W: Unable to locate package sl-modem-source
W: Unable to locate package mga-vid-source
W: Unable to locate package ftape-source
W: Unable to locate package cryptoapi-core-source
W: Unable to locate package ipw2200-source
W: Unable to locate package nvidia-kernel-source
W: Unable to locate package em8300-source
W: Unable to locate package acx100-source

Here is my source list..... etc/apt/sources.list
#deb file:///cdrom/ sarge main
deb ftp://debian.csail.mit.edu/debian-amd64/debian/ stable main
deb-src ftp://debian.csail.mit.edu/debian-amd64/debian/ stable main

deb http://security.debian.org/ stable/updates main
deb ftp.de.debian.org/debian-amd64/debian
deb ftp.de.debian.org/debian-amd64/debian pool/non-free/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers/

Here is the info I pulled off the web. I think I'm missing something in my source list.

Download Page for nvidia-kernel-source_1.0.7174-3_amd64.deb on AMD64 machines

You can download the requested file from the pool/non-free/n/nvidia-graphics-drivers/ subdirectory at any of these sites:

North America

* mirror.espri.arizona.edu/debian-amd64/debian

Europe

* amd64.debian.net/debian
* ftp.de.debian.org/debian-amd64/debian
* bach.hpc2n.umu.se/debian-amd64/debian
* bytekeeper.as28747.net/debian-amd64/debian
* mirror.switch.ch/debian-amd64/debian
* ftp.nl.debian.org/debian-amd64/debian

Asia

* hanzubon.jp/debian-amd64/debian

[ffreeloader]

Run "apt-cache policy packagename" and you should get the data you need for each package and where it is to be found.

[slap]

Well after eight days of fiddling I got the video drivers to work using the module assistant. I'm not exactly sure what I changed to get it to work.

Next up...audio drivers, drivers to get my onboard lan to work and setting up printer drivers.

Thanks again