Fedora 13 nVidia Drivers Install Guide (disable the nouveau driver)

Updated by on Feb 8, 2011 in Featured, Fedora, Graphics Drivers Guides, Linux | 12 comments

Fedora 14 users check Fedora 14 nVidia Drivers Install Guide (disable nouveau driver)

I’ve tried this method in few Fedora 12 and Fedora 13 machine, and looks like it is working. Nouveau has been enabled by default starting from Fedora 11 and looks like nouveau cause some problems on Fedora 12 and Fedora 13, when try to use nVidia proprietary driver.

Note: nVidia proprietary drivers on Fedora 12 and Fedora 13 does not support older cards than GeForce 6 cards (except for some exceptions, check this comment).

Install nVidia driver and disable nouveau

Run the following commands as root.

Enable access to both the free and the nonfree RPM Fusion repository

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-stable.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-stable.noarch.rpm

Update system and repositories

yum update

Install kmod-nvidia or kmod-nvidia-PAE if you are using PAE (Physical Address Extension) kernel

yum install kmod-nvidia
yum install kmod-nvidia-PAE

Note: this step is now done automatically by the RPM Fusion RPMs.

Allow nVidia driver loading and set SElinux allow_execstack on

setsebool -P allow_execstack on

Note: this step is now done automatically by the RPM Fusion RPMs.

Disable nouveau, add following to grub.conf (/boot/grub/grub.conf or /etc/grub.conf) end of the “kernel” line

rdblacklist=nouveau

Example:

title Fedora (2.6.33.5-112.fc13.x86_64)
        root (hd0,0)
        kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.33.5-112.fc13.x86_64 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_fedorabox-LogVol01 rd_LVM_LV=vg_fedorabox/LogVol01 rd_LVM_LV=vg_fedorabox/LogVol00 rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=en rhgb quiet rdblacklist=nouveau
        initrd /initramfs-2.6.33.5-112.fc13.x86_64.img

Reboot system

reboot

And finally nVidia driver should work normally.

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12 Comments

  1. Anthony L / December 26, 2009

    This worked like a charm! Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Dave / January 7, 2010

    I just followed the above instruction and rebooted to a black screen… now what do I do?

    Reply
  3. JR / January 7, 2010

    Change to console with ctrl+alt+F2 or (ctrl+alt+F3, F4, F5, F6).

    Write following commands:

    lsmod |grep nouveau

    Should not output anything, if output nouveau driver then check that you have rdblacklist=nouveau on your grub.conf on right kernel row.

    lsmod |grep nvidia

    Should output nvidia driver, if not then run again exactly following command:

    setsebool -P allow_execstack on

    Then reboot again:

    reboot
    Reply
  4. Auto Driver Update / March 2, 2010

    I am a frequent reader of your blog and just wanted to let you know you that I really like your articles.

    Reply
    • JR / March 2, 2010

      Really nice to hear that you read frequently my blog and you like my writings. Thank you very much for your feedback!

      Reply
  5. Falcom / March 11, 2010

    Thank you very much for your feedback!

    Reply
  6. Arnis Lapsa / June 10, 2010

    Wanted to say thanks. Not so easy to find this.

    Reply
  7. Awasthi / July 5, 2010

    nVidia proprietary drivers on Fedora 12 (and probably Fedora 13 too) do support a few older cards than GeForce 6 cards. I am using 173xx driver for GeForce FX-5500 on F12 without any problem. I think even 96xx driver is supported, however 71xx is definitely not supported.

    Blacklisting nouveau and setting SElinux are now done automatically by the RPM Fusion RPMs, without any user intervention.

    Reply
    • JR / July 5, 2010

      Hi Awasthi,

      Nice to know that nVidia proprietary drivers support even older than GeForce 6 cards and also nice to know that the Nouveau blacklisting and SELinux settings are now done automatically by RPM Fusion RPMs.

      I updated this info to guide, thank you.

      Reply
  8. z99 / July 20, 2010

    thank you so much,you are site is great man,
    hope for more

    Reply
  9. Rob F. / August 24, 2010

    Although I skipped the setsebool step because I have selinux disabled, your instructions fixed my problem (I think. I did this remotely and won’t know if X is running correctly until I get home, but I do see a kdm_greet in top so I’m hopeful.). I just upgraded from Fedora 11 to Fedora 13 and hadn’t experienced this nouveau problem before. I spent two hours last night trying to disable the module to no avail. Who’s idea was this nouveau crap anyway?

    Thanks for the help.

    Reply
  10. LGSONE / April 24, 2011

    4-23-11… worked after black screen on fedora 14.. thanks .. got to love google and the wealth of knowledge it brings right to your fingertips…

    Thanks for the help, beers on me if your ever in Wesport, downtown KC

    Reply

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