I have a Gt 220, the gigagbyte version and I only using linux OS. I first installed ubuntu 9. something (can't remember the exact name), the free driver wasn't really working (really low resolution ...) so I installed the nvidia one the manual way. It didn't work but after one driver reinstall it did work nearly normally on boot there was an annoying bug the OS first loaded normally then but instead of the user choicing screen I had a black screen, then if I did a rebboot the hard way with the mobo button I would get the normal load. While annoyed I got on with the problem. 3 or 4 month later I did a new install of trisquel an OS mostly based on ubuntu. Same story I installed driver the manual way they worked but as previously I had to do a rebbot before acessing to the OS. 2 month later I reinstalled ubuntu the 10.10 version. this time I installed nvidia driver by letting ubuntu install proprietary driver by itself and once again the same problem. This start to get annoying,the two first time I thought it was a problem with my driver installation, now I think there gotta be a problem somewhere. To sum the the graphic start after the OS loading only if the Pc was on before: so if it is on reboot there is no problem but every fist time booting afer being turned off no graphic.
It's a weird problem since linux nvidia drivers work like a charm (almost always). Maybe the problem is elsewhere, in xorg.conf or others. Have you tried with a Live CD (or other distro, like archlinux)? is it OK or it fails too?
On live CD it first boot on the free driver with no problem. Then I didn't try to install the nvidia one. I'am wondering if this isn't some kind of hardware bug.
Wich version of the nvidia driver do you use? Have you instaled also Nvidia-settings package? If you do lspci -v in the Command line, it should output somethong like that: 03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G73 [GeForce 7600 GT] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: XFX Pine Group Inc. Device 2220 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at fa000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at fb000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] I/O ports at 9c00 [virtual] Expansion ROM at fcfe0000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nvidia, nouveau, nvidiafb Maybe the driver in use is other or it doesn't detect the GPU properly. BTW you have to use the driver for newer cards.
here his the result 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express DRAM Controller (rev 10) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5000 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel modules: intel-agp 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31/P35/P31 Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 10) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0 I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff Memory behind bridge: e0000000-e2ffffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0000000-00000000dfffffff Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: pcieport Kernel modules: shpchp 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device a002 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 44 Memory at e4100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0 I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff Memory behind bridge: 7ff00000-800fffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000080100000-00000000802fffff Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: pcieport Kernel modules: shpchp 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff Memory behind bridge: e3000000-e3ffffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e4000000-00000000e40fffff Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: pcieport Kernel modules: shpchp 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5004 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23 I/O ports at e000 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5004 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at e100 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5004 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at e200 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5004 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 I/O ports at e300 Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5006 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23 Memory at e4104000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=32 I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff Capabilities: <access denied> 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 5001 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel modules: leds-ss4200, iTCO_wdt, intel-rng 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device b002 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at 01f0 I/O ports at 03f4 I/O ports at 0170 I/O ports at 0374 I/O ports at f000 Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: ata_piix 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology GA-8I945PG-RH Mainboard Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11 I/O ports at 0500 Kernel modules: i2c-i801 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT216 [GeForce GT 220] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 34d6 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=32M] I/O ports at c000 [virtual] Expansion ROM at d2000000 [disabled] [size=512K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nvidia, nouveau, nvidiafb 01:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device 34d6 Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02) Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology GA-EP45-DS5 Motherboard Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 43 I/O ports at d000 Memory at e4010000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K] Memory at e4000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K] [virtual] Expansion ROM at e4020000 [disabled] [size=64K] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: r8169 Kernel modules: r8169 I just manually installed the driver from nvidia wabsite.IMHO the latest one beside beta.
It seems Ok. And that weird bug about being previously on or not to work... Maybe it's a hardware bug as you pointed. If xorg.conf is wrong it will affect you every time... Did you do fresh installs? I don't know what's it. I only can recommend you about install a different distro from scracth (format it, dude). Try Mint linux if you want to stay close to a Ubuntu distro (is good with drivers). I currently using Arch Linux and it rocks (no more upgrade problems, rock solid, lightweight...).
Arch is no so easy to install like Ubuntu, but it is totally different in some ways (you still have your gnome, or whatever, desktop) including packging management, some drivers and updates. At this point it could be a known nvidia bug of your model, a hardware problem or a distro related bug. Do you know if someone else have the same problem?
Could you post your xorg.conf output? Something like that: Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "LG M227WD" HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0 VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0 Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device0" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "GeForce 7600 GT" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Device0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 Option "TwinView" "1" Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0" Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: 1920x1080 +0+1024, DFP-1: 1280x1024 +320+0; 1920x1080,NULL; 1280x1024,NULL;" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection Try backingup your xorg.conf and then generate a new one with nvidia-xconfig or nvidia-utils. But I don't know...
I used nvidia-utils to configure it, because the second screen ("twinview area"). Nvidia-xconfig is ok for the first time, but maybe later you should make adjusts, and here is when nvidia-utils becomes handy. (in add you have info about GPU temp and others).
It says it can't find the nvidia-utils command. But I have acces to GPU temps with Nvidia X server setting that is installed with the driver.
Mmm... Did you install the nvidia-utils package? Should be available for ubuntu, and located in Preferences/system menu.
