[SOLVED] Nvidia Geforce 8400GS Rev.3 - Driver

[bitsnpcs]

Hello,
I installed this PCI graphics card Geforce 8400GS Rev.3 recently as it is 512MB, the previous one was 64MB (Nvidia Geforce MX400).
I also made an error in update choice that altered the splash, Valtam pointed me in the direction of the solution :-) I followed that thread and had help from members, this resolved that.
There still appeared errors relating to "X.Org Desktop is missing", around a window the edge to left and right, including such as the text box I am entering this in, had wiggly moving lines.
I followed the help manual and changed the driver to "X.Org Nouveau", the wiggly lines on window panes have now stopped.
Playing video would then crash the OS and send error reports X4 or sometimes X5 to Ubuntu on reboot.
I looked through this forum and found this thread - https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/index.php?topic=84.0
Valtam wrote - "I take it you have already tried to load a driver? If so you'll need to remove it.
Press: Ctrl+Alt+F1 this will drop you to a tty screen, if you need to, login. Then type in: sudo service lightdm stop
Now do: sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-* then sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Then do: sudo apt-get install nvidia-current then sudo reboot"

Although the problem I have may be different, I realized I also needed to remove the Nvidia driver and application correctly, the driver I had installed was the tested Nvidia Driver, I also tried the legacy driver.
I followed Valtams instructions above this far -
"Press: Ctrl+Alt+F1 this will drop you to a tty screen, if you need to, login.
Then type in: sudo service lightdm stop
Now do: sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*"
(I missed out the following steps as I was unsure if they were for my instance).
I then followed the instructions "sudo reboot"
This has solved the problem of the crash when trying to playback video and it has also solved the problem of error reports asking to be sent to Ubuntu, in addition to the cause by its removing the Nvidia driver and application.
Although video playback doesn't crash it is blocky with artefacts and stops/starts.

The problem I need help with is twofold, and may well be related, I am asking for help ontopic for this forum #1 below -
1/ I need help/advice with a driver that will allow video playback with this graphics card.
For reference in case this helps
2/ A black screen appears on shutdown this states -
"Stopping ClamAV
Starting lightdm [OK]
Plymouth is up [OK]"
#2 does not seem to be problematic at this time, I mention as it is not a usual shutdown screen and didn't appear until I made errors. I do not know yet if solving the driver problem will solve this too, similar to removing Nvidia and changing driver solved the Ubuntu splash.

Sorry it is long winded, I am trying to give as much information as I have, and state what I have done/tried so far, to hopefully save time of members who may be able to help.

[Valtam]

Can you open Install Drivers and post a screenshot please, make sure the window is wide enough that we can see all the information.

[bitsnpcs]

Hello Valtam,
here is the Install Drivers screenshot.

[Valtam]

Try the legacy driver, the bottom option, you won't be able to use any of the other drivers as they are for newer cards. Your card is classed as a legacy card. BTW, theres no guarantee this will work, more often than not, the open source driver, the one you are currently using, is the better choice for legacy cards.

[anon222]

Valtam I don't think it's a legacy card.
Wikipedia:
"During mid-2009 NVidia released another revision of the GeForce 8400 GS based on the GT218 chip.[6] It has a larger amount of RAM, is capable of DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 3.3 and Shader 4.1. This card is also known as "GeForce 8400 GS Rev. 3"."
GT218 is the same chip as in GeForce gt 205 and 210 cards.
And Nvidia's latest driver 340.24 is supporting 8 series

GeForce 8 Series:

GeForce 8800 Ultra, GeForce 8800 GTX, GeForce 8800 GTS 512, GeForce 8800 GTS, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8600 GT, GeForce 8600 GS, GeForce 8500 GT, GeForce 8400 GS, GeForce 8400 SE, GeForce 8400, GeForce 8300 GS, GeForce 8300, GeForce 8200, GeForce 8100 /nForce 720a

[bitsnpcs]

Try the legacy driver, the bottom option, you won't be able to use any of the other drivers as they are for newer cards. Your card is classed as a legacy card. BTW, theres no guarantee this will work, more often than not, the open source driver, the one you are currently using, is the better choice for legacy cards.

I have change to this driver, bottom option now.
The Ubunutu 14.04 splash screens have now returned on shutdown, and on boot.
Quite a lot of text is appearing on them, I have tried using the Pause/Break key it has no effect so I am unable to read it fast enough to supply the text here.
Video playback, video goes blocky and then swirls the colours on the video and freezes. It did not crash VLC or the OS but I only gave it 15 seconds after it froze.
I will change it back to the open source driver for now.

[bitsnpcs]

Hello,

I followed a guide but am still having difficulty installing the driver

Code:

wget us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/340.24/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-340.24.run
sudo chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-*-340.24.run
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm stop
sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-*-340.24.run
sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm start

In the terminal I got to lightdm stop and get a black/blank screen and so was unable to continue to enter the remainder of the commands, and used reset/power button on the tower.
I then tried CTRL+ALT+F1 beginning from line 2 of the code.
I get an error message saying Nouveau is in use and is not compatible with Nvidia, I agreed to allow Nvidia to add mod files and followed the instructions to reboot and try again.
After reboot on trying again I get the same error message plus, Nvidia is unable to instal, the mod files are unable to close Nouveau.

Prior to this I tried Synaptic and Ubuntu Software Centre to see if I could locate the driver.

[anon222]

Bad things can happen when you install the drivers that way. If you wanted 340.24 you should have installed drivers from xorg-edgers ppa.
https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nvidia-340 && sudo apt-get upgrade

[Valtam]

This is getting quite messy, I would either start with a fresh install and stick with the open source drivers or try misko_2083's approach. I'm using the open source drivers on Steam and playing Counterstrike and they work very well.

[bitsnpcs]

Hello misko_2083,
thank you for your help on the correct way for installing the 340.24 driver , the process went well without any problems :-)
The driver didn't resolve video playback issues for me as I had hoped it would.

Hello Valtam,
it seems I will need to do a fresh install.
Do I need to data wipe/overwrite the hdd first, or just use the install disc ?