need perm. fix for monitor/display problem.

Wednesday, 14 December 2022

f36; workstation is 9 years old; dual boot (the other OS is the nearly 
useless windows-7); dual monitor; stand-alone (not a part of a LAN, WAN, 
etc.); I don't have other hardware to fall back on, not even a cell 
phone; nvidia geforce gtx 660 graphics card; driver is from RPM Fusion 
non-free.

Note: I have no training or significant experience in sys. admin.

original problem:
On Nov. 03, I did my weekly "dnf upgrade".  This resulted in only one 
monitor working, and the display on that monitor looking fuzzy and 
horizontally stretched out.

diagnosis (from the Fedora users list):
The driver version installed by the "dnf upgrade" is not compatible with 
the latest kernel and needs updating.  The kernel version was 
6.0.5-200.fc36.  The fixed nvidia 470 drivers were still in testing.

work-around until fixed nvidia 470 drivers pass testing and reach 
rpmfusion-nonfree-updates (from the Fedora users list):
1. back-up the initrd being used before the Nov. 03 "dnf upgrade".
2. use the kernel in use (5.19) before the Nov. 03 "dnf upgrade".
The recommended back-up was done on Nov. 04.  I've been using the 5.19 
kernel exclusively since then.  I have not run "dnf upgrade" since Nov. 03.

current situation:
I'm using the 5.19 kernel exclusively.
I have not run "dnf upgrade" since Nov. 03.
The RPM Fusion web site page
"https://mirror.fcix.net/rpmfusion/nonfree/fedora/updates/36/x86_64/repoview/index.html"

now shows this...
---------------
Latest packages:

     2022-11-29: nvidia-settings-470xx-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: akmod-nvidia-470xx-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: kmod-nvidia-470xx-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-cuda-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-cuda-libs-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-devel-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-kmodsrc-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-libs-470.161.03-1.fc36
     2022-11-29: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-470xx-power-470.161.03-1.fc36
(and other things not relevant to this issue)
---------------

The original problem left my workstation quite crippled.  It took a lot 
of time and effort to research, construct, and post messages in the 
original list thread.  I don't have other hardware to fall back on, not 
even a cell phone.  Proceeding with the fix to the problem strikes me as 
risky.

first question:
Is what is currently in RPM Fusion non-free 36 updates everything I need 
to really fix the problem for f36?

Please don't jump the gun.  Just answer that first question.  If the 
answer is positive, I'll follow up with more questions.

further information:
Anyone wanting to view the original Nov. 03-04 thread, it's here:
"https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/X6QCDYEIFO7DKZE5ENCHBCW776TC26WF/".

Thank-you in advance.
Bill.