Cave Cluster nVIDIA Graphics How-To
Restarting the X server
To restart the X server on cave[1234] and wally, run:
# sudo /share/gfx/bin/restartXnv
This will kill the Xserver, unload the nvidia kernel driver, and restart the X server (nvidia driver gets loaded automatically). The nvidia-settings program terminates, if you restart the X server. The whole process takes about 20 seconds.
Stereo Sync Problems, Checking Framelock Settings
If you have stereo sync problems, you can run the Nvidia framelock utility program. To get started with it, we recommend that you copy /share/gfx/etc/nvidia-settings-rc into your home directory as .nvidia-settings-rc
# cp /share/gfx/etc/nvidia-settings-rc ~/.nvidia-settings-rc
# sudo /share/gfx/bin/restartXnv
On any caveX, run the following command to bring up the Nvidia XFree86 Settings program.
# /usr/bin/nvidia-settings --ctrl-display cave1:0.0
You can ignore the following messages:
WARNING: The VidMode extension is blocked for remote clients. To allow remote VidMode clients, the XF86Config option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune" must be set in the ServerFlags section of the XF86Config file.
Click on the "FrameLock" menu on the left panel. Confirm that framelock is enabled. All stereo LEDs are green and the sync rate is 84.99 Hz on all four displays.
If any of the Stereo Sync LEDs are red, try the alternating "Disable Framelock" and "Enable Framelock" button on the right bottom corner.
Rebooting caveX nodes (and wally)
Please do NOT reboot the Cave cluster nodes, unless you are convinced that rebooting will fix the problem. Restarting the X server is much faster, and it is likely to fix the problem. Please try rebooting as the last resort. To see if you are authorized to reboot Cave cluster nodes:
# sudo -l
This will give you a list of commands that you are allowed to run with sudo. If you are allowed to reboot (you'll see the reboot command in the ouput). Make sure that you use the full path for the command specified in the 'sudo -l' output. just type:
#sudo -l /sbin/reboot
It might take a few minutes to reboot the caveX nodes. Please be patient. If a machine doesn't respond within 10 minutes, please contact support@cascv.brown.edu.