Fedora 15 nVidia Drivers Install Guide (disable nouveau driver)

          This guide works with GeForce 6/7/8/9/200/300 series cards and also with GeForce FX cards.           Fedora  nVidia driver installation is not much different from previous Fedora versions. I have tested this guide with a couple computers, so let me know, if you have some problems.

Install nVidia proprietary drivers on Fedora 15 and disable the nouveau driver

1. Change root user

su -
## OR ##
sudo -i

2. Make sure that you are running latest kernel

If not then update kernel and reboot

yum update kernel*
reboot

3. Add RPMFusion Repositories (Free and Non-Free)

32-bit

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/development/i386/os/rpmfusion-free-release-15-1.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/development/i386/os/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-15-1.noarch.rpm

64-bit

rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/development/x86_64/os/rpmfusion-free-release-15-1.noarch.rpm
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/development/x86_64/os/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-15-1.noarch.rpm

4. Install nVidia proprietary drivers

Select 4a. (GeForce 6/7/8/9/200/300/400/500) or 4b. (GeForce FX) depending on your card

4a. Install nVidia proprietary drivers for GeForce 6/7/8/9/200/300/400/500 series cards

Select kmod, kmod-PAE or akmod from following.
kmod-nvidia

yum install kmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs

or
kmod-nvidia-PAE and PAE-kernel devel

yum install kernel-PAE-devel kmod-nvidia-PAE

or
akmod-nvidia

yum install akmod-nvidia xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-libs

akmod is good option and easy way avoid problems on kernel updates and is best and only option if you use:

• self-compiled kernel
• older Fedora kernel
• quickly changing kernels from updates-testing/rawhide

Full spec of kmod and akmod differences, check this.

4b. Install nVidia proprietary drivers for GeForce FX cards

Select kmod, kmod-PAE or akmod from following.
kmod-nvidia

yum install kmod-nvidia-173xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx-libs.i686

or
kmod-nvidia-PAE and PAE-kernel devel

yum install kernel-PAE-devel kmod-nvidia-173xx-PAE

or
akmod-nvidia

yum install akmod-nvidia-173xx xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-173xx-libs.i686

akmod is good option and easy way avoid problems on kernel updates and is best and only option if you use:

• self-compiled kernel
• older Fedora kernel
• quickly changing kernels from updates-testing/rawhide

Full spec of kmod and akmod differences, check this.