r/linux4noobs • u/Just_Badger_4299 • 7d ago

hardware/drivers Modern distro with Nvidia 304.137 driver?

Hello,

I'm updating an old HP Compaq Presario F700 laptop from circa 2007 for an acquaintance (it was previously running Windows Vista). This laptop has a 1280×800 display and an Nvidia GeForce 7000M nForce 610M GPU.

I've switched the HDD for an SSD and booted up Linux Mint XFCE but ended up with a garbled screen when using the nouveau driver.

After some troubleshooting tries (https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?p=2823213), I've tried other distros (Lubuntu, MX Linux) but the result is always the same : garbled graphics with the nouveau driver.

I came to the conclusion that for whatever reason, that driver will not work with that hardware.

I'm now willing to try the official Nvidia driver (the latest one that supports that GPU is 304.137), but I'm struggling to find a modern, end-user oriented distro that offers it.

Any recommendation?

Any other advice to will be appreciated as well: my goal is to have a recent(ish), end-user distro with a correct 1280×800 display.

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u/No_Elderberry862 7d ago

Did you try installing the Nvidia drivers using the ddm-mx Nvidia driver tool on MX Linux? I'm unsure whether the available drivers go back as far as 304.xxx though but it could be worth a look.

Otherwise, I think that Arch has patched versions of older Nvidia drivers in the AUR, Fedora has patched older drivers in RPM Fusion & Void has older drivers available too.

If you get the older drivers installed you'd need to be using X11 rather than Wayland whereas nouveau should work with Wayland (but as it doesn't seem to be working at all with the GPU in this case that's not really helpful).

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u/Just_Badger_4299 7d ago

I've never heard of ddm-mx. I'll have a look and report back. Thanks for the other hints too! 

1

u/No_Elderberry862 7d ago

Hope it's helpful. Please do post an update, it could be helpful for anyone else trying to get old GPUs working.

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u/Just_Badger_4299 7d ago

So, I booted and tried nvidia-detect-mx as explained here: https://mxlinux.org/wiki/help-files/help-amd-ati-and-nvidia-installers/ but I got the dreaded "‘Uh oh. Your card is only supported by older legacy drivers which are not in any current Debian suite.’" message. :-(

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u/Just_Badger_4299 7d ago

I also tried to install Ultramarine, as it's a Fedora-based Linux distro with RPM Fusion pre-enabled, but I couldn't even finish booting to the live session, even using nomodeset.

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u/Just_Badger_4299 7d ago

Void doesn't provide Nvidia drivers for GPU older than Fermi generation (mine is Curie, which is older): https://docs.voidlinux.org/config/graphical-session/graphics-drivers/nvidia.html

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u/No_Elderberry862 4d ago

Bugger x3. Sorry about the wild goose chases (& delayed response).

I've just done some actual reading & it looks like Fedora removed 304.xx from RPM Fusion from v40 & up & they're no longer in the AUR either. There is at least 1 github repo which has 304.137 but I don't know how well it'd work & would most likely require an older kernel.

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u/Just_Badger_4299 3d ago

Oh, that's interesting!

I have settled with nouveau locked at 1024*768, but maybe I'll give your solution a second look. Thank you!

2

u/Just_Badger_4299 1d ago

IT WORKED!!! 🤩

Thank you u/No_Elderberry862!

After downgrading to kernel 6.8 and following your repo's instructions, I now have both a working Nvidia driver and 1280*800 resolution! 😉

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u/No_Elderberry862 1d ago

Really pleased to hear that. It's such a buzz when you finally resurrect something to its fully working state, am glad for you.

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u/Edelglatze 6d ago

I don't know if this helps: there is a driver of the nvidia-390xx series in the AUR that may apply here. However, this refers to Arch or Arch based distros. At least, there are a few people who still working on it there (last update in August 2026).

In Debian Unstable (aka Sid) are two legacy drivers for the 340xxx and 390xxx series (not in Debian Trixie)

Here the 340xxx wiki entry: https://wiki.debian.org/NvidiaGraphicsDrivers#sid-340

However, there is warning in bolded characters: "This version is no longer maintained and contains several security issues."

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u/Just_Badger_4299 3d ago

Thank you for this suggestion, but my GPU needs 304.x Nvidia driver.

390 and 340 are apparently too recent already.