NVIDIA 550M Drivers

Question

First to say, I am newbie, to the linux world and in situation where i have to get used to using ubuntu.

My system is: i7-2630QM 8GB Ram with 750GB HD + NVIDIa 550M (1GB)

Since i was facing problems with wubi - "slow Ubuntu", i installed it on a separate partition, of 80GB (10GB Swap, 40GB HOME, 30GB ROOT). The system was running fine, before I started using some "CFD" (Graphics Dependent) application.

I needed to use "paraview" a graphics software, to design some engineering stuff. Following the installation problems, i installed something called "messa" on my system. The software works but, now my system is "dead-slow".

Even with the computer at an idle state, the laptop, is pretty slow, and with huge annoying fan noise. I was tried running some similar applications with windows, and it turns out that its not a hardware, but has to do with the GPU drivers.

Following some forums, I installed the "nvidia-current" and now everything is the same.

I know, there are many solutions on this forum for nvidia-driver updates, but as you see, nothings working my way.

Please someone, tell me what is that I am doing wrong :(

This is the output from my terminal for the command lspci | grep 'intel'

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev b5)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1030 (rev 34)

Answer 1

Okay first clean up your graphic drivers by typing the following commands into terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-current nvidia*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg-core
sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Now add the bumblebee repository to your system and install the driver:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

Please reboot your system.

For now you have to manually tell programs to use the nvidia graphic card. You do this by typing in a terminal

optirun "Application you want to use"

for example

optirun firefox

To start an application with optirun support everytime by just clicking on the launcher icon, do the following:

Start 'gedit' as super-user by pressing Alt+F2 and typing 'gksu gedit'

Now open the 'Dash' and type in the application you want to use and drag the launcher icon into gedit.

Now look for the line that says 'Exec=' and if it's there 'TryExec='

And simply add the word 'optirun' in front of the command

You will have to do these steps for every application with high graphics demand and I would recommend your browser as well in order to have proper hardware acceleration for HD Video on youtube.

The Bumblebee project is currently in development and will eventually feature smart switching between the graphic chips so you don't have to do it manually.

Hope I could help.