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Yes, I have read How do I install the Nvidia drivers? and yes, I have looked for years and experimented extensively with directions from many dozens of pages. My question here on askubuntu yesterday was removed as already answered in error. Please do not remove it again, as it is not answered.

GOAL: GLX working on any nvidia driver with at least a 1920 x 1080 X window display size.

STARTING WITH:

ACTIONS:

CTRL-ALT-F1
login:passwd
cd Downloads
sudo su
service lightdm stop
init 3
pushd /etc
mkdir X11.backup; cd X11; tar cf - .|(cd ../X11.backup;tar xf -) # Make a safe copy
popd
chmod +x NVIDIA.*run
./NVIDIA.*run
service lightdm start

PROBLEM 1: X screen is 640x480 with no possibility of adjustment (System Settings>Displays) offers no size changes. Small screen makes using X impossible.

CTRL-ALT-T
nvidia-xconfig

PROBLEM 2: rewritten /etc/X11/xorg.conf doesn't work any better.

RECOVERY:

CTRL-ALT-F1
login:passwd # if you logged out before
sudo su
cd /etc
mv X11 X11.nvidia
mkdir X11
cd X11.backup
tar cf - .|(cd ../X11; tar xf -)
service lightdm start

Now I am back to my beloved 1920 x 1080 X-windows, with no nvidia and no GLX.

I've been experimenting with making nvidia work on this laptop for years without success. Bumblebee, and every other thing I have tried leads to the same lack of nvidia or screen size control. I have tried numerous changes to BIOS (optimus etc...)

Please offer advice on reaching my GOAL. The more detailed the command sequence, the better. Explanation is of secondary importance, and the less there is, the easier it is to run the commands.

I will return the favor by posting a precise sequence of actions that leads to successful installation as it actually is done on my machine. It may help other thinkpad owners who I have seen struggling with this.

Community
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jlettvin
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  • Have you try this? http://ubuntuxtreme.com/howto/nvidia-drivers-installer-script/ – penreturns Oct 09 '13 at 01:35
  • Hey, I saw that you commented on my blog a few days ago. I know getting this to work is a huge pain - it took me a few months to figure it all out. "Heart Wrenching" is a good way to describe it. If you boot in discrete BIOS graphics mode can you run lsmod | grep nvidia ? Does that output anything? That will tell you if the nvidia kernel module is loaded. Then we can work forward from there – Zach Oct 13 '13 at 08:35

1 Answers1

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  1. Add this repository: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

  2. Update: sudo apt-get update

  3. Install NVIDIA Drivers: sudo apt-get install nvidia-current nvidia-settings

Chester
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  • Thank you. I did this. It did not work. I have installed ubuntu from scratch on new disks on this laptop. I have tried this each time. I've even tried numerous ubuntu's from 10.04 through 13.04. One problem is that nvidia X server settings claim the driver is not loaded, but there are more. – jlettvin Oct 09 '13 at 01:58
  • Are you using NVIDIA Quadro? You may want to read from this link. – Chester Oct 09 '13 at 02:02
  • Thank you. I have tried experiments with discrete-mode only before, but these notes look slightly different from things I've tried. I will experiment with this new direction and get back. – jlettvin Oct 09 '13 at 02:28
  • Heart wrenching. I tried going to discrete mode, installed the nvidia drivers, and other appropriate actions. This led to unusable 960 x 600 graphics and no configurability. It also led to destroyed inodes and seemingly unrecoverable conditions. I swapped back to the mode I find most usable, rebooted to recovery mode, used CTRL-ALT-F1 swapped out the newly setup /etc/X11 for a backup, rebooted, and got back to normal. Wish I had better news. – jlettvin Oct 09 '13 at 03:07