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I bought a Nvidia GTX 750 to support 3x monitors, and then installed the card, machine boots to flashing cursor top left only - no input possible.

Googled the problem - added the OEM driver (I think) from a ppa. Now the system won't boot with either graphics card - original and new card get to flashing cursor (followed this guide - http://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2014/03/install-nvidia-driver-334-21-ubuntu-linux/)

Not at login screen, and Ctrl + Alt + F1-6 do nothing.

I only really need to get back into the drive to rescue data. I have a spare drive, clean install, old graphics card that I'm working from now. I can boot back into the old drive via a USB caddy is needed.

Frustratingly I encrypted the home dir, and the passphrase in a txt file on that desktop dir. (I know, I know). I have the password for the user account of course.

  1. Can I boot into the drive in anyway (at least to get the passphrase)

  2. Any working suggestions of how to get the new card to work. Clearly I'm nervous - my last attempted has seemingly lost all my work.

user966169
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Okay, boot with a live CD or DVD to access all the data on the hard drive (although that isn't possible with encryption).

If you only encrypted your home folder, we can make a small modification, remove the file with this path:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

That may allow you to get to a terminal with Ctrl + Alt + F1.

The add the Xorg Edgers PPA, follow these instructions:

Add the xorg-edgers PPA first:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

Then, update your package list:

sudo apt-get update

Source

And then install the current driver with this command:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

I have to say, I have serious problems with dual screen display, but I have 2 cards. Is yours a single or double head, and what are the ports?

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Tim
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  • "remove the file with this path" - which file am I removing?... I'm running dual head fine on old card (1x hdmi, 1x vga) - new card has 1x hdmi, 1x vga and 1x dvi dual link)) – user966169 Jun 05 '15 at 21:30
  • The file with the path /etc/X11/xorg.conf. – Tim Jun 05 '15 at 21:30
  • Ah. OK - if that doesn't work, will it kill any thing? is it better to change its name? – user966169 Jun 05 '15 at 21:33
  • yeah, rename to xorg.conf.bck idf you want! – Tim Jun 05 '15 at 21:35
  • There was no xorg.conf. There was xorg.conf.06052015. I renamed that one. I also took xorg.conf.failsafe, copied / renamed it xorg.conf and then deleted it, in case it was a hidden file I couldn't see. I was in the dir via sudo nautilus to hopefully also unmask hidden files. That didn't change anything. – user966169 Jun 05 '15 at 21:44