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I've been researching this topic a lot recently, and I've become rather confused by all the sources that exist for how to do this because they all seem to say different things. I was hoping someone could shed some light on my situation or at least point me to a correct source.

Currently I have a MSI GS 70 with an 970M. I'm running a new install of Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (with updates) and a quick run of lspci in the terminal doesn't even show that my graphics card exists. Currently its still using the Intel integrated graphics. I've tried installing the proprietary drivers from the nvidia website by disabling xorg and running the install script, but I keep getting "The preinstall script failed". I've also heard there are linux based open source drivers, but I'm confused onto how to go about trying to install them. I don't really care which one I use, so long as my computer can utilize the nvidia card. Any help one how I can get it to do this is appreciated. 

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation Device 13d8 (rev ff)

EDIT: For future reference, the software that will show if an nvidia gpu is working on a linux system is "Nvidia X Server Settings". It can easily be downloaded from the software center.

Msquared
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  • Please [edit] your question and add output of lspci -k | egrep 'VGA|3D' -A2 terminal command. And specify your Kubuntu version. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 16:39
  • See your adapter now? – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 17:17
  • @karel ubuntu-drivers devices will show nothing or worse suggests 331. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 17:20
  • @karel You trust too much these "suggestions". 970M appeared later then 14.04 was released and it can not suggest anything good. And this is not a duplicate. This adapter is supported by "ubuntu-drivers" only with Ubuntu 15.04. And 331 will not give any "better results" except not working system. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 17:26
  • @karel, this is what "ubuntu-drivers devices" showed == /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 == vendor : NVIDIA Corporation modalias : pci:v000010DEd000013D8sv00001462sd00001103bc03sc02i00 driver : nvidia-346 - third-party non-free recommended driver : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin – Msquared Jun 13 '15 at 18:18
  • @Msquared After you installed 346 it show 346. Do not change it. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:23
  • @karel It started showing 346 because OP installed driver from "xorg-edgers". But it IS smart not to suggest 331, that is true. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:25
  • Hm, well if you think using 15.04 will allow me to use the Nvidia drivers it might be worth it. I haven't really done anything substantial in my current install yet so I wouldn't be losing much. Plus after trying to install the nvidia drivers from the ppa repository as per listed below my boot up is now black screening... – Msquared Jun 13 '15 at 18:26
  • @Msquared nvidia-setting should be installed when you installed nvidia-346. There is no need to install it again from Software Center. You probably did not find it in dash. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 19:39

1 Answers1

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You can install drivers for this new adapter from ppa. It is not supported by drivers from Ubuntu 14.04 repository (331).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-346 nvidia-prime
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

Also it makes sense to upgrade kernel to 3.19 before you install the driver by

sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-vivid

If the driver does not work, you can uninstall it from console.

Press Ctrl+Alt+F1, login to console and run

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
sudo reboot
Pilot6
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  • @karel Just because nvidia made them this way. Go to nvidia site and see which adapters are supported by 331. And also which drivers support 970M. You can search both ways there. And it is wrong that ALL drivers and adapters are compatible. Nvidia tries to get them compatible as much as possible, it is good. But that's not always the case. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:01
  • @karel That is true. They recommend latest stable drivers. But you can click "beta and archived drivers" and see them all. And again not ALL drivers are backward compatible. New drivers after 304 do not support 7xxx/9xxx models. And old drivers do not support new adapters. That is obvious that a driver released in '14 does not support an adapter released in '15 in many cases. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:11
  • @Pilot6 so I ran all that, and it all seemed to work fine, but I still can find any mention of my nvidia gpu on the system. It did prompt me to launch the updater and made changes to the nvidia x server settings manager, but there still isn't any mention of the gpu in that gui either. – Msquared Jun 13 '15 at 18:17
  • @Msquared Where do you want gpu to be mentioned? Please give output of lspci -k | egrep 'VGA|3D' -A2 again. And did you reboot after you installed the driver? – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:19
  • I forgot to reboot. Upon doing so I was greeted with a black screen... So I'm wondering if maybe the nvidia drivers aren't compatible... Also, I only ran the updater after running all the commands. – Msquared Jun 13 '15 at 18:24
  • They are declared as compatible. But I did not test them. I will update my answer with uninstall directions. You an search web too regarding this specific model. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:27
  • @karel Is this a matter of faith? Canonical never update their recommendations. Thy just do not bother after release. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:35
  • I got it working! I ran sudo apt-get install linux-generic-lts-vivid and then the updated version of Pilot6's answer and it now recognizes the graphics card. I don't know whether it was the kernel, adding prime, or both that did it but it now works. Thanks you much. – Msquared Jun 13 '15 at 18:55
  • I will add regarding kernel. – Pilot6 Jun 13 '15 at 18:58