How-to Install Nvidia Drivers on Ubuntu 11.10
Submitted by moonlitdog on Wed, 12/14/2011 - 00:57
How to install nvidia drivers on Ubuntu (11.10)
Because no other site seemed to have the answers that I needed
1) add "nomodeset" to the grub bootloader (i.e at the end of the first linux entry)
> sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg
linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-14-generic root=UUID=... ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 nomodeset
*every kernel upgrade will rewrite grub.cfg, so if you upgrade your system and it hangs on startup, replace nomodeset.
2) Download the current nvidia drivers from the official site
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
3) reboot, once your back to your login page or desktop press "ctrl-alt-f1" to get to a terminal screen, login.
4) Stop X by
> sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm stop
5) Navigate to your download folder and type
> chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-290.10.run
then
> sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-290.10.run
6) That should do it, to start X and see if it worked
> sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm start
7) You can uninstall this driver by
> sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-290.10.run --uninstall
Background Image at Boot
I also noticed a new feature that allows you to display a background image at boot, edit grub by
> sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg
then find/edit the line "if background_image /usr/share/images/desktop-base/background1.png; then"
dont link to your home directory if it is encrypted, move whatever image into the above directory.
Screen Resolution at Startup
Also if you want higher resolution during boot, since the nvidia drivers dont support it by default
> sudo nano /etc/default/grub
find/uncomment/edit to whatever screen resolution> GRUB_GFXMODE=1600x900
run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
Thanks
Worked great but my installation was missing the linux header files while installing the nvidia driver so it failed.
If others get this error, after the nvidia installer exits, run the following command:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-3.5.0-17-generic
Then run the nvidia installer again (you can press the up arrow twice)
Continue to step 6
:)
Problem Solved
Thanks for posting this. I spent all morning today trying to install the drivers. I was in the same situation as you, searching around and not finding an answer. I got it working on Ubuntu 11.10 on a Dell XPS M1530 Laptop. The day before I discovered that it had the GeForce M8800 chipset, which means I may be able to run games on it. I also tried several times to connect it to other displays, but it didn't work. I have a better chance of getting it to work now. Thanks again.
nvidia
i really dont get whatever is being said here. i dont understand the code or commands that you people are talking about isnt there a simple way like we do with windows just clicking the program?
nvidia
The easy way would be to activate the nvidia driver through 'Additional Drivers' which can be found through the unity lens or under 'System settings'. It might even be enabled by default to allow you to run ubuntu's unity desktop with 3d acceleration instead of the 2d fallback. In that case you shouldn't have to do any of this.
These command line instructions allow you to use the most up-to-date drivers with a little bit of hacking and command line use in terminal. To be as concise as possible with these instructions I am assuming some familiarity with the command line, I do have new 12.04 instructions to be posted soon which are more thorough.
The drivers dont install like windows by double-clicking them as an executable. The first four steps above is getting the new driver and disabling the old one at boot, step 5 is compiling and installing the new driver and step 6 is going back to the desktop to see if it worked.
Im not sure what stage your at but the main spot people get mixed up is hacking the grub bootloader, but it is easy, in terminal 'sudo nano /boot/grub/grub.cfg' should open the grub file using the nano text editor, find the line that looks like 'linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-14-generic root=UUID=... ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7' and add ' nomodeset' to the end of the line, with a space in front of it. save and exit with 'ctrl-o'. Now when you reboot, ubuntu will start up with a minimal display driver, which wont conflict with the new nvidia driver that you will be installing. so far so good?
Instructions
I don't understand these instructions. The grub.cfg file is long and I am not sure where to put nomodeset.
Additionally, I was able to install the latest drivers for the graphics cards by downloading them from nvidia and then booting into recovery mode, mounting the drives, and installing the drivers.
I've also got bumblebee 3.0 to work on the system.
What I am trying to do is fix the X install so that I am running Unity in 3d with my Nvidia GT 520M graphics card. Below is a list of the problems I am currently trying to resolve.
/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test
Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".
I don't know what to add to my system to get this support. It seems the nvidia driver doesn't include or link to the X11 openGL libraries. I don't know how to fix it yet.
Installing the FGLRX package doesn't help and DOES break my Bumblebee installation.
I am currently able to run Unity in 2d and execute 3d applications within Unity by executing them through the Optirun application. This utilizes the Nvidia graphics driver. Every attempt I have made to run Unity 3D has failed and usually results in me needing to delete the /etc/x11/xorg.conf file to allow my Ubuntu to boot. Either the system will hang during the boot when configured to use the Nvidia accelerator or simply display nothing the screen. When it displays nothing I had to boot from a cd and reinstall Ubuntu.
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Jeremy
if the install went fine then
if the install went fine then the first step is probably adding 'nomodeset', it disables your default video drivers in favor of the newly installed nvidia driver. A temporary solution is to try adding it on startup, where you selected recovery mode from the grub bootloader, select the default boot option and hit 'e' for edit, this opens up the boot parameters, find the line that starts with 'linux....' (probably second from last), and add 'nomodeset' to the end of this line, then press the f10 key to boot. If all goes well it should boot with the nvidia graphics splash screen just before login, and try unity 3d.
if this works then go back and edit grub.cfg so you dont have to deal with grub on every bootup.
btw the hanging on boot problem is also a symptom of not having the 'nomodeset' in place. so it sounds like you are close to the solution, but if this doesnt work, then we'll have to try something else
Trackback
Hi, thanks for the heads up this was really helpful. I've included you as a reference in my Ubuntu 11.10 and Cuda 4.2 guide which can be viewed here.