Installing a video card from scratch

[Mike McMullin]

On Wed, 2010-02-24 at 10:18 -0500, Hal Burgiss wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Rick <rickmorn at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'm running on an IBM Thinkcentre M50, using the built-in video hardware.  I
> > just ordered a GEFORCE 7600 GS video card and need to know what to do next.
> >
> > I know how to plug the card into the computer, but should I immediately switch
> > the monitor cable to the new card or do I have to do the software configuration
> > first to load the driver for the new card?  Will the card work at all without
> > the driver?
> >
> > I've read about EnvyNG and plan to use it.  (Is this a good idea?)
> 
> Don't know anything about that.
> 
> I just went through updating an onboard Intel video system to I think
> a Geforce 8600, and had no major problems. I just bit the bullet,
> installed new card and monitor, and powered back up without doing any
> pre-configuration.
> 
> What did happen was that Ubuntu recognized new hardware, offered to
> help reconfigure X, etc. But every attempt at this seemingly failed
> and looped me back to the initial screen. I could login, etc but was
> at a VERY low res. I tried 'sudo dpkg --reconfigure xorg (not sure on
> the syntax there) at a terminal, which did absolutely nothing. Just
> returned to the prompt with no error messages. I then poked around the
> menus, found something about hardware, and was asked about installing
> new drivers. This downloaded the Nvidia (proprietary) drivers, which
> got me back on the road to happiness.

  Assuming Gnome as the UI, System -> Administration -> Hardware
Drivers, and the Nvidia is a restricted (i.e. non-Free/Foss) driver.
BTW, check and see if the Nvidia tool box was also installed with the
driver, it's a handy tool for tweaking the video.