Nvidia driver problem

[Nils Kassube]

Jon Anderson wrote:
> There is a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file but there is no driver listed in
> it. So should I still
> 
> sudo nvidia-settings
> 
> ... then you'll be able to save the settings and it will write an
> xorg.conf file for you, to make them permanent
> 
> Or will that just overwrite the xorg.conf file that I might need for
> something else

I didn't follow most of this strange thread, but from my experience with 
a new nvidia card installed this weekend, I remember this. If you run 
nvidia-settings without the nvidia driver active, it will tell you that 
you should first run the command nvidia-xconfig as root, which would be

sudo nvidia-xconfig

(in a terminal). That command will make a backup copy of your current 
xorg.conf and then write a new xorg.conf which includes the nvidia 
driver. Then you should reboot to actually activate the nvidia driver. 
In case the command nvidia-xconfig isn't found because it may not be 
installed by the Ubuntu package (I had to use the driver from the nvidia 
website, so I can't check it), the command should be

sudo /usr/lib/*/bin/nvidia-xconfig

instead.

However, if after the reboot there is only a text login screen and no X, 
e.g. because the driver doesn't really support your card, you should 
login at the console and run the command

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

to replace the xorg.conf with its backup file. Then run try the command

sudo service gdm restart

(or simply reboot) and you should have your current setup back.


Nils