Updated Graphics Driver-now cannot load Ubuntu

Hi Cori

If someone else responds with the graphical way of doing this, take that approach (it's new and apparently easier). I'm old fashioned, but not so old that I do manual xorg.conf editing.

When you start your computer, what happens if you press ctrl+alt+f1? This normally flips you from the graphical mode to the first listening terminal (and f2 is the second.... f7 and up are back in the graphical environment, should you want to switch back).

Try this:

Boot the computer, when it says "No Signal" press ctrl+alt+f1
Log in at the text command prompt
type this:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

(careful when you type this, it's three different words, two have hyphens in them). This allows you to reconfigure the xorg.conf file using a text-mode navigation.

When it comes to choosing the driver it will present you with a list. A hint: "nvidia" is the closed source module which I find breaks quite often. I would imagine this is your problem right now. "nv" is the open source driver which doesn't do 3d, but is rock solid stable.

Also, if you feel comfortable editing your xorg.conf, you should be able to find this section:
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Failsafe Device"
        Boardname "vesa"
        Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
        Driver "nvidia"
        Screen 0
        Option "AddARGBVisuals" "True"
        Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
        Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

(yours may differ slightly). Change the Driver "nvidia" to Driver "nv"

Let me know if this helps!

Thanks for your reply Allen

I attempted to get a command prompt as many ways I could think of... ctrl+alt+f1 at No Signal to other areas. ctrl+alt+f1 at a couple of other places in the boot up process

both ways it runs through a whole bunch text. and ask for a control D, which I do then it does a bunch more text then... blank screen.

Sometimes I can get it to ask for a log in, as soon as I type in my user name, blank screen

Is there a way to get a command promote with no drivers loaded?

Again thanks!!
Corisa

I also tried a new monitor just in case that was the issue

Let's try to supress the splash screen on boot, and see if that helps (on one of my systems, I got a black screen during boot and the screen went to sleep, then when the desktop came up, the screen woke up)

When you turn on the computer, you should see the GRUB countdown. ("Press ESC in 3 ... 2 ... 1") This is right after the BIOS, but before your screen goes blank. Press Esc to interrupt this. Then highlight the first line and hit 'e' for edit, then scroll down to the line that says Kernel, and press e to edit again.

At the end of this line, you will see a
quiet nosplash --

at the end. Remove these three things and hit enter. Press b to boot. See if that helps with the screen disappearing, and if at the end of it you can get to the ctrl+alt+f1. Also it will scroll by quickly, but if you can look for any errors (and get the gist of it), especially something that mentions the graphics

This does not save any changes this is only for testing. The next time you restart, it will be back to what it was before you started.

Reference:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

 I did this but must have messed it up due to my inexperience... now I can only get to the command prompt and it will not load up the graphic interface.. I think I done killed it

Is there a way to either repair, reinstall or something now to save as much as possible on my old settings and programs?

Cori

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Boot Ubuntu in Recovery Mode, then execute:-
dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

After that is done, check if the GUI works by executing:-
startx

If the above commands can bring the GUI back then we can move on to getting your Ubuntu install to use the Nvidia driver properly.