Nvidia driver installation

Also, I just found a deb file for the NVidia driver 310.44. I downloaded the file and attempted to install it through the software centre but there was an error message which said, that the package conflicted with the NVidia 304 driver and the 304 Updates.

Is there a way to fix this?

Thank you.

If you use the manually downloaded file from nvidia, you will need to reinstall it each time you update your kernel. So if your current kernel is fine then I'd suggest apt-pinning it so it doesn't update.

If you either drop to TTY1 and stop the DM you can install it there (the X server needs to be stopped) or reboot to root recovery mode, remount the file system writable and run it there.
Either way you need to set the file as executable using chmod or right clicking the file and clicking properties.

There is also the Xorg edges PPA. It has the very latest drivers and Xorg versions but can be unstable.

I am sorry, but I do not understand anything you have said.

I do not understand a lot about Ubuntu. I am trying to learn but at best, I can only work with things that are in the deb format that install themselves.

Can you give me instructions that are a little more easy to follow?

thank you,

1. If you try downloading and installing the driver from the NVidia pages (in the form of a driver-versionnumber.run package), you have to manually re-install that driver package whenever Ubuntu provides a new version of the kernel.

2. There is a ppa https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa with updated versions of the NVidia drivers for Ubuntu in a form that the re-installation for a new kernel version is automatically executed.

You might try adding the xorg-edgers ppa as an additional repository source to your system, and then install a driver suitable for your system.

Hello,

Ok, I have the edgers ppa as you have said above. it gave me a package to download
here is the link,

nvidia-graphics-drivers-331_331.113.orig.tar.gz

But I do not know how to install a tar.gz file.

Any ideas how to do this/

Thank you.

You should not download the orig.tar.gz file, but install a suitable driver with the normal package management tools.

Issue the commands

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update

and then run the command

ubuntu-drivers devices

What is the output?

Here is the output of the above command,

$ ubuntu-drivers devices
== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0 ==
model : G86M [GeForce 8400M GS]
modalias : pci:v000010DEd00000427sv00001028sd00000228bc03sc00i00
vendor : NVIDIA Corporation
driver : xserver-xorg-video-nouveau - distro free builtin
driver : nvidia-304 - distro non-free
driver : nvidia-340 - distro non-free recommended
driver : nvidia-340-updates - distro non-free
driver : nvidia-304-updates - distro non-free

== cpu-microcode.py ==
driver : intel-microcode - distro non-free

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:0c:00.0 ==
model : BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY (Wireless 1395 WLAN Mini-Card)
modalias : pci:v000014E4d00004315sv00001028sd0000000Bbc02sc80i00
vendor : Broadcom Corporation
driver : bcmwl-kernel-source - distro non-free

The Ubuntu tools recommend using the nvidia-340 drivers

You should be able to install it with software-center.

I installed the 340 drivers. it crashed my system.
I also installed th 356 drivers and did the same thing.

Maybe I did not install them correctly or my system does not like them. I don't know.

I had the 310 drivers and it worked fine with the system. The 304 drivers make it run a little slower.

I tried to install the 310 drivers and have the deb for it but I keep getting a message like this
when trying to install it.

I opened the Transitional Package for NVidia-310 Updates in the software center and the
results said,

 " Error - Conflicts with the installed package 'NVidia-404 updates' conflicts with the installed package 'NVidia-304 updates' ".

Is there a way to fix this?

thank you

How did you try installing a 356 version? I didn't even know that such version exists, thought that 355.60 is the highest number currently existing.
I told you that the only way of installing the NVidia drivers supported by the Ubuntu community is with help of the package management programs, i.e. software-center, synaptic, apt-get and similar.
I do not see any offer for a 356 driver in the package directory, so I have to assume that you again left the supported path and started downloading some files from a foreign source. We cannot help with that. Sorry, but you have to solve your problem with foreign software yourself.

What is the output of

uname -a
lsb_release -crid
dpkg -l 'nvidia-graphics-*'

If you provide more details on 'it crashed my system', maybe we can help further.

i am not using any foreign software. I only use the deb software.
I don't try to run anything in my computer that is not specifically designed for Ubuntu.

iI know I said 356 driver but I am not sure what that specific driver was as it has been removed. I only know it was a 350 series.

the output for above commands is as follows.

3.19.0-26-generic #28-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 11 14:16:32 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lsb_release -crid
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 15.04
Release: 15.04
Codename: vivid

$ dpkg -l 'nvidia-graphics-*'
dpkg-query: no packages found matching nvidia-graphics-*

The fact that something comes packed as .deb file does not automatically imply that it is software supported by Ubuntu.

Apparently one of my commands did not work as expected, so please re-try with

dpkg -l | grep nvidia

Ok,

Here is the new output,

$ dpkg -l | grep nvidia
rc nvidia-304 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125
ii nvidia-304-updates 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125
rc nvidia-352 352.30-0ubuntu0~xedgers15.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA binary driver - version 352.30
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-304 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
ii nvidia-opencl-icd-304-updates 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-opencl-icd-352 352.30-0ubuntu0~xedgers15.04.1 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
rc nvidia-prime 0.8.1 amd64 Tools to enable NVIDIA's Prime
ii nvidia-settings 355.06-0ubuntu0~xedgers15.04.1 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

sudo dpkg -P nvidia-304 nvidia-352 nvidia-opencl-icd-304 nvidia-opencl-icd-352 nvidia-prime
sudo apt-get --purge autoremove

Ok, followed the above command.

system rebooted ok with no problems. Seems to be running fine.
Which driver did you update? Do I have the 352 driver now?

Thank you

Hello,

I am still using the NVidia driver 304. I thought the above commands would change ti to the 310.44 driver or something better.

It is working ok but I think a little higher driver handles the VlC video player better.

What do you think?

Thank you

Hello,

Well, I am still trying to update the drivers. In my software center there is a NVidia 310.44.
I tried to open this driver and install it but I was given the message;

Error: Conflicts with installed package 'nvidia-304 updates' conflicts with installed package
'nvidia-304 updates.

Is there a way to fix this?

Thank you

If the drive has a higher number, that does no automatically tell that it is "better".

To identify which driver you have installed, please provide the output of

sudo lshw -C display
dpkg -l | grep ' nvidia'

The reason i wanted to put in a higher driver etc. 310.44 is because I had this driver before and it worked a lot better than the 304 driver. The videos played better and my system ran a little more efficiently,

Here is the out put from the above commands.

 *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: G86M [GeForce 8400M GS]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:fd000000-fdffffff memory:f4000000-f7ffffff memory:fa000000-fbffffff ioport:df00(size=128) memory:fea00000-fea1ffff

 dpkg -l | grep ' nvidia'
ii nvidia-304-updates 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.125
ii nvidia-opencl-icd-304-updates 304.125-0ubuntu2 amd64 NVIDIA OpenCL ICD
ii nvidia-settings 355.06-0ubuntu0~xedgers15.04.1 amd64 Tool for configuring the NVIDIA graphics driver

Thanks,

What output do xou get for the command

sudp apt-get install nvidia-340

I tried the 340 driver, It crashed my system as did the 352. Unless I installed it wrong,
these two drivers do not work and the only one that has worked was the 310.44

How did this "crash my system" look like?

I downloaded the NVidia 352 driver and rebooted the computer. when the computer turned back on, it came to the screen where I put in the password for the hard drive. When I entered the information, it would take me to the log in screen for the desktop. I keep putting in my password but it kept telling me the password was wrong.
I tried opening the guest guest desktop but it would not open either.
I went into the bios and disabled the password but that did not work either.

So, finally I looked on the internet for some kind of command to remove the NVidia driver.
I found a command and removed the driver and it reverted back to the Nouveau? driver.
I rebooted again and everything worked fine again.
The Nouveau? driver makes my system run too slow. It takes forever to do a simple thing like open a page or application. So, I went back to the NVidia driver 304 updates. While it is still a little slow, it is much better than the Nouveau.
I did have the NVidia driver 310.44 and my system worked much better but when I try to download this, I get a message saying: Error, this package interferes with the 304 updates package. So, I do not know how to fix this.

When I downloaded the NVidia 340 driver and installed it, nothing worked, not even passwords. The only thing I could do was to boot into the bios. Other than that, when I turned on the computer it went to a black screen and I could see nothing.
After looking around on the internet, I noticed there was a lot of complaints about this 340
driver. It seems it has crashed a lot of systems.

So, if there is a way to change this to the 310.44 driver, it would be great. If not, as
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said, if it is not broke, don't try to fix it.
So, if it cannot be changed, then I will just leave this alone for now.

Thank you.

Two remarks:

1. I cannot image how installing a display driver would interfere with the keyboard. So it is incomprehensible for me how you would get the "wrong password" response after the driver installation.

2. If the system complains about package interference when you try moving directly from the 304 to the 310 package, you might try switching from the 304 package to the nouveau driver first, then purge everything related to the 304 driver from the package management system, and then try installing the 310 driver.