Problems with nVidia GT 240 card in Hardy 8.04

[shreepads]

Issue:
Unable to get high res, colour or 3-D acceleration working with 8.04 Hardy. Not a hardware problem as it works perfectly in dual-boot XP.

Setup:
a. Ubuntu 8.04 Kernel Linux 2.6.24-28 generic
- Occasional Win XP dual boot
b. Intel DG33FB motherboard
- Intel G33 Express Chipset
- Intel GMA 3100 onboard graphics card
- One PCI Express x16 connector (PCI Express v1.1)
c. Intel C2D E7200 @ 2.53Ghz
d. 2 GB RAM
e. 2 x 3 Gbps SATA drives
f. LG Flatron Wide 19" LCD monitor with DVI-D sockets
g. Corsair 400w PSU
h. Palit GT 240 1GB DDR5 Sonic PCIe card

> sudo lspci -vvnn | grep -i nvidia
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation Unknown device [10de:0ca3] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: nVidia Corporation Unknown device [10de:0be4] (rev a1)

Already Tried:

1. Plugging in the monitor to the VGA port and starting up Ubuntu. Result: Max 800x600 res, low colour, no 3-D acceleration.

2. Went to System > Admin > Hardware Drivers and nothing is listed there. Saw that the default nVidia proprietary drivers in the repository (v169.12) don't support GT 240 so instead decided to go with envy.

3. Installed envyng-core and ran envyng.
- First tried to let the system pick the right driver for the card but it gave up with an error: " Envy does not recognise your card as compatible with any version of the driver.."
- So I tried the manual install and was prompted with these choices:
" 1 - 173.14.12 (latest)
2 - 96.43.05 (new legacy)
3 - 71.86.04 (legacy)
"
- Chose 173.14.12 even though the list at the link below doesn't list my card
http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree8...ppendix-a.html
- Ran thru with the installation and reboot. On restarting the system seemed to try a few times to get it working but gave it up and presented an error message stating that it could not get the card to work and was going to start in a low res mode.
- Back where I started 800x600, low colour, no 3-D acceleration

4. Just to try it out put in the 10.4 LiveCD and booted.
- Came up perfectly with full res (1440 x 900) and colour. Also prompted me to install the nVidia proprietary drivers, which I did and the same went thru smoothly.
- Then to give them a push I tried to enable desktop effects from System > Preferences > Appearance > Visual Effects. Tried both Normal and Extra settings but both came back with a "Desktop effects could not be enabled" error.

5. Uninstalled the nVidia drivers using envyng. Uninstalled envyng as well.
- Set the BIOS to always use the onboard graphics, disabling the card, and connected monitor VGA to the motherboard socket.
- Booted up Ubuntu but got the same error stating that it could not get the card to work and was going to start in a low res mode
- Thankfully envyng had backed up my xconf.org so restored the backed up version and was back to normal, except for a new graphics card that was sitting there doing nothing except consuming power.

6. Connected the DVI cable from the monitor to the DVI slot on the card and reset BIOS to use the graphics card.
- Booted up Ubuntu and now its at 1024x768, low colour, no 3-D acceleration

Don't want to upgrade to Lucid till 10.04.1 is out...