Graphics card/Driver help needed (nVidia and Ubuntu Lucid)

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

are you using nomodeset?
if not use it reboot
if still not working
generate a xorg.conf file
and post what is in it

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

looks like it is still trying to use the official ati driver fglrx did you do something special when installing it?
removing xorg.conf and uninstalling the ati driver should have done it

[Kir_B]

looks like it is still trying to use the official ati driver fglrx did you do something special when installing it?
removing xorg.conf and uninstalling the ati driver should have done it

Thanks for the response.

did you do something special when installing it?

I did absolutely nothing and now, I am completely stumped!

Kirby

[Kir_B]

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

are you using nomodeset?
if not use it reboot
if still not working
generate a xorg.conf file
and post what is in it

Thanks for the response.

How exactly does a person generate a new xorg.conf file?

Thanks again.
Kirby

[Kir_B]

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

are you using nomodeset?
if not use it reboot

How and/or where do you put nomodeset?

Thanks again.
Kirby

[Kir_B]

sudo apt-get install nvidia-settings

Okay, so I didn't think I needed to do this, but when I ran the command, it appeared as though it wasn't installed, but even after rebooting, the result is exactly the same - no options for changing the resolution.

Thanks again.
Kirby

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

Xorg -configure

will make a xorg.conf file in the current directory (typically /home/$USER)
post what is in it

gksu nvidia-settings

you should be able to set the resolution system wide then

when i switched my moms computer to a nvidia chip from a intigrated ati chip i was banging my head why is it not working i removed the xorg file and it worked but i had a resolution issue i assumed auto detect was having issues with a vga cord but a made a edit to xorg.conf and it works just fine

[Kir_B]

Thanks so much for all your help pqwoerituytrueiwoq.
Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you, but life always has to get in the way of the things that are really important!

Xorg -configure

will make a xorg.conf file in the current directory (typically /home/$USER)
post what is in it.

The following, is the result of that command:

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
    If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
    and start again.


Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support 
     at http://wiki.x.org
 for help. 

 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

gksu nvidia-settings

you should be able to set the resolution system wide then

The following is the message that comes up when I run that last command (along with an almost optionless nvidia-settings window):

You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.

When I run sudo nvidia-xconfig, I just get "command not found"

What's really mysterious, is that I had it running last night, but I couldn't get it to run my two monitors in twinview, but instead, would only run separate Xscreens. So I uninstalled it, repeated all the commands that I did to get it installed and I cannot for the life of me repeat my former success.

And I thought I was stumped before!

Thanks again.
Kirby

[mastablasta]

IF and only IF you were using fglrx drivers (proprietary drivers from ATI) before then you need to fully remove them i am not sure the commands given remove the drivery fully (i never did this). but here is a how to: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troublesho...thRadeonDriver

if however ,you only used opensource drivers and you are talking about onboard graphics and you now want to use the other one, the easiest way would be to:
go to bios and disable onboard video
boot and select nomodeset (if necessary -if it doesn't want to boot) - to get into grub and get boot parameters hold shift on boot.
once in desktop, install proprietary nvidia driver for the new card


additionally drivers in linux are often part of kernel. so to get newer opensource drivers and support you need newer kernel, which means upgrading to latest version. or adding a PPA.
one more thing you can do if newer proprietary drivers are available - you can donwload them form their website and install them manually. just using 10.04 and installing them from jockey will (i think) only install same old version of drivers. to get a new version you owuld need to do it manually. someone can maybe make a better comment on this issue, but i really think this is how things go.

[Kir_B]

Thanks so much for the response mastablasta.

IF and only IF you were using fglrx drivers (proprietary drivers from ATI) before then you need to fully remove them i am not sure the commands given remove the drivery fully (i never did this). but here is a how to: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troublesho...thRadeonDriver

I was very optimistic that the commands given in that last link would finally address the problem, as that appeared to do a more thorough job of removing the fglrx drivers, but after doing the commands in the "Problem: Need to purge -fglrx" section, I tried to once again get the nvidia drivers installed with the result being that I get the driver installed, but the nvidia- settings window refuses to give me an option to change the resolution.

if however ,you only used opensource drivers and you are talking about onboard graphics and you now want to use the other one, the easiest way would be to:
go to bios and disable onboard video
boot and select nomodeset (if necessary -if it doesn't want to boot) - to get into grub and get boot parameters hold shift on boot.
once in desktop, install proprietary nvidia driver for the new card

During the past year, I've tried Ubuntu's ATI drivers several times hoping that Canonical would at some point upgrade the driver to a newer version that fully supports the hd 4290 graphics chipset, but every time I tried them, I was forced to put up with an annoying message in the bottom left of my desktop (with no way to disable it), so each time, I wound up uninstalling the driver and went back to the open source driver.

I did as you said, and disabled the onboard, but I get the exact same result. I've also been using the nomodeset option, with every attempt, but again, with the exact same results.

additionally drivers in linux are often part of kernel. so to get newer opensource drivers and support you need newer kernel, which means upgrading to latest version. or adding a PPA.

I am indeed using the latest kernel.

one more thing you can do if newer proprietary drivers are available - you can donwload them form their website and install them manually. just using 10.04 and installing them from jockey will (i think) only install same old version of drivers. to get a new version you owuld need to do it manually. someone can maybe make a better comment on this issue, but i really think this is how things go.

I'm really reluctant to do it this way, as I've read that this may complicate things down the road, and at the same time, I have absolutely no need to be on the bleeding edge.

Thanks again for the information. I really appreciate the time you put into your response.

Thanks again.
Kirby