Lost Unity and cannot open anything after Nouveau -> NVidia tested driver on 14.04

[derekcentrico]

Funny thing, I did a complete re-install after this occurred yesterday. I didn't realize it was the driver. Now, I know.

So, I switched to the NVIDIA tested proprietary driver and rebooted. Now, my desktop has my background and the desktop files. However, there is no unity bar. Also, nothing happens when I click on the taskbar. The power button doesn't do anything. I cannot get into system settings to revert back.

Any suggestions to save myself from reinstalling Ubuntu all over again?

All help is appreciated.

[grahammechanical]

You do not need to re-install. At the Grub boot menu open Advance Options for Ubuntu and select Recovery mode. At the Recovery menu select Resume. That should get you to a working desktop. Then do some more experimenting with the video drivers. You can also try these commands

Reset compiz

dconf rest -f /org/compiz/

Reset Unity

setsid unity

By the way, if we have desktop wallpaper a right click on the wallpaper will give us the option to Change Desktop Background. That option opens System Settings and from there we can get to Software and Updates>Additional Drivers tab.

Regards

[derekcentrico]

Okay, so resume didn't work. I got a blank screen for 5 mins or so.

I'm skipping the full reset of the desktop GUI at this point.

I tried #3. I can get into the system settings and toggle a new driver. However, it forces me to authenticate. The laptop keybaord and the USB keyboard cannot type in the box. When I click on the box, a cursor does not show in it like normal.

[derekcentrico]

Okay, I'm back in business.

I entered console, and did apt-get remove nivida-331.

A reboot went back to Nouveau drivers and everything is normal.

Now to test nvidia-331-updates.

EDIT:
And, all the latest nvidia drivers cause problems with this setup. So, I guess I'm sitting with Nouveau for now. Damn.

Anyone have an idea how to get solid NVidia drivers working with 14.04? I assume my optimus setup is the problem since NVidia drivers work fine on desktop.