16.04 to 18.04 : Stuck in VGA : NVIDIA Geforce 6150SE nForce 430

[mark19602]

(note not a Ubuntu expert)

Just upgraded os system now i am stuck in VGA mode only. From the following links it appears that 18.04 does not support and possible will not support that graphics card and device driver (nvidia-304)

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-304/+bug/1763648
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nvidia-graphics-drivers-304/+bug/1748000

3 Options

1. Can I download the 16.04 iso and install it over 18.04?

2. Is there a cheap graphic card ($50-75) that will work (no gaming/3d needed)?

3. Somehow get it to work?



For options 3, below is a lot of random info that my be of use.

A. "System Setting -> Displays" list only "Built-in Display" with only one available resolution (640x480).

B. "Software & Updates -> Additional Drivers" says "No Additional Drivers Available"

C. The below command list nothing

mark:~$ sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
mark:~$ sudo ubuntu-drivers list


More




mark:~$ lshw -c display


WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: C61 [GeForce 6150SE nForce 430]
vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
physical id: d
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
version: a2
width: 64 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:fb000000-fbffffff memory:e0000000-efffffff memory:fc000000-fcffffff memory:c0000-dffff
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
mark@mark-BQ480AA-ABA-p6527c:~$




more



mark:~$ dpkg -l | grep -i nvidia

rc nvidia-304 304.135-0ubuntu0.16.04.2 amd64 NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.135
rc nvidia-304-updates 304.135-0ubuntu0.16.04.2 amd64 Transitional package for nvidia-304





more




mark:~$ sudo apt install nvidia-304


Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package nvidia-304 is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source


E: Package 'nvidia-304' has no installation candidate






And Finally



mark:~$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/* | grep nouv


blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
alias nouveau off
alias lbm-nouveau offoptions vmwgfx enable_fbdev=1
mark@mark-BQ480AA-ABA-p6527c:~$




Any suggestion are welcomed

Thanks Mark

[ubfan1]

16.04 does have several more years support, to 2021, so that is an option. You should be able to just install over the existing partitions holding 18.04 if you have nothing of your own on disk to lose. I had one of those nforce 430s in a laptop, which I thought could take a Nvidia 340 driver -- could be remembering wrong though.

[mörgæs]

Yes, if you run Ubuntu then 16.04 is supported to 2021. The other Buntus only to 2019.

Maybe you should consider switching to Debian?

[Autodave]

Check Amazon: they have many Nvidia cards for that price range. Before you purchase one, check Nvidia's site to see what driver is recommended. Do NOT download from Nvidia! As long as Nvidia is calling for one of the 390 drivers, you are good to go.

[mörgæs]

- or buy an AMD card if you want to get out of the closed source problem.

https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/low_end_gpus.html

[mark19602]

Solved the problem by buying a $50 Geoforce GT705 off of EBay. Probably could have gotten it even cheaper with more searching. After simple hardware install it took 30 min each to get it working under Windows 7 (driver update) and Ubuntu 18.04 (using 390 drivers).

Life is always easier with more modern hardware.:KS

Thanks to all