Nvidia graphics card

[quarkhirad]

I have installed ubuntu 11.10 on my DELL XPS l502x latop. It is a core i7 2.2GHz, 8Gb ram, 2GB nvidia 540M graphics card. Now after installation i open system settings and then open system info and click on graphics. It shows the following:

Driver Intel Sandybridge mobile x86/MMX/SSE2
Experience standard

Looking at this it is obvious that my nvdia graphics card is not being detected.

I then realized that i have to install the restricted nvdia graphics driver ( this is what i did on my HP dv6767TX wich had a nvidia graphics). Thus i opened additional drivers in system settings .It says no propriety drives are being used.

How do i install the restricted drivers?

My compiz is sluggish and slow obviously because the drivers are not installed.

[kc1di]

have you done a system update? if so make sure you reboot before trying to install the drivers.

[haqking]

depends on your preference but i always use the proprietary drivers, the installer is a piece of cake and works real well

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

[SeijiSensei]

As I suspected, the machine is using "Optimus" to manage its two video cards. Do a search here for "optimus" and one for "bumblebee" to take a look at your options.

On my daughter's HP laptop, I had to change a BIOS setting so that Linux would see her ATI card as well as her Intel one.

[quarkhirad]

kc1di

i tried restarting but the problem still exists.

haqking

I went to the link and using option one i selected the following

Product type Geforce
Product series Geforce 500 series
operating system linux 32 bit
language English (us)

In the search results i checked the supported products tab and found the driver in the search result supports 540m graphics card. I then downloaded the file

NVIDIA-Linux-X86-295.20.run

Now how do i use the file to install my drivers.

[quarkhirad]

As I suspected, the machine is using "Optimus" to manage its two video cards. Do a search here for "optimus" and one for "bumblebee" to take a look at your options.

On my daughter's HP laptop, I had to change a BIOS setting so that Linux would see her ATI card as well as her Intel one.

Sorry my friend i dint understand what you said can you please ellaborate.

[kc1di]

here is a page that will outline how to install that driver file.
http://www.moonlitdog.com/nvidia_ubuntu
Still don't quite understand why the additional driver tool did not find it.

[idoitprone]

i have a nvidia optimus laptop with the same card i will help you
give me time to make a small guide

[idoitprone]

This is to install bumblebee
to use descrete card
open terminal

optirun program

these are steps to install
I have not tested the ppa since i do not use ubuntu but i use debian

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable 
sudo apt-get update
 sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia
sudo apt-get install virtualgl-libs:i386

sudo usermod -a -G bumblebee $USER

this is a kernel module to switch off the card when not in use automatically

sudo apt-get install git-core build-essential checkinstall
git clone https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/bbswitch.git
cd bbswitch
make
sudo make load

Note: i hope i got all the correct dependencies or else look at the README or MAKEFILE
https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project...ding-on-Ubuntu

[bogan]

Hi!, quarkhirad,

If you had installed the 'Other Hardware' driver it would have been nvidia-current which is v280.13, but which I do not believe supports your card.

No-one seems to have answered your query:

In the search results I checked the supported products tab and found the driver in the search result supports 540m graphics card. I then downloaded the file: NVIDIA-Linux-X86-295.20.run

Now how do i use the file to install my drivers.

Personall, I use the 290.10 driver with my GT520 card and have not tried the 295 version.
Provided that your system recognizes the Nvidia card. - does:

 lspci | grep VGA

Show both cards? - the following should help: [ substitute the correct file name.]

To Install the nvidia driver all that is necessary is to CD to the folder where you have downloaded the .run file, make it executable and run it.
First, you should add some Blacklists to the /etc/modprobe.d folder, and then, as the nvidia driver must only be installed when the GUI xorg server and screen is inactive, reboot to a Text Terminal, or shut down the Xsession from a GUI screen,

To do this check the /etc/modprobe.d folder for a file named blacklist.conf,
If it does not exist you will need to create one.

In the terminal enter:

 gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

then add:

 # Added for nvidia driver.
blacklist vga16fb
blacklist rivafb
blacklist rivatv
blacklist nouveau
blacklist lbm-nouveau
blacklist nvidiafb
blacklist nvidia-173
blacklist nvidia-96

And Save As: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf.

Reboot, preferable to Restart, and either:
From a GUI screen Terminal:

sudo service lightdm stop    # 'gdm' in place of 'lightdm' if < 11.10

OR: From the Grub Menu, put cursor on the Ubuntu entry you intend as your primary usage and press 'e' to edit,
Go to the Linux boot line where it should have ' ro quiet splash' or to: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash ",and add ' text' instead of 'quiet splash'
press Ctrl+x to boot. [ Edit: alternative wording added, if editing /etc/default/grub.]
At the prompt log in and enter password.

In either case:
CD to where the nvidia file is and enter: dir
This will check you are in the right place and enable you to copy the exact name of the file - or use 'Tab' to complete it.

sudo chmod a+x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-290.10.run  # Check the exact spelling; 'x86' is for 32bit
sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-290.10.run               # ditto

Follow screen instructions.
You may get a warning that nouveau is running and must be purged first, but carry on, that's what the blacklists are for.
When complete, reboot.
nvidia-installer, nvidia-settings and nvidia-XServer-config will be installed and you can adjust things to suit your hardware and wishes.

I do not know to what extent having 'Optimus' with two cards affects this, or what change you might need to make to the Bios settings.

Good luck.
Chao!, bogan.