Can't get Nvidia graphics to work

**jack169** · February 23rd, 2016

I have a laptop with an Nvidia GeForce 8400m GT. As of now, all of the windows lag when I drag them or scroll. The desktop resolution also doesn't match the display's. I went to "Additional Drivers" and installed the 340.96 binary, then rebooted, but everything stays the same. If I go the X Server Settings, it doesn't show any kind of display or graphics options. It just has one tab with a few other options like "Display Status Bar". I've tried to manually download a driver from the Nvidia website and and install that, but it gives me
The kernel header file

Code:

 '/lib/modules/4.2.0-30-generic/build/include/linux/version.h' does
         not exist.  The most likely reason for this is that the kernel source files in '/lib/modules/4.2.0-30-generic/build' have not been
         configured.

Can anyone help me? I just want to get the drivers up and running so that the resolution is correct and the windows don't lag.

**Geoffrey_Arndt** · February 24th, 2016

Am not an expert on closed source nVidia drivers (I use all Intel PC's) . . . but, if I had an nVidia or AMD machine I'd consider two changes if having chronic problems with standard "additional drivers" method:

1). Switch to Xubuntu which may not require use of any proprietary video drivers, and/or,
2). Use the xorg-edgers PPA (but first purge ALL nVidia drivers you installed before)

Good Luck!

**SeijiSensei** · February 24th, 2016

Do not try installing drivers from NVIDIA's site. That's just going to cause you pain.

You don't tell us what Ubuntu version you're using, but it's probably not 14.04LTS since you seem to have a 4.x kernel.

With an 8400 card, you might want to use the older 304 driver which you can install with

Code:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-304

That driver is available for 14.04LTS; I don't know if it is still available in later Ubuntu versions.

You can see the array of drivers available to you with the command:

Code:

apt-cache search nvidia | grep 'binary driver'

For 14.04, I see the ancient 173 version, and 304, 331, 340, and 346:

Code:

$ apt-cache search nvidia | grep 'binary driver'
nvidia-173 - NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 173.14.39
nvidia-304 - NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.128
nvidia-304-updates - NVIDIA legacy binary driver - version 304.128
nvidia-340 - NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.93
nvidia-340-updates - NVIDIA binary driver - version 340.93
nvidia-346 - NVIDIA binary driver - version 346.96
nvidia-346-updates - NVIDIA binary driver - version 346.96

You will also see the "NVIDIA X Server Settings" application installed which you should use to select resolutions.

**NikTh** · February 24th, 2016

I agree with SeijiSensei,
but first would be better to completely uninstall any kind of Nvidia binary you have installed until now.

Code:

sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidia-*
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then follow instructions in above SeijiSensei's post and install the 304 driver. Also don't forget after a successful installation to run the command

Code: