How to “Exit X” to manually install latest nvidia drivers on Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10
I recently upgraded my Ubuntu installation to Oneiric 11.10 x64. I did a clean install and was disappointed to see that my nvidia drivers were not the latest that were available from the nvidia website. My system had 280.13 while the latest 64bit stable drivers available on nvidia’s website was 285.05
I dutifully downloaded the drivers from the website on my computer, but when I wanted to run and install the driver, I was getting a message to “Exit X” before trying to install these graphics drivers. After slapping my forehead once (because I had already encountered this issue last year too!) I promptly pressed
Ctrl + Alt+ F1
to get into Virtual Console (tty1) and logged in. Then I typed the usual
sudo service gdm stop
to disable the X server temporarily, as I’m used to do in 11.04 and earlier. But this gave rise to the error message
gdm is an unrecognized service
Another head slapping moment. I remembered that 11.10 has ditched gdm in favor of lightdm. So the command has to change to
sudo service lightdm stop
Install the graphics driver with the command
xyz@Ubuntu64:~/Downloads$ sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-285.05.09.run
Once the driver is successfully installed, you can restart X server with the command
sudo service lightdm start
to enjoy your newly installed nvidia graphics drivers.
Note: This post is relevant to the Gnome version of Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10.
For Kubuntu 11.10: To start stop x server in kde, replace lightdm with kdm
References:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/65856/how-does-one-exit-the-x-server
http://duopetalflower.blogspot.com/2011/10/startingstopping-x-in-ubuntu-1110.html
Thank you so much man! This worked for me! Cheers!
Ramael Odisho
February 18, 2013 at 7:48 am
Thanks a lot! it worked for me , except: I couldnt exit the X-server from the virtual console. I did manage to exit it from the command terminal . This can be fatal i know, but for me it just ended up in a screen with some [ok] results of a self-check and hung. From there i entered virtual console, completed rest of steps, hard-booted and Voila! everything works!
rajeshkallur
September 12, 2012 at 5:17 am
The new drivers for Ubuntu 12.10 have started giving me problems for a multi-monitor setup, especially if I connect and disconnect my laptop to and from the TV.
Neelesh Mohile
November 6, 2012 at 12:41 am
Hi! I’ve been having trouble with my NVIDIA driver, and tried to do has you told here… but, however, it says it cannot open the file… what do I do? can you help me out?
Thanks
Giselia
March 10, 2012 at 5:14 am
you might have to make it executable for it to run. Run a chmod +777 command on the file.
Neelesh Mohile
November 6, 2012 at 12:44 am
[...] How to manually install latest nvidia drivers on Ubuntu Oneiric 11.10 (neelmohile.wordpress.com) with an amazing 1600×900 screen, what they call “HD+”. Truly a work of art [↩]Private Package Archive [↩]Application Binary Interface [↩] [...]
Nvidia Optimus on Ubuntu 12.04 :: Things n' Stuff
February 19, 2012 at 5:37 am
thank you for guidance install nvidia drivers on my ubuntu.
Fashion
January 10, 2012 at 9:39 pm
easierf to use either the xorg edgers ppa or ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates it is almost fool proof.
oldsmokey
December 23, 2011 at 6:44 pm
Warning: Installing nVidia proprietary drivers with sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-290.10.run broke my entire system. I had to fully reinstall from scratch. Better to use jockey (Additional Drivers from the GUI), although is breaks the working Intel graphics driver, too.
Jan
December 7, 2011 at 12:14 am
You are right. I too started having problems with the nVidia drivers, so much that I had to purge it and install Nouveau drivers. Now it clones my screen on external monitor automatically as soon as i plug it into my laptop, which is what originally prompted me to upgrade my graphic drivers
Neelesh Mohile
December 7, 2011 at 12:36 am