1

I have a gtx 780 nvidia graphics card and i would like to use cuda. To do so, I need the nvidia drivers rather than xorg server drivers. The problem I have is that every time I install a driver from nvidia my ubuntu boots with black screen printing a message: prob failed [some numbers]. In order to avoid reinstalling ubuntu each time I boot in recovery mode and then I just sudo purge nvidia* and reinstall the xorg server drivers. What i have tried so far:

  • sudo apt-get nvidia-304
  • same with 352 nvidia driver(is the latest)
  • installed cuda which it automatically installs the nvidia drivers(again failed)

What can I do to make the nvidia drivers work?

1
  • Open Software & Updates app in Ubuntu and it allows to install NVIDIA driver from GUI.
    – Dmitriy
    Jan 21, 2016 at 12:12

1 Answer 1

2

Step 1 - Uninstall the existing NVIDIA drivers ...

Highlight the Ubuntu entry in the GRUB menu and press the E key.
Add nouveau.modeset=0 to the end of the linux line.
Press F10 to boot.

On login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1.
Enter user name and password.
Execute :

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*  
sudo reboot  

Step 2 - Install the latest official NVIDIA drivers ...

Highlight the Ubuntu entry in the GRUB menu and press the E key.
Add nouveau.modeset=0 to the end of the linux line.
Press F10 to boot.

On login screen press Ctrl+Alt+F1.
Enter user name and password.
Execute :

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-358
sudo reboot  

In case you consider a clean installation, which I recommend because maybe there is messed up too much, add the parameter when booting from the installation media and the first time after the installation of the Ubuntu system as well. First of all install the NVIDIA drivers following the instructions from Step 2. Everything should work fine now, so adding the parameter is obsolete.

21
  • after a clean installation of ubuntu and following step 2 i got again probe failed. Any other suggestions? This is becoming a nightmare... :/
    – KostasRim
    Dec 15, 2015 at 13:52
  • @KostasRim : Do you have Windows or any other operating system installed and does it boot correctly ?
    – cl-netbox
    Dec 15, 2015 at 13:54
  • yes i have windows 7 and everything is fine, i use GRUB to boot
    – KostasRim
    Dec 15, 2015 at 14:09
  • @KostasRim : Does Ubuntu boot when you wait for some time after "ACPI PCC probe failed" appears ?
    – cl-netbox
    Dec 15, 2015 at 14:16
  • if i have the probe failed no, but what i normaly do is a restart then boot in recovery mode, purge the nvidia drivers and use the xorg ones. The thing is that cuda supports only nvidia drivers. It drives me nuts that i can;t install them.. Any other suggestion ? Maybe its the graphics card??
    – KostasRim
    Dec 15, 2015 at 14:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .