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I installed the nvidia driver (installed the ubuntu-x-swat ones, updated them, got the updates for them, installed bumblebee. I restarted everytime I did those steps, so no, i don't simply need to 'restart X'. I tried to run things using bumblebee, but bumblebee was like "can't access GPU driver". So I ran nvidia-settings, it said the drivers weren't in use, so I ran "sudo nvidia-xconfig", then restarted.

Now, my login screen looks differently than it did before: it asks me if I want to load: "GNOME, GNOME - no effects, Cairo Dock - GNOME, System Default, or Ubuntu" when I log in,

but WORST OF ALL: i no longer have any kind of GNOME/unity GUI. There are no title bars above any windows, no close/minimize/maximize buttons. The unity bar is gone, and will not show up when I call it. And the top status bar is also no longer there. I can't close any windows or open anything that I don't know the command for

UPDATE: I ended up reinstalling Ubuntu, and doing the following:

1) Installed the linux sources and headers. (These are required to build the driver)

    sudo apt-get install linux-source linux-headers-3.5.0-17-generic

2) Add a PPA containing recent drivers: (How recent are these?)

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

3) Add the Stable Bumblebee Releases PPA and install Bumblebee using the proprietary NVIDIA driver:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia linux-headers-generic

And now things work. My graphics card is by default off. If I run glxspheres I get ~50fps, and if I optirun glxspheres I get ~150 fps. When I run nvidia-settings or optirun nvidia-settings, I get this: not many options

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  • I recommend moving your solution to be an Answer that you accept. Thanks for following up with your solution :)
    – Dolan Antenucci
    Commented Mar 3, 2013 at 3:42

1 Answer 1

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There are some problems with the nvidia drivers that cause this problem. It seems to be a problem with the accelerated drivers and how unity/X tries to use the GPU. Reverting to the nouveau drivers should fix the problems, or you can try nvidia-current or nvidia-current-updates. I haven't had a lot of luck so far with the newer 304.x driver modules.

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  • How do I revert to the nouveau drivers? What is the terminal command to do so?
    – Noel
    Commented Nov 13, 2012 at 5:17

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