Installing Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu 12.04

Question

So, I've been trying to run Steam on my computer (hp Pavilion dv7, Ubuntu 12.04), but I end up with the following error :

Xlib:  extension "GLX" missing on display ":0".

After some research, I understood it has something to do with Nvidia drivers I should install.

I ended up on this page : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/Nvidia , saying I should use this command line :

jockey-text -e xorg:nvidia_current

Here is my question : What do I replace "nvidia_current" with? Or how do I find it out?

I tried going in "System settings" -> "Additional drivers", but all it shows is that I have a "Broadcom STA wireless driver" installed, it says nothing about GPU drivers.

Excuse my noobness, I'm a complete beginner and new to Ubuntu.

Oh, and my GPU is an Nvidia Geforce GT630M - 2GB

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Since you mentioned 630M, in which case I assume you are on the laptop, then you have a Nvidia Optimus technology. In this case, never try install nvidia drivers as a standalone app/driver because it just won't work.

You need a tool which will work a switch between 2 graphics card, in this case, Bumblebee https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bumblebee

To install it, first remove all occurrences of Nvidia driver

sudo apt-get purge nvidia

*BE CAREFUL!!!! * This command may remove ubuntu-desktop if you have dependencies problems. Read careful what you delete.

After that, make sure you updated your system fully, for that run

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Many users failed to update in advance which resulted in a corrupted bumblebee installation.

When everything is ready, just for a good measure, reboot the laptop.

Now to the installation part.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-325 nvidia-settings-325
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

In short, what these commands do

1. Add bumblebee and nvidia drivers repositories
2. Update the repository info
3. Install latest current driver 325 for nvidia
4. Install Bumblebee
5. Remove xorg edgers repository as it contains other experimental libraries and drivers which are not required for new users.
6. Update for a good measure :)

After that reboot and you have a graphics switcher.

To use the Nvidia card open the terminal and type

 optirun app_name 

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

First of all, remove all failed attempts to get your drivers running:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

After that, install the current Nvidia drivers:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

And don't forget to reboot.