Is that a system with 2 graphics cards? If so, the following makes google earth work for me:
https://launchpad.net/~bumblebee/+archive/stable
As that page mentiones, you could always try experimental drivers, although that alone didn't solve my problems.
Open a console and type:
add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
or, if you're feeling lucky, the latest-but-less-stable:
add-apt-repository ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa
then update the drivers
apt-get update
apt-get upgrade
apt-get install nvidia-current ppa-purge
and update /etc/X11/xorg.conf
nvidia-xconfig
Note that the last step breaks my system. I have restore the old xorg.conf to make it work again:
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf
The 'driver' line in the 'device' section is what's giving me problems.
For more details, see:
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates
and launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa