Graphics driver issues with Ubuntu Gnome edition 15.10

Question

I have an ASUS N55S notebook with nVidia Geforce GT555m chipset. In addition to the notebook display, I have an external Samsung monitor that is connected via HDMI. Since the update from Ubuntu Gnome edition 15.04 to Ubuntu Gnome edition 15.10, I have the following graphics driver issues:

Issues with the Nouveau driver:

1. Occasional mouse pointer artifacts, especially (but not exclusively) when the mouse pointer is over the title bar of the desktop, the system tray, scrollbars, menues, etc.
2. I want to use the external monitor as the main display. When I change that in the "Displays" settings and press apply, the dialog asking if I want to keep the changes appears, but I cannot click any button. It looks like the screen is frozen, even the counter counting down the seconds until the changes are reverted is frozen. I can still move the mouse, but I cannot click on anything.

Since I had the artifacts issue with the Nouveau driver in previous Ubuntu releases too, I always went with the nVidia driver which fixed this issue. The problem with 15.10 is, that the nVidia driver is also not working.

Issues with the nVidia driver:

When the nVidia driver is installed, the graphical user interface does not start at boot and I end up with a hires command-line login prompt that is constantly flickering. Keyboard presses are ignored most of the time, so I cannot really login to the system. In addition to the latest nVidia driver that comes with Ubuntu 15.10, I have also added the nVidia driver PPA and installed the 355.11 driver, but the result was same.

I have also tried to do a clean install with the Ubuntu Gnome edition live CD, but the installer freezes at boot.

Any ideas how I can solve these issues?

Answer 1

Instructions for the clean installation of Ubuntu :

Boot from the Ubuntu GNOME installation media.

When the boot menu appears : Highlight Try Ubuntu without installing and press the E key.
Add the nouveau.modeset=0 parameter to the end of the linux line ... Then press F10 to boot.

When having entered the desktop start the installation process, once completed restart the PC.

When the GRUB boot menu appears : Highlight the Ubuntu menu entry and press the E key.
Add the nouveau.modeset=0 parameter to the end of the linux line ... Then press F10 to boot.

Now install the new drivers and NVIDIA Optimus support.

When the login screen appears press Ctrl + Alt + F1.

Enter your user name and password and then execute:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nvidia-355 nvidia-prime
sudo reboot  

In case you have to adjust which card to use in BIOS select NVIDIA or switchable graphics mode. Open NVIDIA X Server Settings -> Prime Profiles to switch between the intel and NVIDIA GPUs.