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Just bought a new nvidia GPU (GTX 980 Ti) and installed it on motherboard. When boot up, a low-resolution login screen appears. Typed in password, see a flash, then it takes me back to the same login screen. No matter how many times I try, couldn't login.

Some background : I have an old GTX 660 Ti on ubuntu 14.04 with nvidia driver version 340.29, which is working just fine. When I install the new card, I DID NOT re-install the driver because I was under the impression that this driver works for newer cards. Another reason is the last time I install nvidia driver, everything broke and it took me weeks to fix all the problems. I'm trying to avoid the nightmare again.

horaceT
  • 274

2 Answers2

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Use Ubuntu live CD and go for 'Try Ubuntu'.

Have to remount the system partition (where Ubuntu is installed).

sudo mount /dev/sda1     /mnt
sudo mount --bind /dev  /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys  /mnt/sys
sudo chroot /mnt

# Remove existing drivers
sudo apt-get remove nvidia*
sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
# Housekeeping
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
# Handle any errors to due incomplete apt-get operations
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
# Remove xorg/X11/XFree86 references to graphics drivers
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

Now, install the nvidia drivers we want:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
sudo apt-get install nvidia-common
sudo apt-get install nvidia-304

Now reboot the system.

Sources:

Community
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ATR
  • 403
0

First of all, like to thank ATR for proposing the solution, but for some reason it didn't quite work and I'm still scratching my head as to why. However, just a slight twist is all it takes to make it work.

Instead of booting from an Ubuntu Live CD, I boot into the target partition. When the low-resolution login screen appears, I hit Ctrl-Alt-F1, which takes me to command line. Login as either admin or limited user, then recite the same incantation,

sudo apt-get remove nvidia*
sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop # this may not be needed
sudo apt-get install nvidia-current
sudo apt-get install nvidia-common
sudo apt-get install nvidia-352
reboot

Notice that since I'm booting into the hard drive, I don't need to mount those folders as in ATR's solution.

To check,

modinfo nvidia
horaceT
  • 274