Install nVidia Drivers to Ubuntu 9.10

I recently converted my old Windows Vista computer into a Ubuntu server after getting tired of my old virtual box virtual machine. It still had a decent graphics card (an nVidia 9500 GT) so I wanted to at least checkout Compiz Fusion. I had some trouble getting it up though. So here’s the deal.

First Go

As my physics teacher says, “Give it a go.” I did. I put the ubuntu disc in and followed it into the live CD mode so I could format my drive visually. That worked and then it was installing. Since I had wireless already enabled, Ubuntu told me that there were nVidia drivers available for my graphics card. So I gleefully obliged and selected the most recent driver for my card listed, it was the 185 build, I think. So then it completed the installation. Good. Restart.

Bad.

The Trouble

Of course nothing is that easy. I basically encountered the following: the GRUB loaded, and then Ubuntu modules tried to load, but then the GUI didn’t come up. Instead, it said to me:

ttyl

That’s it. But it was flickering too. Hoping for help via a search but no viable dice. So I was daunted and I took a break. It was sunday night, so the break happened to be for a week.

A Solution

A solution to the ubuntu 9.10 ttyl flicker is to reinstall Ubuntu. Here’s my procedure.

1. Boot into the live CD. Click install. Go through those steps. Enable wireless if you can, or if wired, it’s fine.
2. Don’t install any nVidia updates, drivers or anything.
3. Just install Ubuntu where you want it. If you have an internet connection, you can do all of the linux updates, just no drivers.
4. After installation, make sure you can restart and do everything. Make sure you can get to the Terminal via Applications Menu (top left corner) and then Utilities.
5. Now, open the Terminal. You’ll need to enter your password to run this command: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nvidia-vdpau/ppa. Once you do that, agree to any terminal prompts, and you should be good.
6. Check for new updates. You should now get the latest nVidia graphics cards updates.

This worked for me and hopefully it will work for you. If you need more help, you can always try out the ubuntu forums.