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OK, so I know that other people asked exactly the same... but I just moved from Nouveau to Nvidia using this tutorial, and the new drivers are really, really, really slow. How can I remove Nvidia drivers and recover the open ones?

green
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Xerz
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2 Answers2

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  1. If you added things to the blacklist, remove them now from the list with sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
  2. Now close your session and press Ctrl + Alt + F1 in the login menu.
  3. Login with your username and password.
  4. Run sudo stop lightdm, which will stop X11 (including the standard login menu!)
  5. Now exec sudo nvidia-uninstall
  6. Press Yes to restore from a backup.
  7. You may find errors related with non-empty folders. Ignore them.
  8. If you removed Nouveau, run sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau
  9. Now you can finish with sudo reboot
Xerz
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  • The question is about restoring the open graphics drivers (Nouveau), not about installing ``nvidia-current``. Additionally, ``sudo stop lightdm`` won't work. I think you mean ``sudo service lightdm stop``. – gertvdijk Sep 16 '12 at 12:55
  • 1) Isn't `nvidia-current` the same as Noveau? – Xerz Sep 16 '12 at 13:41
  • 2) This is my question AND my answer, so I tested myself the instructions :P – Xerz Sep 16 '12 at 13:42
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    Nouveau is provided by ``xserver-xorg-video-nouveau``. ``nvidia-current`` will blacklist ``nouveau`` in ``/etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf``. – gertvdijk Sep 16 '12 at 13:45
  • And please, use negative votes as few as possible. Comment or flag instead. – Xerz Sep 16 '12 at 14:10
  • From @gfournier: sudo apt-get purge nvidia* and installing xserver-xorg-video-nouveau broke my configuration and I couldn't fix it (although I don't try much). I'll try Bublebee – Kevin Bowen Jul 08 '13 at 03:14
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I had a similar problem. Solved like this:

  1. Boot as normal and get to login screen

  2. press Ctrl+Alt+F1

  3. Login with your username and password.

  4. type sudo stop lightdm and press Enter, stops X11

  5. type sudo apt-get purge nvidia* and press Enter - clears all nvidia items

  6. type sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-nouveau and press Enter - will install this package or tell you if it is already there.

  7. type sudo reboot

This got me back up and running (although no icons in Unity Launcher - since need correct graphic drivers) check system settings to search for Additional drivers to see if this can be addressed - although adding wrong drivers may cause the system to be faulty or freeze after login.

Eric Carvalho
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user115719
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