UBUNTU 9.04 Nvidia GeForce 8400GS Dell demension 2400.I have the version 180(recommended) video driver under hardware drivers enabled for this video card and no progress on compiz!WHY wont this work.What else do i have to do?!?!?!. I looked and looked for this issue and cant find shit on it.PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME WITH THIS...

Y'know, absent desktop fx is not the end of the world - surely not bad enough to warrant so many exclamation points?

Have you seen:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=513689
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ku...ly/044776.html
http://packages.ubuntu.com/jaunty/nvidia-glx-180

... looks like support for this card in linux has been slow to come out, what you get for relying on proprietary drivers. I've also seen trouble with this card in Windows.

Make sure that the package nvidia-glx-180 is the one that got loaded.
Try using nvidias configuration tool.

ahh, i just had a bad day, and its hard to find straight forward info on here sometimes.So, what exactly can i do?The info you gave me helps a little but i still have alot to learn. Im new to linux and im caching on to alot of different things. I had some good luck seting up differnet distros of linux but ubuntu 9.04 seems to be the only one that wont enable desktop effects.What can i do about this?

You may want to wait for karmic koala - it will have updated drivers for nvidia properly packaged. This will allow you to get used to how gnu/linux works before you deal with how proprietary drivers are a PITA on a non-proprietary system. The system should run fine without 3D acceleration for normal use.

Remember that nvidia (+ partners), and other proprietary-only companies, do not agree with the fundamental paradigms of Free and Open Source development, so we expect things to break. Nvidia are actually pretty good at keeping up with linux development, mostly, but it is very hard work for them.

Their position is that they would love to provide specs so that free software drivers can be incorporated into the kernel natively, but they have made contracts involving patents and non-disclosure agreements which means they cannot. It all gets very political from there, and you can look up the details, but it helps to understand what is going on here.

You could try to configure the driver -
Check you have the right one - easiest to do that in synaptic (under system > administration), just search for nvidia and see that nvidia-glx-180 is actually there.

open a terminal and run

nvidia-xconfig

you may be prompted to install it, do so.

This provides the nvidia standard gui for configuring their drivers. It's fairly easy to follow, and means you don't have to mess with /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If that fails, you'll need to unload the driver, and download nvidias latest linux package for your card from their web site and follow the install instructions. You'll also need to get the kernel headers. The trouble with this is that you'll have to keep doing this every time you have a kernel update.

well i have the 180 driver and running the nvidia-xconfig gave me an error.So if i download this driver from nvidias site, how do i get the kernel headers and what exactly is it?What if my ubuntu system doesnt work with this driver and i wont boot right(crash), what would i do then? Like i said, im pretty new to linux.

Which error - quote it exactly. If there is a problem running nviia-xconfig it way indicate other issues.
The kernel is part of your operating system.
"Headers" are a part of software source code needed to compile stuff.
The nvidia driver from nvidia.com needs part of it to be modified to suit your particular kernel in order to work.

Worst case - you have to boot from the live disk to rescue the system.
Absolute worst case - your computer blows up: have a large drink.

this is what came up in the terminal

Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

WARNING: No Layout specified, constructing implicit layout section using screen
"Default Screen".


WARNING: Unable to find CorePointer in X configuration; attempting to add new
CorePointer section.


WARNING: The CorePointer device was not specified explicitly in the layout;
using the first mouse device.


WARNING: Unable to find CoreKeyboard in X configuration; attempting to add new
CoreKeyboard section.


WARNING: The CoreKeyboard device was not specified explicitly in the layout;
using the first keyboard device.


ERROR: Unable to write to directory '/etc/X11'.

can anyone help me, please?

If you are running nvidia-xconfig, you need to do so as root.
sudo /usr/sbin/nvidia-xconfig

Also look at the "nvidia-settings" program. This one can help alot if you want to do something like add a second monitor.

I think part of what you are seeing is that the newer Xorg server can determine the settings it needs when it boots, so Ubuntu doesn't create an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. However that can make if more difficult to tweak your configuration because you need to start a new one from scratch.

You might want to look at the manpage for Xorg. Look at the -configure option:
This could provide the starting point, giving you the sections that nvidia-xconfig doesn't deal with.

Then check the extensions section:
Make sure you have the Option "Composite" "on" line. Desktop effects will not work if compositing is needed for them, such as the compiz effects.

If you originally had an accelerated driver, you may have only needed this section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and used the xorg.conf defaults for the rest.

well, im new to linux and im not sure where to start with this one.Also how do you run as root?

The Dell Dimension 2400 - that doesn't have AGP or PCIE, does it?

Probably means you've got a PCI card. - Is this a different situation for the nVidia drivers???

comeon i need help with this,My card works well with kubuntu but not ubuntu.Compiz is really nice to have.