Im trying to install my video card on my linux mashine but every tim e i try i get a message saying:

Error: You appear to be running an X server; please exit X before
installing. For further details, please see the section INSTALLING
THE NVIDIA DRIVER in the README available on the Linux driver
download page at www nvidia com.

th readme it states says:

BEFORE YOU BEGIN DRIVER INSTALLATION

Before beginning the driver installation, you should exit the X server.
In addition you should set your default run level so you will boot to a
vga console and not boot directly into X (please consult the documentation
that came with your Linux distribution if you are unsure how to do this;
this is normally done by modifying your /etc/inittab file). This will
make it easier to recover if there is a problem during the installation.
After installing the driver you must edit your X config file before
the newly installed driver will be used. See the section below entitled
EDITING YOUR X CONFIG FILE.

Can anyone help me with this problem?

In your /etc/inittab file, change the line:
id:#:initdefault
to
id:3:initdefault

# will probably be 4 or 5
then restart your computer and from this console, install the nvidia drivers. you should be able to get into x by running startx from the vga console

I cant seem to change anything in the file it says read only

run 'su' then type in your root password.

im quite new to linux so i dont understand where to write su?

open a terminal, type su, your root password, then type:
kedit /etc/inittab
or
gedit /etc/inittab

or if neither of those work
pico /etc/inittab

Type "su" ( means superuser) in a terminal, without the quotation marks, it will then ask for your root password, go ahead and type that in. You will now find yourself with root permission. Type "telinit 3" this will stop your X server, and take you to runlevel 3. Now that you are logged in with root permission and the X server isn't running you can go ahead and run the Nvidia install script . You do have to have your kernel source installed for this to work. If you have any more problems post them and we'll try to help.

I thought su meant switch users, and just defaulted to root because it's used most commonly - after all you can use it for other users... anyway I told him to change initdefault because what he posted said he had to stop using graphical login - don't know why, it works fine for me.