I just built a new barebones machine, my system is running well even though most of the correct driver are not installed. I installed sysinfo from the software center and everything is generic.

The first time I built it I installed the vga driver from the motherboard disk and it would not boot up upon reboot. Since the machine seemed to work I didnt bother. After installing a couple linux games I thought I would try (0 AD, Warzone 2100) did I realize that I am not running at potential, the games have serious video drag.

Here is the hardware list:
-Asus M2N68-AM PLUS Motherboard
-AMD Phenom II X3 700e 2.40 GHz Triple Core CPU
-Crucial 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 Memory

At this point I am afraid if I install anything from the disk I will not be able to reboot, I have spent a week learning and tweaking my linux (Ubuntu 11.04) the way I want to use it.

My question is this...if I were to install all the drivers from the disk and the machine craps out, is there an easy way to restore where I was? Obviously I am a noob and any help would be appreciated.

Thank you.

K

In the linux world, you rarely install drivers from the CD that came with the hardware. Generally, linux distributions come with the drivers you need (with some exceptions, such as a handful of wireless network adapters).

If you feel you are getting sub-optimal performance from your video card, there might be drivers available from the manufacturer that are (almost certainly) newer than the ones on any CD you have. Many distributions, including Ubuntu, even package these drivers for your and provide simple methods to install them. Unfortunately, you've left out the most important piece of information we really need to know in order to help you: What video card are you using? If you're not sure, bring up a terminal and run 'lspci | grep -i vga' and show us the results.

+1 to adamk75.

I have to point out that it is unlikely that you would even have linux drivers on your install CDs, in most cases you will only find windows drivers. Also, unless you are having problems with the drivers that come with your distros repo, its best to use the repo drivers.

If its using the onboard video, then its a NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a. Hopefully not.....the old 7025 is old, and pretty slow. It should still be enough to play 0 A.D., its above the 'minimum' but below the 'recommended' video card.

The onboard card is a NVIDIA® MCP61P (6150SE). I also have a radeon hd 6450 still in the box. I have been programming for a number of years and have not done hardware except to build a new w/s for the office. So I am not up to date with hardware. I also have a radeon 9250 which is in the old machine I am replacing.

Now for the funny part...
I bought Dawn of War Chaos Rising last year and it does not run with the 9250. In the new machine I put in a spare 500g drive with I just installed last night with windows (a different post explained what I need to do to grub to get them both to run). So I do not want to put in the 9250.

The 6450 have 1g ddr3 and pci express 2.1. Which is the best card? If it is the onboard, how do I get a driver installed for it? The terminal output from above was "grep: vga: No such file or directory"

The HD6450 is definitely the best card in that collection. With both the nvidia on-board GPU and the HD6450, you have the option of using proprietary drivers from the manufacturer. In both cases, Ubuntu should offer to install the proprietary drivers using their driver manager. Typically, you would just boot up (using whichever GPU you choose), go to the driver manager (you can get there by bringing up a terminal and running 'jockey-gtk'), and simply Activate the driver for your video card.

Also, if you got an error "grep: vga: No such file or directory" then you did not run the command exactly as I gave it to you: 'lspci | grep -i vga'.

Ok, back at it....I HATE HARDWARE!

I...
.shut down
.installed HD 6450
.booted
.got nothing but blocked blue lines across top 1/4" of screen
.rebooted
.got linux boot/repair options
.selected main generic install
.monitor has "Input Not Supported" floating box!

.shut down
.plugged monitor back into legacy
.booted-got nothing

.removed HD 6450
.still nothing

Typing this on crappy xp I want to replace!

What is going on? How do I get anything back? There has to be a way, I do NOT want to start from scratch. I have over a week invested installing software and configuring the way I want it (although it has helped me learn. Been 10 years since I last used Red Hat, looks good but WTH? Still plug 'n play issues?)

K

BTW. Ran the command again and got a reply, cant tell ya what it is cuz it aint working!