hi!
i am a student and just switched to ubuntu 8.10 a week ago.
i am using nvidia geforce 8400 graphics card with 512 mb ram.
none of the visual effects worked on my pc. i installed nvidia-glx-180 from synaptic manager, but when i try for effects, it says "Desktop effects could not be enabled".
i then installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.51-pkg1.run from nvidia site.but nothing happened.
i tried running "nvidia-xconfig".but invane.....
please help me...
i am waiting for the solution.
should i try ENVY?
i have core 2 quad.3gb ram.500gb hdd.and an AOC 19" square screen monitor.

How did you "install", the .run package you downloaded?? Did you read the instructions on the page (where you downloaded the package??)?? http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d...32_180.51.html

What messages did you get when you did the 'install' of the .run file?

yes, i followed the instructions given on the site.
it then said that "you must stop X server".
i did so using commands found by google search for "how to stop x server".
CTRL-ALT-F1

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
will do that.
then go to the directory of the package and run the command given on site.
installation starts on its own.

Or you could type in "init 3", which is a better way to do it. And you say "installation starts on its own"...I had asked about what MESSAGES it generated....

> should i try ENVY?

That would be my advice, yes. It anyhow works for me.

me to.i would say switch to ubuntu 9.04 or backwards to the stable 8.04 as they both picked up my 8400 nvidia with no problems. also saybayon 4.01 and mint 5 and 7 did as well without hassle.

i don't exactly remember what were the messages generated.
i would have reinstalled it now to see the messages but my pc is not working now.
some problem occurred with x server and i tried reinstalling ubuntu.
but now i am facing more problems.
it is saying
"ERROR 17".
what should i do now.i am working on a linux related project and want to fix my pc as soon as possible.please reply as soon as possible.