A few things I see in the logs and configs.
1.
nvidia-xconfig: version 295.40 is very old, may cause an ABI mismatch during compilation, update to 313.30 asap.

2.
remove "quiet splash" from kernel cli, so you can see errors....

3.
append to the end of the line "nokmsboot vga=791 3" without the quotes. legend, nokmsboot(kernel module loading service, not for proprietary ati and nvidia driver modules. vga=791, (must remove splash and quiet, text mode 1024x768x16bit) 3 is boot to runlevel 3 (don't try to load the gui-xserver)

4.
the question is for noobs, this will reverse your custom work in no time flat! Ignore it.

Now, you got all that? try again from the beginning,

Oh yeah, make sure you have kernel-devel installed for your running kernel version.

This does not work on Debian based distributions, like Ubuntu, on those distribution runlevels 2-5 are the same.

OK, Thanks tobi(I'm using Mageia) then it should be 1, for runlevel 1. (0,1,5,6)

also, diff... xorg does not contain this section (and is missing fonts) Load "glx"
X Config Options
regards glenn

So in the end, after this expert conversation, could you please give step by step newbie details as to what I am to attempt ?

Yes, but it will take a little while to write. all the info is above, brb...

check for and if not, download and install kenel-latest

check for and if not, download and install kernel-devel-latest

download nvidia-313.30 > gfx 680 gt (for later)

set blacklist nouveau

reboot

pause at the grub menue screen, F3, then ESC to drop out of that dialogue.

use the arrow keys to navigate along that (current) command-line

remove any terms, "silent", "quiet", "splash", "vga=..." (without quotes (""), grub uses a space separated list)

add these terms to the line, "nokmsboot" "vga=794" "1"

now boot.

this should get you to runlevel 1 on your .deb system. command interface shell.

now login as root or if you have sudo setup, login as usuall. don't try to start X! yet.

type, lsmod | grep nouveau (should have no answer),

but if it is there, reboot with ctrl-alt-del.

repeat the boot process as above. and check again for the module.

type, lsmod | grep nouveau (should have no answer),

if the module is still loaded, we'll try one more term in the grub cli,

video=vesa (maybe vesafb on some systems)

once again, check if the module is loaded

Hopefully it's gone by now. ;-)

cd to the directory you saved the nvidia .run file to...type,

sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-313.30.run --ui=none -a

legend, --ui=none (plain text installer) -a (answer yes to licence)

reboot using the same grub line as was used last.

back at the cli, login and check if the module is loaded.

type lsmod | grep nvidia

if so, check your xorg.conf file for the nvidia listing in the driver section.

if all goood, or you edit it, save and (logged in as normal user) and type

startx

vga=794 (for cli text)
eventually, your grub line will need nokmsboot while using this nvidia driver.

see how you go.

regards Glenn

ps, you may or may not require this section in your xorg.conf. (but I may be wrong)
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post4934462

check with a gui, type
should give some graphics card info as well as nvidia.

I've been reading this last post on and off for almost two weeks now, but there's no way I'm going to be able to do all that on my own. I'm just a regular user, and even though I quite like linux, I'm not even close to understanding half of what is written there.

I'd just like to go baby steps at a time to make sure I'm not missing anything.
So first step:
What is kernel-latest and kernel-dev-latest ? If I do apt-get install these, I don't get anything.

I'm sorry I am not more help with your distro commands, as I use Mageia.

you may find some usefull info here.