I'm noodling around with Ubuntu 10.4.1 (usually use fedora) and want to install nVidia driver (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-256.53.run package) for an 8400 GS video card.

So in terminal, I sudo to root, and run "service gdm stop" which drops me to a blank black screen with a blinking cursor that I cannot do anything with and cannot get out of. The only thing I can do is use cntrl-alt-delete to reboot the computer.

The computer appears to be unresponsive to any other keyboard commands. It's not as if there are any "hidden" responses to what I type, since "service gdm restart" does not do anything.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

Moxieman

Try using installation disk go to commands to get service running again.

That doesn't help. My problem is that I drop to an unresponsive blank screen with a flashing cursor, so I cannot run anything except cntl-alt-delete. The whole point of running "service gdm stop" was so I can shut down the X server and install the nVidia driver.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks.

All you have to do to get to a console login is press Ctrl+Alt+F1. Then, install the NVidia driver from that console and type 'exit' at the shell. You're back in X with the NVidia driver.

Tried that. Still got the X server is running error.

I'll figure it out. Probably need to hack a setting and reboot, so x never starts for teh session at all.

Thanks.