I know this is nominally a duplicate question, but I've read the other questions and haven't been able to fix my problem after many hours and attempts, so please don't delete it. Also, it seems like answers to other questions are dependent on certain situations. My situation being different from the others I found represented, here's my question.

Recently, I had Ubuntu 12.04 installed with Wubi, and it ran ok, though slowly and with occasional hangs. So I partitioned the drive and installed 12.04 in its own partition.

Now when I start it, I am stuck using 2D. I believe this is an NVIDIA bug.

My NVIDIA card is a GT 520M and my machine has Optimus.

Additional Drivers only displays my wireless driver.

Going to System Settings >> Details >> Graphics shows Driver:Unknown, Experience:Standard.

I downloaded the driver from the NVIDIA website, and ran the installer with no errors, except that the "distribution-provided pre-install script failed".

Rebooted and my screen was stuck at 640X480, which was fixed by editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf

However, I still was stuck in 2D, and nothing else had changed either.

A thread suggested Bumblebee. I tried that, and when I ran optirun firefoxI got a frozen blank screen.

After another suggestion, I checked the BIOS to try and disable Optimus.

I found and ran myriad other commands to try and fix the problem with no change.

I've just done a clean re-install of Ubuntu. From there, I:

• Installed all the updates


• Downloaded the NVIDIA driver


• Installed it


• Got screen stuck at 640X480, fixed in xorg.conf.

Recap:

• I can't get the NVIDIA drivers working


• I am stuck using 2D


• I'm an idiot

I think if the first one is solved, the second will naturally follow. If you need me to provide any other information, I'd be happy to.

From what I've seen in other threads, I think this information may help:

lsmod:

dh@donsMachine:~$ lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

nvidia              12353161  0 

snd_hda_codec_hdmi     32474  1 

snd_hda_codec_realtek   223867  1 

joydev                 17693  0 

parport_pc             32866  0 

ppdev                  17113  0 

rfcomm                 47604  0 

bnep                   18281  2 

bluetooth             180104  10 rfcomm,bnep

snd_hda_intel          33773  3 

snd_hda_codec         127706  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel

snd_hwdep              13668  1 snd_hda_codec

snd_pcm                97188  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec

uvcvideo               72627  0 

videodev               98259  1 uvcvideo

v4l2_compat_ioctl32    17128  1 videodev

snd_seq_midi           13324  0 

snd_rawmidi            30748  1 snd_seq_midi

snd_seq_midi_event     14899  1 snd_seq_midi

snd_seq                61896  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event

lib80211_crypt_tkip    17390  0 

wl                   2568210  0 

lib80211               14381  2 lib80211_crypt_tkip,wl

snd_timer              29990  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq

snd_seq_device         14540  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq

snd                    78855  16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device

psmouse                87692  0 

serio_raw              13211  0 

i915                  468745  2 

soundcore              15091  1 snd

snd_page_alloc         18529  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

drm_kms_helper         46978  1 i915

drm                   242038  3 i915,drm_kms_helper

mei                    41616  0 

i2c_algo_bit           13423  1 i915

mxm_wmi                12979  0 

acer_wmi               28418  0 

sparse_keymap          13890  1 acer_wmi

video                  19596  1 i915

wmi                    19256  2 mxm_wmi,acer_wmi

mac_hid                13253  0 

lp                     17799  0 

parport                46562  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp

tg3                   152032  0 

sdhci_pci              18826  0 

sdhci                  33205  1 sdhci_pci

lspci -nn | grep VGA

dh@donsMachine:~$ lspci -nn | grep VGA

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0df7] (rev a1)

lshw

dh@donsMachine:~$ sudo lshw

[sudo] password for dh: 

donsmachine               

    description: Notebook

    product: EasyNote TS44HR ()

    vendor: Packard Bell

    version: V1.12

    serial: LXBWZ02017134209D71601

    width: 64 bits

    capabilities: smbios-2.7 dmi-2.7 vsyscall32

    configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook uuid=16FE576B-CA15-11E0-B096-B870F4E51243

  *-core

       description: Motherboard

       product: SJV50_HR

       vendor: Packard Bell

       physical id: 0

       version: Base Board Version

       serial: Base Board Serial Number

       slot: Base Board Chassis Location

     *-firmware

          description: BIOS

          vendor: Packard Bell

          physical id: 0

          version: V1.12

          date: 07/11/2011

          size: 1MiB

          capacity: 2496KiB

          capabilities: pci upgrade shadowing cdboot bootselect edd int13floppynec int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int9keyboard int10video acpi usb biosbootspecification

     *-memory

          description: System Memory

          physical id: 1b

          slot: System board or motherboard

          size: 4GiB

        *-bank:0

             description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)

             product: NT2GC64B88B0NS-CG

             vendor: Nanya Technology

             physical id: 0

             serial: 598E126E

             slot: ChannelA-DIMM0

             size: 2GiB

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)

        *-bank:1

             description: DIMM [empty]

             physical id: 1

             slot: ChannelA-DIMM1

        *-bank:2

             description: SODIMM DDR3 Synchronous 1333 MHz (0.8 ns)

             product: NT2GC64B88B0NS-CG

             vendor: Nanya Technology

             physical id: 2

             serial: 159E126C

             slot: ChannelB-DIMM0

             size: 2GiB

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 1333MHz (0.8ns)

        *-bank:3

             description: DIMM [empty]

             physical id: 3

             slot: ChannelB-DIMM1

     *-cpu

          description: CPU

          product: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz

          vendor: Intel Corp.

          physical id: 2e

          bus info: cpu@0

          version: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz

          slot: CPU1

          size: 2GHz

          capacity: 4GHz

          width: 64 bits

          clock: 1333MHz

          capabilities: x86-64 fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx rdtscp constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 x2apic popcnt tsc_deadline_timer xsave avx lahf_lm arat epb xsaveopt pln pts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid cpufreq

          configuration: cores=2 enabledcores=2 threads=4

        *-cache:0

             description: L1 cache

             physical id: 30

             slot: L1 Cache

             size: 32KiB

             capacity: 32KiB

             capabilities: synchronous internal write-through instruction

        *-cache:1

             description: L2 cache

             physical id: 31

             slot: L2 Cache

             size: 256KiB

             capacity: 256KiB

             capabilities: synchronous internal write-through unified

        *-cache:2

             description: L3 cache

             physical id: 32

             slot: L3 Cache

             size: 3MiB

             capacity: 3MiB

             capabilities: synchronous internal write-through unified

     *-cache

          description: L1 cache

          physical id: 2f

          slot: L1 Cache

          size: 32KiB

          capacity: 32KiB

          capabilities: synchronous internal write-through data

     *-pci

          description: Host bridge

          product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller

          vendor: Intel Corporation

          physical id: 100

          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0

          version: 09

          width: 32 bits

          clock: 33MHz

          configuration: driver=agpgart-intel

          resources: irq:0

        *-pci:0

             description: PCI bridge

             product: Xeon E3-1200/2nd Generation Core Processor Family PCI Express Root Port

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1

             bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0

             version: 09

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pci pm msi pciexpress normal_decode bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=pcieport

             resources: irq:40 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:d0000000-d10fffff ioport:a0000000(size=301989888)

           *-display

                description: VGA compatible controller

                product: NVIDIA Corporation

                vendor: NVIDIA Corporation

                physical id: 0

                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0

                version: a1

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

                configuration: driver=nvidia latency=0

                resources: irq:16 memory:d0000000-d0ffffff memory:a0000000-afffffff memory:b0000000-b1ffffff ioport:2000(size=128) memory:d1000000-d107ffff

        *-display

             description: VGA compatible controller

             product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 2

             bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0

             version: 09

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom

             configuration: driver=i915 latency=0

             resources: irq:43 memory:d1400000-d17fffff memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:3000(size=64)

        *-communication

             description: Communication controller

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 16

             bus info: pci@0000:00:16.0

             version: 04

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=mei latency=0

             resources: irq:42 memory:d1a04000-d1a0400f

        *-usb:0

             description: USB controller

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1a

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1a.0

             version: 04

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0

             resources: irq:16 memory:d1a0a000-d1a0a3ff

        *-multimedia

             description: Audio device

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1b

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1b.0

             version: 04

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=snd_hda_intel latency=0

             resources: irq:44 memory:d1a00000-d1a03fff

        *-pci:1

             description: PCI bridge

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1c

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.0

             version: b4

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=pcieport

             resources: irq:17 memory:9fb00000-9fbfffff ioport:d1800000(size=1048576)

           *-network

                description: Ethernet interface

                product: NetLink BCM57785 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe

                vendor: Broadcom Corporation

                physical id: 0

                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0

                logical name: eth0

                version: 10

                serial: b8:70:f4:e5:12:43

                capacity: 1Gbit/s

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation

                configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.121 firmware=sb latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair

                resources: irq:16 memory:d1830000-d183ffff memory:d1840000-d184ffff memory:d1850000-d18507ff

           *-generic:0

                description: SD Host controller

                product: NetXtreme BCM57765 Memory Card Reader

                vendor: Broadcom Corporation

                physical id: 0.1

                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.1

                version: 10

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

                configuration: driver=sdhci-pci latency=0

                resources: irq:17 memory:d1800000-d180ffff

           *-generic:1 UNCLAIMED

                description: System peripheral

                product: Broadcom Corporation

                vendor: Broadcom Corporation

                physical id: 0.2

                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.2

                version: 10

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

                configuration: latency=0

                resources: memory:d1810000-d181ffff

           *-generic:2 UNCLAIMED

                description: System peripheral

                product: Broadcom Corporation

                vendor: Broadcom Corporation

                physical id: 0.3

                bus info: pci@0000:02:00.3

                version: 10

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

                configuration: latency=0

                resources: memory:d1820000-d182ffff

        *-pci:2

             description: PCI bridge

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1c.1

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1c.1

             version: b4

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pci pciexpress msi pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=pcieport

             resources: irq:16 memory:d1900000-d19fffff

           *-network

                description: Wireless interface

                product: BCM43225 802.11b/g/n

                vendor: Broadcom Corporation

                physical id: 0

                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0

                logical name: eth1

                version: 01

                serial: 68:a3:c4:44:81:96

                width: 64 bits

                clock: 33MHz

                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless

                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.100.82.38 ip=192.168.0.12 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn

                resources: irq:17 memory:d1900000-d1903fff

        *-usb:1

             description: USB controller

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1d

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1d.0

             version: 04

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: pm debug ehci bus_master cap_list

             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=0

             resources: irq:23 memory:d1a09000-d1a093ff

        *-isa

             description: ISA bridge

             product: HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1f

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.0

             version: 04

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             capabilities: isa bus_master cap_list

             configuration: latency=0

        *-storage

             description: SATA controller

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1f.2

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.2

             logical name: scsi0

             logical name: scsi1

             version: 04

             width: 32 bits

             clock: 66MHz

             capabilities: storage msi pm ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated

             configuration: driver=ahci latency=0

             resources: irq:41 ioport:3098(size=8) ioport:30bc(size=4) ioport:3090(size=8) ioport:30b8(size=4) ioport:3060(size=32) memory:d1a08000-d1a087ff

           *-disk

                description: ATA Disk

                product: ST9500325AS

                vendor: Seagate

                physical id: 0

                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0

                logical name: /dev/sda

                version: 0001

                serial: S2W1AMSX

                size: 465GiB (500GB)

                capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos

                configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=a45f21e9

              *-volume:0

                   description: Windows NTFS volume

                   physical id: 1

                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1

                   logical name: /dev/sda1

                   version: 3.1

                   serial: 46aa-2a25

                   size: 19GiB

                   capacity: 20GiB

                   capabilities: primary ntfs initialized

                   configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2011-08-25 21:32:00 filesystem=ntfs label=PQSERVICE state=clean

              *-volume:1

                   description: Windows NTFS volume

                   physical id: 2

                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2

                   logical name: /dev/sda2

                   version: 3.1

                   serial: 10aa-ad1a

                   size: 98MiB

                   capacity: 100MiB

                   capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized

                   configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2011-08-25 21:32:03 filesystem=ntfs label=SYSTEM RESERVED state=clean

              *-volume:2

                   description: Windows NTFS volume

                   physical id: 3

                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3

                   logical name: /dev/sda3

                   version: 3.1

                   serial: 668c5afc-182e-ff4b-b084-3cc09f54972d

                   size: 395GiB

                   capacity: 395GiB

                   capabilities: primary ntfs initialized

                   configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2011-08-25 21:32:03 filesystem=ntfs label=Don's Machine state=clean

              *-volume:3

                   description: Extended partition

                   physical id: 4

                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,4

                   logical name: /dev/sda4

                   size: 49GiB

                   capacity: 49GiB

                   capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended

                 *-logicalvolume:0

                      description: Linux swap / Solaris partition

                      physical id: 5

                      logical name: /dev/sda5

                      capacity: 3945MiB

                      capabilities: nofs

                 *-logicalvolume:1

                      description: Linux filesystem partition

                      physical id: 6

                      logical name: /dev/sda6

                      logical name: /

                      capacity: 46GiB

                      configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted

           *-cdrom

                description: DVD-RAM writer

                product: DVD-RW DVRTD11RS

                vendor: PIONEER

                physical id: 1

                bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0

                logical name: /dev/cdrom

                logical name: /dev/cdrw

                logical name: /dev/dvd

                logical name: /dev/dvdrw

                logical name: /dev/sr0

                version: 1.01

                capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r dvd-ram

                configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

        *-serial UNCLAIMED

             description: SMBus

             product: 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller

             vendor: Intel Corporation

             physical id: 1f.3

             bus info: pci@0000:00:1f.3

             version: 04

             width: 64 bits

             clock: 33MHz

             configuration: latency=0

             resources: memory:d1a06000-d1a060ff ioport:3040(size=32)

  *-power UNCLAIMED

       description: OEM_Define1

       product: OEM_Define5

       vendor: OEM_Define2

       physical id: 1

       version: OEM_Define6

       serial: OEM_Define3

       capacity: 75mWh

  *-battery

       description: Lithium Ion Battery

       product: CRB Battery 0

       vendor: -Virtual Battery 0-

       physical id: 2

       version: 10/12/2007

       serial: Battery 0

       slot: Fake

UPDATE:
Per comment, installed Bumblebee.
Am rebooting now to see if that helped.

Finished rebooting - no change.

UPDATE:

@Constantin: BIOS lists two options: "Switchable" & "Integrated". Tried them both, no go. I tried the directions you linked to - there is no change. nvidia-xconfig and nvidia-settings: done, done, and redone. No change.

Also worth noting I've since reverted all changes made following the instructions at that link.