First go to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and find the right driver for your gpu/video card and remember where you saved it then after it finishes downloading press Ctrl+Alt+F1 and put in your logins then cd to were you saved the .run file you downloaded then run the command "sudo service lightdm stop" and after that goes though run the .run file by this command "sudo sh ./file-name-here.run" replace file-name-here with the .runs file name and follow its instructions and after it finishes with the driver install run "sudo service lightdm start" and it should send you back to your desktop with your new driver up and running.
for most ubuntu users I would highly suggest sticking with a PPA. This will be best especially if using DKMS so that when a kernel update occurs your Nvidia driver is auto updated. Good blog post otherwise.
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aramil248
12/16/2014 03:13:14 am
I think DKMS is installed by default because I never installed it but i see it running when a new kernel is installed.
If that's the case using a PPA would guarantee that the Nvidia kernel module gets recompiled when a new kernel is installed which is what I recommend to all newer linux users. I see too many forum and reddit posts about people booting into a black screen. It's because they install the Nvidia driver as you outline in this post and don't understand the ramifications of doing so.