How reinstall the default graphics drivers?

Question

When I installed ubuntu 11.10, 64 bits I didn't have to install any kind of graphics drivers and all 3d efects were working fine. Now, it seems to be that graphics drivers are uninstalled. I can't use unity 3d or any compiz effects.

I have a laptop Sony Vaio VGN-NW330F, my graphics drivers are intel mobile 4 series chipset integrated graphic controller.

Solution 1

The solution is here: http://board.blackbuntu.com/printthread.php?tid=31

sudo apt-get purge nvidia-*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-video-intel libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg-core
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
sudo update-alternatives --remove gl_conf /usr/lib/nvidia-current/ld.so.conf

After that I did unity --reset and all is working fine again. Thanks to Micro :)

Solution 2

in general you can run lshw -c video from a terminal to get all the basic info about your VGA, without knowing anything you can also run lspci -n and paste the output at this page http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ to get the name of the required module under a general Debian-like distribution like Ubuntu.

Keep in mind that some modules require additional configuration but usually Ubuntu automate all the tasks for you, but it's always a good thing to google a bit more about the module you are about to install under your system.

Also check di utility "additional driver" in your control panel for further tips.

PS for the same hardware several modules can be available, the site that i suggest usually display the one that are already available in the official repository, for example for an ATI VGA the site display the module radeon but you can also use the proprietary driver that you can download from the AMD website.

Comments

[Admin]

this worked also for me on ubuntu 14.04 LTS

[Terry]

user272123 is correct but the unity --reset option no longer works. Use dconf reset -f /org/compiz/ instead, then run setsid unity.

[Aikanáro]

My driver seems to be i915, how do I install it?

[Micro]

probably your problem is due to a kind of bug, try reading this ubuntuguide.org/wiki/…

[Micro]

to answer your first question the appropriate package for your driver is xserver-xorg-video-intel and you can find it in the repository.

[Aikanáro]

I don't think that's my problem. All the system, desktop, effects were working fine with the default drivers. Anyway, that's not the problem, I reinstall the driver and all stay the same. I don't know whay else I can try. I tried reset unity, remove all config file from my home directory, restore compiz to default settings, reinstall compiz and unity, but nothings works.

[Micro]

run jockey-gtk and report what happens, the VGA and the driver from Intel are well known as a bad solution for your graphics, do not expect too much.

[Aikanáro]

It tells me that privated drivers are not being used in this system. I just want I had before, when I installed it.

[Micro]

let us continue this discussion in chat

[Aikanáro]

I got an error when I execute the next command: sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-video-intel libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg-core the error was: E: Internal Error, No file name for libgl1-mesa-dri Now, there is no dash, no minimize, restore or close buttons in applications, I can't swith between applications, shortcuts doesn't work. Just a simple bar at the top with access to basic directorys of the system.

[Micro]

this mean that you have to install the package that contains libgl1-mesa-dri, to solve problems like this use the package manager and do a simple search and install all the required packages.

[Aikanáro]

Thanks so much. I go to synaptic and install libl1-mesa-dri, reboot but nothing change. So I open a terminal and reset unity with unity --reset and now I using unity 3d and the effects are enable, thanks.

[JRSofty]

This also seemed to work for re-installation of the drivers for 14.04 LTS.

[Ingch]

this works for me after I upgrade from 13.10 to 14.04. My video driver was recognized wrongly as "Gallium 0.4", so the display was poor, no sound, no hotkey (i.e. Fn+..), no wireless etc. After I did the solution above, restarted, everything goes back to track as it was in 13.10. In "System Settings" --> "Details", it shows again "Intel Sandybridge Mobile". Many thanks!

[Kalamalka Kid]

Unity reset is deprecated,

[don bright]

thx, also works for me on lubuntu 16.04 after failed nvidia proprietary install. (skipped unity-reset as i was on lubuntu without unity)

[Vivek V. Bharos]

This worked for me on a dell latitude 3410 running ubuntu 20.04. This model has intel graphics so Nvidia steps are not required Thank you so much