How to Install NVIDIA 358.16 Driver in Ubuntu 15.10, 14.04

Last updated: November 21, 2015

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NVIDIA 358.16, the first stable release in NVIDIA 358 series, has been announced with some fixes to 358.09 (Beta) and other small features.

NVIDIA 358 added a new nvidia-modeset.ko kernel module that works in conjunction with the nvidia.ko kernel module to program the display engine of the GPU. In a later driver release, the nvidia-modeset.ko kernel driver will be used as a basis for the mode-setting interface provided by the kernel’s direct rendering manager (DRM).

Thew new driver also has new GLX protocol extensions and a new system memory allocation mechanism for large allocations in the OpenGL driver. New GPUs GeForce 805A and GeForce GTX 960A are supported. NVIDIA 358.16 also supports X.Org Server 1.18 and OpenGL 4.3

How to Install NVIDIA 358.16 in Ubuntu:

For the official binaries, please go to nvidia.com/object/unix.html.

For those who prefer an Ubuntu PPA, I’d recommend the Graphics Drivers PPA. So far, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 are supported.

1. Add PPA.

Open terminal from Unity Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, paste below command and hit enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

Type your password when it asks. No visual feedback, just type in mind and hit Enter to continue.

2. Refresh and install new driver.

After adding PPA, run below commands one by one to refresh repository cache and install new driver packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nvidia-358 nvidia-settings

(Optional) Uninstall:

Boot into the recovery mode from the grub menu, and drop into root console. Then run below commands one by one:

Remount the file system as writable:

mount -o remount,rw /

Remove all nvidia packages:

apt-get purge nvidia*

Finally back to menu and reboot:

reboot

To disable/remove the graphics driver PPA, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

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2 responses to How to Install NVIDIA 358.16 Driver in Ubuntu 15.10, 14.04

  1. Hi,

    I have geforce 7500 LE and using ununtu 15.10. I did what you suggested and all I get is log in screen and won’t let me log in.

    If I use nouveau I can get in but I have poor resolution so I wanted to use the geforce driver if that’s possible.

    I have to tell you what happened first.
    Yesterday I switched graphics cards. From GTX 750 to my old 7500LE card. (Because I needed the GTX in my game pc because the other one died.)
    That’s when the problems started. It wouldn’t let me log in.

    After searching I found this:
    sudo apt-get remove –purge nvidia-*
    sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
    sudo rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf
    echo ‘nouveau’ | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
    (After the purge line I entered autoremove as was suggested onscreen)

    This worked like I said above, but having poor resolution.

    So then I tried your suggestion and when rebooting it gives the warning “No kernel was found” and refuses to let me past the log in.

    Can you help please?

  2. Sorry, It said “Failed to start load kernel”