How do I install the Nvidia driver for a GeForce GT 630

You can download the driver for your video card for Ubuntu 64bit from here. Assuming that you are using Ubuntu 64bit now. If you installed Ubuntu 32 bit, there is 331 version of the same driver for Ubuntu 32bit. Save your driver somewhere where you can easily access it, like your user home directory or inside a newly created nvidia directory in your user home directory.

To be able to install your nvidia driver you have to remove your previous video driver with this code in a terminal window:

    sudo apt-get remove nvidia* && sudo apt-get autoremove

After you finish with this one, you should also blacklist the nouveau driver by editing this file with either:

    gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

or

    sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-nouveau.conf

…and add these lines at the end:

    blacklist nouveau
    blacklist lbm-nouveau
    options nouveau modeset=0
    alias nouveau off
    alias lbm-nouveau off

If, by any chance, there is no blacklist-nouveau.conf present in /etc/modprobe.d/, you can save your file as blacklist-nouveau.conf when prompted.

And you can also disable the Kernel Nouveau by typing these lines in a terminal window:

    echo options nouveau modeset=0 | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau-kms.conf

and after that

    update-initramfs -u

Now you can reboot your computer, and when you get to the login prompt, press Ctrl+Alt+F1 to exit to the terminal console. Login with your username and password.

Go to the directory where you saved your nvidia driver using the command cd in the terminal console. Eg. cd nvidia considering that you are already in your user home directory after you login. You can use command dir to be able to see your exact driver's name.

To stop your display manager or the X server, you can type in the console this code:

   sudo stop lightdm   or

   sudo lightdm stop

If you are not using lightdm as your default display manager (DM), replace lightdm with your default display manager, which can be either kdm or gdm or whatever your display manager is.

You should get a message in the terminal console saying --> lightdm stopped/waiting

And now you can finally install the nvidia driver using a code similar to this one:

  sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64.....run    (for Ubuntu 64bit)  

or

  sudo sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86.....run    (for Ubuntu 32bit)

If you don't type the exact name of the driver, you'll get this message: NVIDIA-Linux... could not be found and you should type again the code for installing the driver.

Nvidia installer automatically installs the driver, and at the end it will ask you whether you want to save your new X configuration. Press Yes. After reboot and getting to your desktop and changing your NVIDIA settings as you please you should open a terminal window and type in this code:

  sudo nvidia-xconfig

to save your new nvidia configuration in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Note

You might need to install some extra software packages if nvidia installer gives an error and prompts for missing dependencies:

    sudo apt-get install dkms fakeroot build-essential linux-headers-generic

But you need to install all these missing packages only if nvidia-installer can't do the job by itself.

It can happen that after reboot your system shows a black screen or enters the low graphics mode. To fix this you should exit again to the console terminal, login with your username and password, and use the code provided above sudo nvidia-xconfig and also make use of the following tutorial. It is meant to fix the greeter assuming that they haven't fixed this bug in Ubuntu 14.04.

Since most of these answers are outdated... Here is modern way to install the nvidia drivers for Ubuntu (for 14.04 and newer):

1. Add the graphics-drivers ppa

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

2. Install the recommended driver

   sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
   

3. Restart your system

   sudo reboot
   

---

To select a different driver, or if the above doesn't work:

1. Add the graphics-drivers ppa

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

2. Purge any existing nvidia related packages you have installed

   sudo apt-get purge nvidia*
   

3. Check which drivers are available for your system

   ubuntu-drivers devices
   

4. Install the recommended driver

   sudo apt-get install nvidia-361
   

5. Restart your system

   sudo reboot
   

You can install Ubuntu drivers , for GT 630 you can use: sudo apt-get install nvidia-304 OR sudo apt-get install nvidia-304-updates, not both.