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

Until last night, 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".

After rebooting, 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 something called Bumblebee. I tried that, and when I ran optirun firefoxI got a frozen blank screen.

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

I found and ran myriad other commands to try and fix the problem and nothing changed.

Now I have 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.

To recap the problem:

• 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 solution to 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