I see many similar topics on this, but I've tried all their suggestions, and nothing has worked.

ISSUE:

I do a clean install of Ubuntu 12.10. Boots fine with the “nouveau” graphics driver – graphics are very slow and choppy. The three other driver options in Ubuntu (official NVIDIA drivers), all result in a variation of the black screen on boot up. There will be NO access to a command line/GUI in anyway what-so-ever (tried every option recommended out there, but the system is unusable at this stage).

I can only reinstall, and try different drivers…and I only ever get one shot at it.

QUESTIONS:

Does anyone know of a NVIDIA driver that will actually work with a Nvidia GeForce 7350LE? Or a 7-series card in general?

This is my second computer, and I’m just trying to get a working install of Ubuntu on it. I don’t want to put much money into it, as I have seen Ubuntu run great on much older/less capable machines. I’ve got a decent Intel processor (2.3Ghz), 2GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, 32-bit architecture, and there is no other O/S installed. It appears as if the graphics card is holding me back.

Should I just buy a cheap graphics card (non-NVIDIA) to put in as a replacement?

TRIED SO FAR:

-all drivers available in Ubuntu *all fail

-manual install of some different NVIDIA drivers *all fail

-also tried installing the generic kernel, Nvidia driver doesn't work in 12.10 *no difference

-every method suggested to at least get a command line after switching to a NVIDIA driver *all fail