Ok, so I just installed Ubuntu on my laptop, and I immediately encountered an issue: the HDMI audio output won't work. Yes, I know about the sound settings thing where you have to select the HDMI option, but even when it's selected I get no sound out of the TV I'm hooking it up to. This is a dealbreaker for me, because my laptop speakers are terrible, it's one of the big reasons I use my TV monitor.

So I decided to work on solving the problem by upgrading my Nvidia drivers. I switched to one of the propriety drivers offered in that software updating utility that comes with the OS, the one option that said (tested). Viola, sound over the HDMI is now working.

Unfortunately, this now brings me to my next problem: when I reboot Ubuntu with this or any other proprietary driver installed, it freezes when it tries to load my desktop. As in I can see my wallpaper, but no icons or options of any kind. The system is totally frozen, and gives me one of those "we've experienced an error, do you want to report it messages."

So there's my bind. I need HDMI audio out, that's a total dealbreaker for me, but installing the drivers that give me that capability crash the system. Does anyone have any idea what's causing this