Ubuntu Multimedia :: NVidia G92 - GeForce 8800 GT Graphics Card Is Not Fully Functioning

I already posted this message on another thread but I'd like to start a new thread with it now, and add a few more details. My son and I are having trouble getting the graphics card to work properly in his computer. The resolution is good, but the graphics card is not fully functioning. He works on animation and graphics of several kinds, and the graphics programs cannot run without a fully functioning graphics card.

The computer will not run Blender and other graphics programs. Nor will it even allow for the "normal" "Visual Effects" in the "Appearance Preferences." (It comes up with the error: "Desktop effects could not be enabled," after it tries to find the driver.) The system is:

Graphics Card: nVidia G92, GeForce 8800 GT
System: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic, 2.6.31-17-generic, 4.4.1 (x86_64-linux-gnu)
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ (3 Gigs RAM)

We know the graphics card works because it works in Windows. (We set up the computer to boot off of either of two hard drives -- either in Windows XP or Ubuntu 9.10, karmic.) Neither my son nor I understand much of the terminology on your forums, although I have been using Ubuntu for some years and have read quite a bit. (I also have the "Beginning Ubuntu Linux" book.) I love Ubuntu, but sometimes I just cannot figure out how to get some things running. We have tried many different ways of installing the drivers and setting up the xorg.conf file. We have followed the instructions on this and other threads. We also installed NVIDIA-Linux-x86-64-190.53-pkg2.run, as well as 173 and 185. The screen will only work at a proper resolution when we set the "Driver" to "nv" in the xorg.conf file. The screen goes completely blank and dead if we set the "Driver" to "nvidia." Then we need to reboot in safe mode and edit the xorg.conf file with VIM.

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