Comment 0 for bug 1430276

Problem 1. if miniDVI (connected to NVIDIA card) is connected upon boot, the desktop resolution is detected incorrectly.

Problem 2. lightdm won't start from scratch, needs to be restarted as service on every boot, and then ctrl+alt+f7 has to be pressed repeatedly until the login window appears, and then again repeatedly, until the desktop appears (after which, the miniDVI can be inserted). If you skip the first repeated pressing, you end up with a console window saying "/org/FreeDesktop/Accounts/User1000 has been changed". If you skip the second repeated pressing, you revert to login window.
Yes, I've tried the following:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm
sudo chown -R <username> .
sudo apt-get install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop unity unity-greeter
including setting HEED_DEFAULT_DESKTOP_MANAGER=false in /etc/init.d/lightdm

Problem 3. right now (as of yesterday), unity decorator and dash does not apper after login, and "dconf reset -f /org/compiz/ && setsid" unity has to be run from lightdm, provided that you somehow manage to get a terminal up (ctrl+alt+T does not work, neither does Alt+f2)

The result of this:

sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date
is:

A14
09/24/2014

Sorry for the mess, I'd be happy to provide further information, since this laptop seems to be an outlier to all your fixes.
P.S. "/etc/modprobe.d is not a file" still persists...

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-37.64-generic 3.13.11.7
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: vtsspp sep3_15 pax wl nvidia
.proc.driver.nvidia.gpus.0: Error: [Errno 21] Is a directory: '/proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0'
.proc.driver.nvidia.registry: Binary: ""
.proc.driver.nvidia.version:
 NVRM version: NVIDIA UNIX x86_64 Kernel Module 331.113 Mon Dec 1 21:08:13 PST 2014
 GCC version: gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1)
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
CompositorUnredirectDriverBlacklist: '(nouveau|Intel).*Mesa 8.0'
CompositorUnredirectFSW: true
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Mar 10 11:31:49 2015
DistUpgraded: 2014-06-06 12:58:55,700 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0416] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:05aa]
 NVIDIA Corporation GK106M [GeForce GTX 770M] [10de:11e0] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:05aa]
MachineType: Alienware Alienware 17
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-37-generic root=UUID=40c4f155-d830-45c7-8784-98c30335b94c ro nvidia.modeset=1 nosplash
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-06-06 (276 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 09/24/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Alienware
dmi.bios.version: A14
dmi.board.name: 068R5X
dmi.board.vendor: Alienware
dmi.board.version: A01
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Alienware
dmi.chassis.version: A14
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAlienware:bvrA14:bd09/24/2014:svnAlienware:pnAlienware17:pvrA14:rvnAlienware:rn068R5X:rvrA01:cvnAlienware:ct8:cvrA14:
dmi.product.name: Alienware 17
dmi.product.version: A14
dmi.sys.vendor: Alienware
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.3+14.04.20150122-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.59+git20150225.1f73578d-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.5.0~git20150204.661c8bb2-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.5.0~git20150204.661c8bb2-0ubuntu0ricotz~trusty
version.nvidia-graphics-drivers: nvidia-graphics-drivers N/A
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2.7
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.4.99+git20140806.fbf575cb-0ubuntu0sarvatt~trusty
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau N/A