Comment 23 for bug 464591

I solved this with my NVidia 9800M GTS by doing the following:

1) boot in recovery mode
2) drop to a root shell with networking
3) init 3
4) log in
5) elinks/links/lynx to http://www.nvidia.com
6) download the latest Linux driver for x64 (or x86)
7) bash the .run
8) sudo nvidia-xconfig
9) reboot normally

it's a bit of a pain, but you get the latest NVidia drivers this way, and they work. I'm a speed demon so I prefer having the latest drivers anyway.

I upgraded a couple other machines at my work, one with an older 5500 series Geforce and one with a newer ATI Radeon 4850, and did not come across this problem.

I'm no expert but if installing the drivers directly from NVidia work, wouldn't the issue be with the way that Ubuntu packages/installs it, rather than it be the drivers themselves?