I have a feeling your gpu is too old for the latest Ubuntu version
this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
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The 580 drivers might just be the default for nvidia. I have two computers with nvidia GPUs that are like 10 years apart in age, but both look like they're running 580 drivers.
I don't really know what's wrong with the networking though. Maybe try updating from terminal if you haven't? sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
GTX 580? Maybe you have to install an older driver, like the 470-series of the driver appears to support it: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/unix/legacy-gpu/ Ubuntu has a bunch of older series of nvidia driver you can install for this purpose.
That would not explain your networking though. Unless that is also some older hardware too... But, a common thing to do as a new user in linux may be to find posts which answer "how do I install x in ubuntu" and they usually involve editing files under /etc/apt/sources.d/. This can wreck your system in this kind of way, so: have you done that? Or this is pure ubuntu, just regular apt update/upgrade and some apt installs?
Not altered anything just saw the pop up for update now...which i did and all looked to be fine, aside from the no networking.
I tried the install extras option and that's when i got the 580 errors. I might be wrong that they are the problem.
Ok. What exactly is not working with the network? Are you on wired or wireless? If you do run ip a, does your interfaces show up?
Another thing to look at is journalctl -b. Look for errors, lines in red, anything about the network. If you can roll back to a functioning boot (or run journalctl -b -1 should show the previous boot) and compare to that is probably a good idea, journald (displayed by that command) may contain errors that are not relevant, so comparing to a functioning boot may be good.
Also, depending on how old your computer it, there may be another hdmi output which uses the GPU integrated to your CPU. If that is the case, you could switch to it if the nvidia card stops working just to troubleshoot, take a look at journalctl -b and look for errors again. If the screen just goes black, and does not boot, this may also give you some messages as to why the nvidia graphics is not coming up.
Also, do you NEED the Nvidia drivers? Are you gaming and trying to squeeze every last bit or is it just a display output? Cause if it's the latter the open source nouveau drivers will work just fine with that card.
You can boot Linux from a USB flash drive if your main installation isn't working. That might be better than searching for solutions from your phone. And a bootable USB flash drive is helpful when you can't boot from the internal drive. I always have one around, just in case, though I don't use it very often.
Booting from USB flash drive is a bit slow. A USB attached hard drive or SSD will be much faster or, if your internal drive is big enough, you can partition it to hold two Linux installations. Then, when one isn't working you can switch to the other with just a reboot, as long as it's not the boot loader that's broken.
I've been using Linux for years, but on my hardware I've never been able to get Ubuntu to work reliably. I now only use it when booting from a USB for backups, but even on a relatively recent Dell laptop with Intel graphics the GUI crashes constantly. IMO it isn't worth the trouble, but of course someone here will be oh-so offended by that.
After trying dozens of distros I went back to Mint because it just works.
Yup I’m dell
Are you dual booting Ubuntu with Windows? Because Windows fast boot causes that behavior.
No i only have ubuntu on the device
Did you disable fast boot in the BIOS? Just removing Windows won't do that.
I thought i completely removed windows when i did the install. I was mac in a previous life. I picked up a old pc that had a fresh install of windows and i thought i just installed linux straight over it...when it asked if i wanted to install over the full drive.
I will try and find out...
It doesn't matter what you do on the hard drive, you need to go into the BIOS to disable fast boot.
How to do that depends on your PC, search the web for your PC brand and model.
Okies am I in the right place? and i really appreciate the help by the way to all posters.
Have a look under POST Behaviour.
To the menu to the left, there is one item called "secure boot", and sometimes "fast boot" is there. However, if your computer is booting at all, I'm not sure this is it. But try it, it will not hurt.
I don't know which network manager Ubuntu uses, so I'm not sure whether this applies to you. I'm using Arch with the network manager systemd-networkd. I set it up manually from the CLI by creating a so called .network file in the /etc/systemd/network/ folder.
To "setup" and start using systemd-networkd, do sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-networkd.service. You will probably also need to setup systemd-resolved with sudo systemctl enable --now systemd-resolved.service because some services and/or programs need this for domain name resolution.
Then, check out point 3.5 on this page in the Arch Wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Systemd-networkd
Use the section that applies to your setup depending on whether you are wired, wireless or both.
This of course assumes that Ubuntu doesn't use another network manager.
Here is a list of common Linux network managers if the above wouldn't apply.
Maybe try a few distros on a live usb to see which work well with the hardware.
That's what i thought, it is good excuse to explore. I am just a bit frustrated as a new user to be bumping into roadblocks so early in my linux journey
I was on Ubuntu for like 3 years, a few days ago switched to Debian. I installed Ubuntu because I thought it would "easy" and "just works" and all that. I'm not very computery person, I know some basics but I'm mostly confused about everything.
What I've learned from using Debian is I should have just gone for that from the beginning. Its not that different and somehow it feels nicer and more capable. If your Ubuntu keeps giving you grief, try Debian or whatever you think looks nice.
Thanks i will take a look. I like the toy story themes.
TBH, Ubuntu used to be the best option for newbies to get their feet wet. Nowadays, it's just a meh distro. Not enough to say abandon ship, but there are definitely better choices out there.
I like the toy story themes.
Haha did you see this alread: https://lemmy.world/post/44238448
Oh that’s upsetting
Hehee
The trade off is that you'll have to get used to troubleshooting and configuring a bit on your own, but the reward is that you are no longer an involuntary product of Microslop. :) Don't get discouraged, be patient!