[tlug] Runlevel 3 blues

[Raedwolf Summoner <rarooam@example.com>]

Running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Gnome window manager. Installed NVIDIA
driver, which worked fine for about a week. Suddenly Ubuntu started
booting into low graphics mode, complaining about the NVIDIA driver.

Reinstalled NVIDIA driver. Worked fine for several weeks. Now I'm back
booting into low graphics mode.

Only, this time I can't get into runlevel 3 to reinstall the driver. I hit
<Ctrl><Alt><F1> then do the same commands as I did before:
Usually, "sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop" worked before, but I guess the
"upgrades" via Ubuntu have stopped this. Since then, I have tried
"sudo gdm stop" which results in a "gdm/waiting" message, but
NVIDIA won't install the driver, saying I have a X-Server running.
"sudo stop gdm" just gets me an error message. I have been
repeatedly doing the same thing over and over for the last few
days trying to get different results. Do I need a shrink?

I didn't get a high-end desktop with a nice NVIDIA graphics card to
run it in low graphics mode. Is there any way out of this mess without
switching to a different distro? Could I switch to a different window
manager, install NVIDIA, then go back to Gnome and have it work?

(And, before you ask, yes I have tried using Ubuntu's own software
installer to install the driver, and no it doesn't work.)

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks,
Ralph