Oh Ubuntu, won't you ever win?

After several months of idling in my basement. I decided to fire up the ol' Ubuntu desktop in order to use one of the few apps I have on that OS that I don't currently have an equivalent on Windows. After successfully using the intended software, Ubuntu's Update Manager helpfully notified me that I needed hundreds of critical and recommended updates to software packages. I am fine with that, and figured it wouldn't hurt to update since it had been some months and I expected to need to use Ubuntu again more regularly.

After downloading and installing all the updates, I needed a reboot. After doing so, my desktop wouldn't come up due to errors like this: Xorg says the kernel module is of version 304.88 (The old version before I updated) but the driver components are of version 319.32 (The new version).

This isn't the first time I've gone down that road, and it usually doesn't end well. I don't know why security fixes can bring down the GUI of my desktop. But oh well.

Thankfully, to Google and AskUbuntu, the answer is so simple it brought tears to my weary eyes.

Thanks to a Mr. "Joren" for the solution:
 
First remove all the old drivers:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Then reinstall the current drivers:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current

Reboot, and your're good to go!

sudo reboot 

Worked like a charm.
 
Source: http://askubuntu.com/questions/349129/12-04-lts-wont-boot-after-nvidia-driver-upgrade