Estou com o mesmo ploblema, também tenho uma GF 5200, ja fiz oque suge o post
http://ubuntuforum-pt.org/index.php/topic,69789.msg388506.html#msg388506 feito isso consegui instalar o drive 173 ma dai deu kaka simplesmente nao carregava mais a interface grafica, desinstalei o drive e quando tentei reinstalar apareceu a seguinte msg.
ERROR: If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, please make sure
you either have configured kernel sources matching your
kernel or the correct set of kernel headers installed
on your system.
If you are using a Linux 2.6 kernel, please make sure
you have configured kernel sources matching your kernel
installed on your system. If you specified a separate
output directory using either the "KBUILD_OUTPUT" or
the "O" KBUILD parameter, make sure to specify this
directory with the SYSOUT environment variable or with
the equivalent nvidia-installer command line option.
Depending on where and how the kernel sources (or the
kernel headers) were installed, you may need to specify
their location with the SYSSRC environment variable or
the equivalent nvidia-installer command line option.
Ps: ja tentei reinstalar o kernel (apt-get install linux-herders$(uname -r)) e nada, fiz ainda mais cheguei a atualizar o kernel para a verção 3.3.4
http://tutorfreebr.blogspot.com.br/2012/05/como-instalar-o-kerne-linux-334-no.html fungo tudo bunitinho ma o erro persistiu.
Sugestões?