The drivers should be built into the kernel already if you're using onboard Intel graphics.

The system might be loading the wrong driver module for its chipset—unlikely, but possible. The correct driver for your chipset should be i915. You can check by running lspci -v and finding the Kernel driver in use line for your video card. (There may be other ways of checking as well.)

Personally, if this computer will normally be operating in headless mode, I'd just ignore this altogether, disconnect the monitor, and administer it via SSH from a machine not having these issues.

Very odd. The drivers are built into the kernel.

Did you try to install the drivers right away? You shouldn’t have to.

Edit: perhaps this thread is helpful.

Intel graphics should work without you doing anything, as the driver is built into the Linux kernel itself...

Your card might be one of the ones that need nomodeset parameter, as per nomodeset documentation:

Unfortunately, on some cards this doesnt work properly and you end up with a black screen. Adding the nomodeset parameter instructs the kernel to not load video drivers and use BIOS modes instead until X is loaded.

Just add the parameter permanently to the config and you should be good.

Also don't install random things from the internet, not even from Intel, that's not the proper way of doing things in Linux and it sounds as absurd as someone telling you they downloaded a game APK from a site to install on their phones. Yes, obviously there are cases where that is needed, but you should always prefer the package manager just like you use the play store on your phone.

I feel like half the posts in this community are people trying to figure out how to do something and the other half are saying Linux is perfect and always just works. Is this the difference between someone that has used Linux for a long time vs. not?

Maybe this guide can help https://www.linuxfordevices.com/tutorials/ubuntu/install-intel-graphic-drivers