Hi,

I am not good at this. Most of the time people don't understand my questions so I am trying a different approach.

Here is a simple chronological order of events.

After reading the events there are obvious questions and then "What's my next step?"

1) Computer w/NVIDIA graphics controller, that has ubuntu 10.04 LTS installed, dies.

2) I REMOVED the hard drive FROM the computer that died.

3) I PLACED the Hard Drive INTO a different computer (old HP Compac dt220 mt) with an Intel Extreme 82845G Graphics Controller.

4) From the recovery panel, I go into the Root with Networking option.

5) I issue the commands for two tasks:
apt-get --purge remove nvidia-*
THIS removes the NVIDIA drivers/packages. (approximately 75MB)
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
THIS I assume restores graphics to a generic state.

6) When I boot, I get a message that it can't find the NVIDIA drivers that are no longer there and that I need to operate in Low Graphics Mode.

7) The panel that comes up has several options. One option is: reconfigure the graphics. EVERY TIME I choose this, I get a blank screen, so this option is out.

8) If I choose the low graphics mode for this session it works about 5% of the time and the other 95% is a blank screen so this option is out as well. It's the terminal window or noting.

9) After login I looked at the Synaptic Package Manager.

10) I enter xserver-xorg-video into the synaptic search.

11) I see more than 50 packages (vesa, trident, nvidia, radeon, intel and others) with shaded green check boxes.

12) The description for the intel package:
This package provides the driver for the Intel i8xx and i9xx family
of chipsets, including i810, i815, i830, i845, i855, i865, i915, i945
and i965 series chips.

13) I do not see my chipset there.

14) From System Administration when I search for available drivers it comes up blank.

Using the Gnome Environment.

So, to summarize.

** I am running in Low Graphics mode.
** The OS still thinks that it wants to try to load the NVIDIA drivers that are no longer there (this is after a reconfigure or xserver)
** There does not appear to be the appropriate driver for the Intel Extreme 82845G Graphics Controller.

So,

How do I find the drivers for this controller?

How do I tell the OS to stop looking for NVIDIA drivers that are no longer there?

How do I get to the point where I can boot normally without having to have the panel with the Low Graphics Option?

Other than the command: dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, is there another graphics configuration command?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Move /etc/X11/xorg.conf to xorg.conf.bak and restart (X or the computer) - ie remove its conf file and let it try to autoconfigure.

If no:
What boot options are you passing to the kernel? (`grep "command line" /var/log/messages`).
What exactly does `lspci --v| grep Graphics` return?

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Woa... do you have an nvidia or intel gpu?

Show us the output of

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Please remember, at the moment, in order to look at anything I have to restart | change the BIOS (cause grub doesn't know about this computer's configuration | select the Linux HD and boot into the terminal.

While I could probably redirect the output the command to a file I can't save it a placet hat I can get to. I don't remember enough about mounting and un mounting and I sure don't want to mess up anything on the only HD that's working at the moment.

So, I'm writing and then Typing.

#lspci
00:00.0 Host Bridge: Intel Corporation 82845-G/GL/[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE DRAM Controller / Host Hub Interface (rev 03)
VGA Compatible Controller with the same numbers as above.

If you need more I'll go back and copy more stuff.

Move /etc/X11/xorg.conf to xorg.conf.bak and restart (X or the computer) - ie remove its conf file and let it try to autoconfigure. Does it work?

If no:
What boot options are you passing to the kernel? (`grep "command line" /var/log/messages`).
Try `sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg`
Try specifying the "i810" driver instead of "intel" in xorg.conf

1 members found this post helpful.

I can answer one question. When I boot I am choosing the recovery option so I can get to the terminal window. I am unaware of any options I am passing to the boot process.

Thanks, I'll try those suggestions and get right back to ya.

Okay, the configure with the -phigh didn't do anything.

moving the xorg.conf out of the way allowed me to log in with graphics.

There was a long list so here's two entries:
Aug 22 10:01:15 rjw-desktop kernel: [ 0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=56294ecb-2d2f-4785-9240-b852c7f45707 ro single
Aug 22 10:28:42 rjw-desktop kernel: [ 0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic root=UUID=56294ecb-2d2f-4785-9240-b852c7f45707 ro quiet splash

The current xorg.conf.bak file has this info in it.

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Even if I change the nvidia to i810 as you suggested, it would still be a pretty skimpy file compared to the xorg.conf file that existed when I installed the nvidia package.

I'm not quite sure that I understand why the system is not prompting me to upgrade the drivers for the hardware that I have, unless it has something to do with the fact that there isn't a video package that's specific to my controller in the synaptic package managemt list.

Is there anything (besides trying to cobble the xorg.conf file line by line) I can tell the system so that it can see that I have this nifty old Intel controller go out and find the right stuff and install it.

Hey, I don't mind spending time learning stuff, but at 59 and a severe terminall ilness meaning I don't know how many months or years I can reasonably expect to live, I like to pick and choose my learning battles/hurdles if you catch my meaning.

I'll try the i810 option and see what happens.

Another side question. I'm really tired of having to "sudo" every single command. I tried sudo root that failed, I tried su root it asked for a password, I typed in my password and it also failed.

How the heck to you get into a superuser mode so you can do some work; issue commands without the tedious sudo / enter passord combination?

You're running 10.04. These days, you don't need to put much of anything in your xorg.conf. The defaults usually work.

You said it worked with no xorg.conf, so .. leave it like that?

"su" takes the root password, if you've set the root password (you don't by default on Ubuntu). Try "sudo bash" to get a root shell. Or "sudo su -" or "sudo -s". Several ways to do the same thing.

1 members found this post helpful.

Here's a screen capture for the synaptic package files

Can you explain what the packages with the green check boxes represents?

There's many video cards represented here.

When I look at the properties it says that they're installed.

Ask I asked before, since my controller is not in this list, does that mean the system can't identify it?

Are there repositories with more drivers?

Does it mean that I'm stuck in mediocre graphics mode?

edit:
added the screen shot.

Attached Thumbnails

 

Green check mark means it's installed, I assume.

Your controller not being in the list does not mean that your system can't ID it. It can ID it, it's in the output of lspci.

I would assume that the intel driver or its predecessor, i810, would work for you.

You said it worked with no xorg.conf, by "worked" did you mean "mediocre graphics mode" ?

And have you tried specifying Driver "i810" in xorg.conf? Or (I'm not sure if this has been answered) have you tried Driver "intel" ?

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May I suggest removing /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then attaching the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file that is generated when you try to run Xorg? That would help us see where it's failing, and why.

Adam

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Clarifications:
1) By ID I mean that whatever system app is responsible for letting the user know that they have the option to use the full potential of the graphics card by installing a driver. In my case it asked me when I had the machine with the NIVIDA graphics, it did not with the Intel.

2) regarding xorg.conf. If the the xorg.conf file exists in /etc/X11 then I can not boot into the system graphically I can only access things through the terminal from the recovery panel. I get a blank screen. I can hear the sound of the drums (ubuntu) telling me that I can log in but all I see is a black screen.

3) regarding the i810 driver; I had a simple, bare bones, vanilla xorg.conf that I put the i810 in as the driver and I got the black screen.

regarding mediocre graphics: Not having a driver installed probably means that I'm not using the full potential of the graphics card. For example, in XP, before i load the driver the graphics is sluggish and slow. After the driver is installed frame rates of videos and scrolling web pages becomes noticeably faster.

More accurately, when I go into the System->Preferences->Appearance->Visual Effects and choose Normal it says: "The Desktop effects could not be enabled."

I don't have an xorg.conf file at the moment. As I stated the ABSENCE of an xorg.conf file is the only way I can boot into the system graphically.

If I understand the other part of your response then I assume that after running dpkg-reconfigure xserver.xorg I should then attach the Xorg.0.log file?

Is this correct?

I'll try it anyway.
====
Also, I opened a new thread.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...e-land-827959/
I hope that this is not a huge faux pas.

I did it mostly because I'm old and was tired and not thinking correctly. It was probably a big mistake and I apologize.

In my mind, since I was more concerned about being able to log in using graphic interface, I considered this thread was "Solved" in the sense that it fixed the problem of being able to log in normally without using the recovery option with the terminal.

After doing some related research, I tried some things and found some new information and felt that it was now a new problem with a new question.

Today, after some sleep, I realize that it probably should still be a continuation of this thread because it is about the driver.

So now I am in a quandary of what to do because some people have answered there.

No. Just 'startx' and attach the log file. Do not reconfigure anything.

Adan

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Oooooops, I did the reconfigure before I saw this message.

The reconfigure didn't create an xorg.conf file.

Here's the output for startx


rjw@rjw-desktop:~$ sudo startx
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.


Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.

ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

attached is the log file after the reconfigure.

Attached Files

XorLogAfterReconfigure.txt (37.0 KB, 21 views)