Ubuntu starts in low-graphics mode

Fadabi · 01-27-2017, 10:41 AM

Hey guys,

I know I'm not the first to face this issue. I've been searching the web for days and tried every suggested solution but nothing worked for me.

My system:

I'm running Ubuntu 16.04,

lspci | grep -i vga

Code:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Whistler [Radeon HD 6730M/6770M/7690M XT] (rev ff)

The problem:

I try to start my machine. grub shows up and I can choose Ubuntu. The Ubuntu-loading screen appears. Next, the "The system is running in low-graphics mode" window appears. I can click on "ok" (using keys, mouse is not shown) and also select one of the options in the next window, but none of them takes me anywhere but back to the same window.
I can use [ctl]+[alt]+[F1] to open a tty.

Let me post some log files:

/var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log:

Code:

    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/lightdm.log
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Starting Light Display Manager 1.18.3, UID=0 PID=1205
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-disable-log-backup.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-greeter-wrapper.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-guest-wrapper.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-session-wrapper.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-ubuntu.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-unity-greeter.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-xserver-command.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /usr/local/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration dirs from /etc/xdg/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Loading configuration from /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Using D-Bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xlocal
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Registered seat module xremote
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Registered seat module unity
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Monitoring logind for seats
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: New seat added from logind: seat0
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Loading properties from config section Seat:*
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting
    [+0.09s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating greeter session
    [+0.24s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Creating display server of type x
    [+0.26s] DEBUG: Quitting Plymouth
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: Using VT 7
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Starting local X display on VT 7
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Logging to /var/log/lightdm/x-0.log
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Writing X server authority to /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Launching X Server
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: Launching process 1215: /usr/bin/X -core :0 -seat seat0 -auth /var/run/lightdm/root/:0 -nolisten tcp vt7 -novtswitch
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Waiting for ready signal from X server :0
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: Acquired bus name org.freedesktop.DisplayManager
    [+0.28s] DEBUG: Registering seat with bus path /org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
    [+0.50s] DEBUG: Loading users from org.freedesktop.Accounts
    [+0.50s] DEBUG: User /org/freedesktop/Accounts/User1000 added
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Got signal 10 from process 1215
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Got signal from X server :0
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Connecting to XServer :0
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Display server ready, starting session authentication
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Session pid=1278: Started with service 'lightdm-greeter', username 'lightdm'
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Greeter closed communication channel
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Session pid=1278: Exited with return value 1
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Session: Failed during authentication
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopping session that failed authentication
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Session stopped
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopping; failed to start a greeter
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopping
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopping display server
    [+6.21s] DEBUG: Sending signal 15 to process 1215
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Process 1215 exited with return value 0
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: X server stopped
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Releasing VT 7
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: DisplayServer x-0: Removing X server authority /var/run/lightdm/root/:0
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Display server stopped
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Seat seat0: Stopped
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Required seat has stopped
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Stopping display manager
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Display manager stopped
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Stopping daemon
    [+6.50s] DEBUG: Exiting with return value 1

/var/log/x-0.log:

    X.Org X Server 1.18.4
    Release Date: 2016-07-19
    X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
    Build Operating System: Linux 4.4.0-45-generic x86_64 Ubuntu
    Current Operating System: Linux FabisLaptop 4.4.0-59-generic #80-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 6 17:47:47 UTC 2017 x86_64
    Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-59-generic root=UUID=cbeafd2d-ead6-4060-a2ae-caca82c11c76 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
    Build Date: 02 November 2016  10:06:10PM
    xorg-server 2:1.18.4-0ubuntu0.2 (For technical support please see http://www.ubuntu.com/support) 
    Current version of pixman: 0.33.6
    	Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
    	to make sure that you have the latest version.
    Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
    	(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
    	(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
    (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Fri Jan 27 14:22:26 2017
    (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
    (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
    (II) [KMS] Kernel modesetting enabled.
    The XKEYBOARD keymap compiler (xkbcomp) reports:
    > Warning:          Type "ONE_LEVEL" has 1 levels, but <RALT> has 2 symbols
    >                   Ignoring extra symbols
    Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server
    (II) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.

/var/log/Xorg.0.log:

I had to remove this file from my post, because it was too log. I can provide it in another comment, if needed, but I could not find anything suspicious in there anyway.
the end of the file is the same as of the previous file:

Code:

    [    40.876] (II) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.

Seams like lightdm tries to start a session, which failes instantly.
There is no ~/.Xsession-errors

The configuration:

in /usr/share/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d there are some files which only contain one argument each. Those are:

Code:

    greeter-wrapper=/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-greeter-session
    guest-wrapper=/usr/lib/lightdm/lightdm-guest-session
    session-wrapper=/usr/sbin/lightdm-session
    user-session=ubuntu
    greeter-session=unity-greeter
    xserver-command=X -core
    backup-logs=false

xorg.conf:

Code:

    Section "ServerLayout"
    	Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    	Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    	InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Files"
    	ModulePath   "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
    	FontPath     "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
    	FontPath     "built-ins"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Module"
    	Load  "glx"
    EndSection
    
    Section "InputDevice"
    	Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    	Driver      "kbd"
    EndSection
    
    Section "InputDevice"
    	Identifier  "Mouse0"
    	Driver      "mouse"
    	Option	    "Protocol" "auto"
    	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Monitor"
    	Identifier   "Monitor0"
    	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Monitor"
    	Identifier   "Monitor1"
    	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    	ModelName    "Monitor Model"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Device"
            ### Available Driver options are:-
            ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
            ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
            ### <percent>: "<f>%"
            ### [arg]: arg optional
            #Option     "Accel"              	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "AccelMethod"        	# <str>
            #Option     "Backlight"          	# <str>
            #Option     "CustomEDID"         	# <str>
            #Option     "DRI"                	# <str>
            #Option     "Present"            	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ColorKey"           	# <i>
            #Option     "VideoKey"           	# <i>
            #Option     "Tiling"             	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "LinearFramebuffer"  	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "HWRotation"         	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "VSync"              	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "PageFlip"           	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"    	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "TripleBuffer"       	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "XvPreferOverlay"    	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "HotPlug"            	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ReprobeOutputs"     	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "XvMC"               	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ZaphodHeads"        	# <str>
            #Option     "VirtualHeads"       	# <i>
            #Option     "TearFree"           	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "PerCrtcPixmaps"     	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "FallbackDebug"      	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DebugFlushBatches"  	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DebugFlushCaches"   	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DebugWait"          	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "BufferCache"        	# [<bool>]
    	Identifier  "Card0"
    	Driver      "intel"
    	BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Device"
            ### Available Driver options are:-
            ### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
            ### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
            ### <percent>: "<f>%"
            ### [arg]: arg optional
            #Option     "Accel"              	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "SWcursor"           	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "EnablePageFlip"     	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ColorTiling"        	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ColorTiling2D"      	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "RenderAccel"        	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "SubPixelOrder"      	# [<str>]
            #Option     "AccelMethod"        	# <str>
            #Option     "ShadowPrimary"      	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "EXAVSync"           	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "EXAPixmaps"         	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "ZaphodHeads"        	# <str>
            #Option     "SwapbuffersWait"    	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DeleteUnusedDP12Displays" 	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DRI3"               	# [<bool>]
            #Option     "DRI"                	# <i>
            #Option     "TearFree"           	# [<bool>]
    	Identifier  "Card1"
    	Driver      "radeon"
    	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
    EndSection
    
    Section "Screen"
    	Identifier "Screen0"
    	Device     "Card0"
    	Monitor    "Monitor0"
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     1
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     4
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     8
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     15
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     16
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     24
    	EndSubSection
    EndSection
    
    Section "Screen"
    	Identifier "Screen1"
    	Device     "Card1"
    	Monitor    "Monitor1"
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     1
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     4
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     8
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     15
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     16
    	EndSubSection
    	SubSection "Display"
    		Viewport   0 0
    		Depth     24
    	EndSubSection
    EndSection

What I've tried so far

- change the permissions and ownership of .Xauthority and .ICEauthority to 664 and user:user
- reconfigure lightdm

Code:

    dpgk-reconfigure lightdm

- try another greeter
- uninstall ati driver and reinstall radeon driver

Code:

    apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-radeon

- remove several files:

Code:

    rm -r ~/.config (e.g. moved to backup)
    rm ~/.xsession-errors
    rm ~/.*authority
    rm /etc/X11/xorg.conf

- reinstall ubuntu-desktop execstack dh-modaliases debhelper
- ensure ownership of several libs

Code:

    chown lightdm:lightdm -R /var/lib/lightdm
    chown avahi-autoipd:avahi-autoipd -R /var/lib/avahi-autoipd
    chown colord:colord -R /var/lib/colord

- try to boot with option "xforcevasa"
- try gdm3 instead of lightdm

This works. kind of...

From the tty I can do:

Code:

    sudo startx
    sudo dconf reset -f /org/compiz
    sudo gsettings reset-recursively org.compiz
    sudo setsid unity
    sudo unity --reset-icons

All together bring back a unity gui. The launcher on the left is available, the only thing that is missing are the icons in the status-bar at the top (shutdown, wifi, ...).
Also now I'm logged in as root, not as my user. Maybe this is because I used "sudo" for "setsid unity"..?

With the gui back, I could also start ccsm and ensure that "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" is enabled.

Now after all, I've run out of ideas. I don't know what else to try.

Please help me!

ondoho · 02-04-2017, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fadabi

sudo setsid unity
sudo unity --reset-icons
[/CODE]
Also now I'm logged in as root, not as my user. Maybe this is because I used "sudo" for "setsid unity"..?

no, it's because you started unity as root.

you have provided LOTS of information, but it's a little unclear what your actual problem is - "Ubuntu starts in low-graphics mode" - that can be anything from no graphical desktop at all to a simple warning that hardware accel won't be available.

so please tell us more about the problem, and not your solution attempts.

btw, it seems you mixed up commands from several howto's and articles that are loosely related to your problem without really knowing 100% what they do, right?

the only definite info i see is that you have 2 graphic cards in there.
laptop with hybrid graphics, i suppose?
bumblebee used to be the solution for that, but maybe it's been superseded by something else.

Fadabi · 02-04-2017, 11:05 AM

The problem is that my laptop doesn't boot properly. The boot process stops when that message appears and the unity GUI doesn't show up.

Yes, I don't know the reason and I don't know how to identify it neither.

I think it is a hybrid graphic card. I have an onboard-card by Intel and a second one by ATI. Bumbleebee is for Nnvidia only, isn't it?

Meanwhile I've set up my xorg.conf so that the screen should be connected to the intel card. Now I can't see any errors in the log files anymore but the problem still persists.

beachboy2 · 02-04-2017, 01:32 PM

Fadabi,

What make/model is your laptop?

Fadabi · 02-05-2017, 04:47 PM

It's a HP Pavilion dv6-6b06eg

frankbell · 02-05-2017, 08:24 PM

My understanding is that Unity will shift into low-graphics mode if insufficient video memory is available, though the snippet you posted would seem to indicate that your card should be adequate, unless I read something wrong.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/In...emRequirements

Fadabi · 02-06-2017, 03:09 AM

I don't think it's due to insufficient video memory. My laptop has been working for years.
Before the problems started I was trying out some settings in compiz and unity-tweak-tool. I have already purged and reinstalled both and tried everything to restore the default settings but that didn't work.

beachboy2 · 02-06-2017, 03:14 AM

Fadabi,

Have your graphics been running normally in Ubuntu 16.04 prior to very recently or have you just installed 16.04?

What distro did you use previously? Did the graphics behave normally using that?

Fadabi · 02-06-2017, 04:18 AM

I've been running Ubuntu 16.04 for quite a while

Fadabi · 02-06-2017, 04:34 AM

let me give you a update about my situation. I've tried a lot of different things and found some other small isssues. I'mm not sure which of them are connected.

I turn on my laptop, the error message appears.
I can't start tty with [ALT][CTL][F1] anymore. With all the other F-keys it's working. In tty, "ps -C Xorg" shows that a instance of Xorg is running.
If I try to call "startx" as my own user, all I see is a black screen.
If I do "sudo startx" instead, I see a plain desktop. Standart unity wallpaper, no launcher no icons.
Next I call "setsid unity", "unity --reset-icons" and "unity --reset" to get a GUI that I can work with.

If I go into the system setting, choose display settings and click on apply (don't need to make a change first), I get the following error:

Code:

failed to apply configuration:%s
GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: no such interface »org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.XRANDR_2« on object at path /org/gnome/SettingsDaemon/XRANDR

If I connect an external monitor, it is not detected automatically. I can get it working using arandr

Maybe you can help me answer some questions:
In the Xorg.failsafe.log, the last line says "waiting for VT-switch". Is this line ok?
I actually have no VT-switch activated. Maybe there are some corrupted settings from my experiments with compiz and unity-tweak-tool. But I can't find them..

Why is the error message from the settings manager talking about gnome as I'm using unity?