Ubuntu 10.04 - black screen on boot
 

hi all,

I'd like to test Ubuntu 10.04 on my laptop Dell Inspiron 510m.
It is currently running Ubuntu 9.10.

The problem is:
- insert CD
- see initial splash screen
- see splash screen with white/red dots
- see blank screen and unable to do anything

I build a bootable USB stick from another Ubuntu 10.04 installation
using unetbootin, and I have the same behaviour on the Dell..
Interesting, same thing happens if I select the option for text boot
from the usbs tick :-(

Any idea?

thanks
giammy

See posts # 38 and 40 here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9208114
Post #40 mentions your Dell 510m.
And the bug report on the Ubuntu wiki here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes
So when you boot the Ubuntu CD (or from a usb stick), hit F6 for other options, and type in i915.modeset=1 and hit enter. You may get a message that Ubuntu is starting in low graphics mode, as it says in post #38 of that thread. This is ok though. Just proceed with the install.
If you still have the problem after Ubuntu 10.04 is installed, then try what it says in "Workaround A" on the Ubuntu wiki:
and reboot. Hope this works ok for you. Write back if you need more help.

And welcome to the LQ forums!

Solved
 

I had Ubuntu 10.04 already intalled, after 9.04 update in Dell inspiron 510m and the "Workaround A" solution work for me. Thank you very much. I tryed from 2 days other solutions but does not work.

adding "i915 modeset=1" to kernel boot options worked!

Many thanks!
giammy

Totally excellent! Glad this worked for you guys!
I will file this info away for future reference to help other people in case this issue ever comes up again.

This solution has worked for my laptop too - many thanks. Now I only need a solution for my PC - I upgraded to 10.04 perfectly and then I thought I would have a log in with KDE and all I get is a black screen but with my Cairo dock at the bottom. I want to find how to revert to Gnome which was perfect as I now have no internet connection or panels with applications etc either top or bottom. There must be a file that I can edit somewhere. I have got Terminal on my dock and that works but what command do I use?

If you still have the Gnome desktop installed, you can run in the terminal:
This should start gdm where you can login. Any error messages you may get when running "sudo service start gdm" may help to diagnose the problem.

It seems that your dist-upgrade to 10.04 did not go well. In these cases I believe that the best way to get up and running again without trying to sort out went wrong with a faulty upgrade would be to just do a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04. I always do clean installs of Ubuntu instead of dist-upgrades.

I am most grateful to you for your invaluable help - "sudo service gdm start" - said that the job was already running but it put me on the right track . I entered "sudo gdmsetup" next and up popped the login screen box. Clicked on 'unlock' and then I found that the keyboard wouldn't enter my password although the cursor was there, so I entered my pass. in Terminal and then cut and pasted it into the box and that did work. Changed the bootup from KDE to Gnome and I am back on track where I wanted to be. I think that you are absolutely right about a new clean install from the .iso disk, and when Ubuntu have had a couple of months to iron out bugs I will download a later version and do just that. Without your pointing in the right direction I would still be struggling. tgpfx

Glad I could help. I did not even know about gdmsetup. I will make a note about that for future reference. BTW, gdmsetup can be run without sudo. I just tried it. It still asks for you password to unlock it.
Normally, the Ubuntu devs do not release updated versions of the iso images for the regular non-LTS releases of Ubuntu. However, they do release updated isos for the LTS versions. Since 10.04 is an LTS version, and the desktop version is supported for 3 years, it will be a while before an updated iso is available. Perhaps in a few months I would think.