Ubuntu 9.10 Freezes After Installation

bags! · 12-23-2009, 02:05 PM

Hello,

I'm trying to install Ubuntu 9.10 on my PC and am encountering some issues after installation.

When I boot off the Ubuntu CD and select the option to install Ubuntu directly everything goes fine up until the point where I reach my desktop. My desktop will function normally until I perform an action such as opening a program or window of any type. When I do everything on the desktop freezes but my ability to move the cursor. After that I've noticed the whole desktop will begin to distort. The same problems occur while running Ubuntu from the live CD.

Here is an image of the distorted area:
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2176/photoqc.jpg

I'm using a 32 bit PC with a 3.4GHz Intel P4 processor with 1GB or RAM and an Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT graphics card.

Any input on what could be casing this issue would be greatly appreciated!

{BBI}Nexus{BBI} · 12-25-2009, 05:38 PM

Could be a problem with the drivers for the graphics card. Check using the Restricted Drivers Manager located under System--> Administration to see if the correct drivers are installed and in use.

gorlack · 12-28-2009, 08:33 PM

Hi all,

I'm having the same issue and have tried to install both Ubuntu 9.10 and Kubuntu 9.10 (thought it might help).

On the Ubuntu forums, in an older post someone suggested to do:

Code:

sudo lspci |grep -i vga

The output of this is:

05:00 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G70[GeForce 7800 GT] (rev a1)

I also have an EVGA 7800 GT. I am running on an AMD X2 4200 with 4g ram.

Cheers!

overthink · 12-28-2009, 09:26 PM

FWIW, same issue here.

Athlon64 3800+, NVidia 7800 GT. Exact symptoms mentioned above. Trying to install Ubuntu 9.10 32-bit desktop. I have a single DVI monitor attached to the card.

Here are some things I've tried that haven't worked:

- manually installing the 190 NVidia drivers from the command line (e.g. add-apt-repository ppa:nvidia-vdpau/ppa && apt-get install nvidia-190-modaliases nvidia-glx-190)
- tried installing Jaunty 9.04 64-bit desktop instead of 9.10; same issues

Not that it means much, but Karmic/9.10 32-bit desktop works fine in VirtualBox on Vista on this same machine.

gorlack · 12-29-2009, 08:47 PM

I'm still working on this. I've switched to 64 bit and having the same problem still. Endless googling is not helping unfortunately. Right now I'm trying to install the 190.53 drivers from nVidia, but can't shut down the xserver. Admittedly, I've used headless linux boxes much more than this, and I am painfully frustrated.

overthink · 12-30-2009, 08:23 AM

I managed to get things working. Installing the latest drivers was the right approach, I just missed a configuration step.

Assuming you've got the OS installed, and just can't login due to this lock-up issue:

Code:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nvidia-vdpau/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get purge nvidia-glx-*
sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-195
sudo nvidia-xconfig

Reboot, and you should be up and running.

Incidentally: I also switched to 64-bit mode, so I ultimately had success using the above approach with Karmic/9.10 64-bit.

I documented this in more detail here.

Hwebb · 12-31-2009, 10:22 AM

My computer also freezes at random times. I have an older model Intel GLAD motherboard with the built in video and have selected 256MB in the BIOS. I have no trouble with all previous versions from 6.10 on. Some days I can work for hours but on others it freezes right from the first moment, however the cursor can be moved. I still have 9.04 on another partition and have an additional oddity that Googleearth will work in the main account but not in a subsidiary account. On 9.10 it won't work at all!
Harry Webb

mdonovan · 05-24-2010, 04:27 PM

Hello Hwebb. Did you ever resolve this? I'm totally new to Linux. I have 9.10 installed now on an older intel and get the same symptoms as you.
Usually I can work anywhere from 15-60 minutes (sometimes a few hours) before the machine freezes. Usually I can still move the pointer, but I cannot click anything. The keyboard is unresponsive (even to Ctrl-Alt-F1). The system clock does not advance.

I tried upgrading to 10.04, but I had a worse problem there. About half the time, the screen would not appear after bootup. So now, I'd just be happy if I could reliably get 9.10 working.

Thanks.

Cityscape · 05-25-2010, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdonovan

I tried upgrading to 10.04, but I had a worse problem there. About half the time, the screen would not appear after bootup. So now, I'd just be happy if I could reliably get 9.10 working.

Hi mdonovan,

If Ubuntu 10.04 is no good for you Id try Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron. It is a long term support release and will be supported until April 2011 (2013 for servers). 9.10 support will end at the same time. Then in April 2011 you could find another version or distro that'll work for you, perhaps Ubuntu 11.04 or something else like Fedora.

9.10 was known to be the most buggy release ever and there are still bugs that have not been fixed. The new 10.04 is very similar to 9.10.

If I were you I'd try 8.04, I think it might work. Also did you try overthink's instructions?

mdonovan · 05-26-2010, 09:34 PM

Thanks for your response. Maybe in a week or two I'll try Hardy Heron. I don't know the history of Ubuntu, so I had no idea that 9.10 was buggy. I'm pretty sure I don't have NVidia, so I didn't try overthink's advice.

sudo lspci |grep -i vga
gives me:
Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)

I tried installing some drivers from an intel website that I can't find at this moment, but they gave me errors.

I ended up creating my own xorg.conf file at one point (since 9.10 doesn't have it), but that was a wild goose chase. I'm pretty sure that the video is the problem, however, since watching any video - even crummy quality utube - takes up 100% CPU. (Plus I have the video problem with 10.04.)