I am totally new to Linux, but wanted to try it so I downloaded Ubuntu 14.04 LTS iso & burned a DVD. DVD boots fine & I can run everything, albeit slow. Display says it's resolution is 1024X768.

I then installed 14.0 on a usb stick for dual boot with Windows. The Grub menu displays fine & Win boots.

14.04 seems to boot, but the screen is blank - I do hear the speaker 'bong' which I think means the system did boot & is waiting for login.

If I select 14.04 Recovery Mode, it does boot & shows a small screen - 640X480 - which is probably a result of recovery mode. Resolution is Unchangeable!

I have tried everything I can find to resolve; blacklist nouveau, apci=off, video=1024x768_32@60, etc. Nothing will show an active screen EXCEPT in recover mode.

The hardware is a Dell Inspiron 1100 with 82845G graphics controller.

I sure would appreciate any help - I'm at my wits end!

TIA

Hello,

Welcome to LQ. It is good to see people trying on Linux.

Can you please give some more information about your machine?
Processor, RAM, Graphic card?

The problem is most probably related to the graphic driver.

An 1100 ?. Seriously ?.
Toss it in the bin.

I last tried to get one of those running Linux probably 8 years ago. And even then it was difficult to get a workable desktop to run. The video uses a minimum memory allocation (2M ? - yes, MEG) until Windows loads and uses a (Windows) driver to adjust the video memory. Used to need a hack to work at all in Linux, but then the i915 driver did all the legwork automatically.
I doubt it would run in a KMS environment at all.

Waste of time for a new user IMHO.

Thanks for the replies. To aragorn: the cpu is a Celeron 2.3Mhz with 512M of RAM. My intentions were to upgrade the RAM to 1G if I could work out the other kinks.

To syg00: I do know the machine is very old, but thought I might try; sounds as though it is a futile effort. However you said one thing: "the i915 driver did all the legwork". Does that mean there is 'hope' with the driver? Also, what does the DVD use for a driver that the usb stick does not see?

I'm not resisting your advice, but the cost of a new laptop makes the choice more difficult.

best regards,

Joe417,

I agree with syg00, bin it and get a half-decent, Linux-friendly replacement.

It is 13 years old for goodness sake.

Why does the replacement laptop have to be brand NEW?

Many people change their computer hardware more often than their clothing, so take advantage of the situation.

Ask nicely on here and you will be given good advice on which used laptops are better than average for Linux compatibility.

Two examples:

HP 8440p:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-EliteBook...IAAOSw-nZTncm-

or this Dell Latitude E6510:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Latitud...MAAOSwHQ9WXJC5

Boot to vga maybe. Or fix the video driver or settings.

beachboy2: Thanks for links, I will check these out.

jefro: I tried adding --vga=773 in the grub boot menu. Worked first time I tried, but then will not work again. ????????

Will you give me some more details; i.e. "fixes for driver or settings"

The 512MB of RAM is the absolute minimum for a basic install of Ubuntu. Ubuntu recommends at least 1GB. You could try other lighter distributions which do not require the resources Ubuntu does. Lubuntu or maybe Xubuntu or if you are willing to go outside the Ubuntus, AntiX is a good option on older machines.

How? Did you make this change while booting and editing the boot menu? That's a temporary change for one boot and that change will not be saved. You would need to manually edit the /boot/grub/grub.cfg file to put that entry in or else edit and place the menuentry with that change in the /etc/grub.d/40_custom file and run sudo update-grub.

How did you try to change the resolution and what exactly were the results?

Of course it can be made to work - if you are prepared to mess around long enough. I didn't notice that bit about the DVD - I'm surprised a Ubuntu desktop will load. Boot the DVD up, install "inxi" if it isn't already installed, and run this - post the output

@yancek - Initially I made the vga change within the boot menu. The second time I tried, I also changed within the menu, knowing the prior change was only temporary.

In any case, I made the change permanent in 40_custom as you pointed out. Screen is now full - Problem solved. I will now order more RAM to get to 1Gb.

@syg00 - I just now saw you post. Below are the results, but they may be mote. However
if you notice anything important, please let me know.

Many thanks to everyone who replied - you guys who have thousands of posts may get bored with such simple problems, but I sure appreciate the help.

This machine may be too slow/old to run my ham radio, but I at least wanted to get a taste of Ubuntu vs Solaris on my old Sun SparcStation 20. If the ham radio needs a faster machine, I'll get it.

sudo inxi -c 0 -v 3
System: Host: Camero Kernel: 4.2.0-34-generic i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Dekstop
N/A Distro: Ubuntu 14.04 trusty
Machine: System: Dell product: Inspiron 1100 serial 3Q5B041
Mobo: Dell model: 09U784 serial: .3Q5B041.CN129613C87333. Bios: Dell
version: A32 date 10/18/2004
CPU: Single core Intel Celeron CPU (-UP-) cache: 128KB flags: (pae sse sse2)
bmips: 4784.38 clocked at 2392.193 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Integrated Graphics Device bus-ID:
00:02.0
X.org: 1.17.2 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) tty size: 80x24 Ad
vanced Data: N/A for root
Network: Card: Broadcom BCM4401 100Base-T driver: b44 ver: 2.0 bus-ID 02:01.0
If: eth0 state: up speed: 100Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:0d:56:b0:31:a1
Drives: HDD Total Size: 107.8GB (3.9% used) 1: model: HTS72010G9AT00
2: model: USB_Flash_Memory
Info: Processes: 157 Uptime: 11 min Memory: 241.8/493.1MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys:
4.8.4 Cleint: Shell (sudo) inxi 1.9.17

Good for you - I still reckon it's a piece of junk ...
Can you run that command again, but without sudo. Use [code] tags to preserve the layout.

Yes, 512 MB of RAM is not sufficient to run Ubuntu 14.04 smoothly. I once tried 14.04 on a machine with Intel Core2Duo 2.9 MHz, 2GB RAM, 512MB Nvidia Graphics card, and there were noticeable lags.

If you really wish to use the old hardware, (by the way Linux works pretty well on them) you can try an older distribution or a more lightweight one. Distros like Ubuntu rely on heavy graphics and it looks very pretty, but uses lots of resources.

You can try an older Ubuntu for the time being, or maybe you could try Slackware 14.1. Slackware involves less cliking and more typing, but runs very smoothly and is very fast, even on old machines.

Here is the re-run. Once again, thanks for all the replies - Joe