Linux installation via USB so far impossible due to display/graphics problem

mavencoles · 09-25-2014, 01:25 PM

Hi Linux community,

I'm wanting to install Linux for the first time. I've created bootable USB drives of Mint 17 and Ubuntu 14.04 and have successfully reached the desktop environments on both versions. Sadly for me, much of the desktop interface doesn't load successfully. The buttons on the start-bar (or whatever its called) load and work fine, however the actual desktop doesn't. If I right click anywhere, the menu's won't come up or load properly. If I click on Firefox, for example, all that I get is a load of messy colors - like a bug or a crash to do with display/graphics or something. I've tried different monitors and different USB drives. I think some of my hardware is the problem. If anyone has an ideas I'd be very grateful to hear them. Should I try with Arch Linux, or would that be a waste of time for a newbie? Many thanks, James.

Mainboard: Asrock FM2A88X-ITX+
APU: AMD Kaveri A10-7850k
Hard-drive: Crucial M4 128GB SSD
RAM: AVEXIR 8GB DDR3 2133Mhz
PSU: 450W Silverstone SST-ST45SF-G

mjolnir · 09-25-2014, 02:54 PM

With the attempted install of 14.04 did you try to load restricted drivers? The following link has some good info: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bi...erHowto/Nvidia

mavencoles · 09-25-2014, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjolnir

With the attempted install of 14.04 did you try to load restricted drivers? The following link has some good info: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bi...erHowto/Nvidia

I wasn't able to view the necessary menu to be able to load restricted drivers. I think I may have to go down that arch linux route in order to get there.

mjolnir · 09-25-2014, 04:22 PM

Good luck. We have an Arch sub-forum, perhaps they can walk you through the installation.

jefro · 09-26-2014, 08:54 PM

Did it work properly in the live running?

Shadow_7 · 09-26-2014, 11:59 PM

You could try with the vesa drivers first. Then work towards any proprietary and accelerated drivers. A few of the firmware components have been moved away from being installed by default. You might check if that's installed on your system.

# apt-get install firmware-linux-free firmware-linux-nonfree

There will probably be much breakage of proprietary video drivers while things transition to new compilers and things like systemd and wayland or mir. The legacy stuff should work. And the most bleeding edge stuff might work. But the road is likely to be bumpy for the lack of a better description.