Ubuntu AMD 64 - display driver problems

ian.walsh · 06-28-2009, 11:36 AM

Almost total newbie (I can spell Linux), just bought a new PC (64-bit) AMD machine, trying to install ubuntu 9.04 (I was advised, it was vaguely user friendly) - despairing about the switch from windoze to Linux and starting to look at the Microsoft site again...

What the sit-rep?
TOTAL NEW PC - NO O/S on harddisk, no network, no nothing. quad-core 64 bit with 8Gb memory, ... and I suspect the problem child is the ATI HD 4650 radeon card.

Ubuntu (did the MD5sum check, did the 'check the disk') installed fine, but then the screen switches off - the screen reports no signal, there is probably a log of what has gone wrong - but us total newbies don't know where that would be...

Did a google search - gizillions of hits on ubuntu 64 problems with graphics cards (is there a better version of Linux - any recommendations? A linux version that runs out of the box?).

Just as many solutions - so far all useless. Either the solution assumes you are an expert (check A, check B, check C, remove X, install Y, edit a config file and pray - without a word of how to do any of the above, pray I know how to do), *AND* / *OR* the solution assumes you have a working system (tell the package manager to go here, and unclick the XYZ option. Well I do actuallk have a working system, it is this one - my old win/XP system - looking good right now).

SO, if I boot the system, I get the fancy unbutu graphic for about 30 seconds, then the screen switches off. If I intercept the boot process, with ESC (at GRUB time) I can get to a 'recovery' mode, and a ROOT prompt (NETROOT doesn't work - the initial install couldn't handle my network card - I suspect I'll run into that issue if I can ever get my screen to tell me what is going on)...

Still struggling, I think open source is the way to go, not giving up on Linux.... yet (but this is trying my patience!).

Any usable help would be appreciated.

chutsu · 06-28-2009, 01:17 PM

Try passing the boot option: noacpi or acpi=no

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bo...Boot%20Options

so Prees F6 when the ubuntu boot screen comes up.

Explaination of what the boot options do
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bo...Boot%20Options

Basically you are having problems with your graphics card at the moment, I would suggest that you install ubuntu first, and then install the graphics card.

but first try and install it.

Hern_28 · 06-28-2009, 01:25 PM

Not sure with your video card, but i have to use safe video mode with Kubuntu to get it to boot with my nvidia cards and then install the correct driver after install.

Good luck and just keep posting your problems and you'll get it up.

chutsu · 06-28-2009, 01:25 PM

if install still fails try this:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/20971

Wim Sturkenboom · 06-28-2009, 01:25 PM

The following will prevent the graphical startup screen.

When you get to the grub menu, select the first or second entry, press 'e', select the second line, press 'e' and change it so the last part reads something like

Code:

/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-24-386 root=UUID=283d3c32-63ce-4f1b-ac55-0c43c7642765 ro

Your UUID as well as the kernel version will be different! It's about the ro without additional stuff at the end. This is a temporary change.
Next press 'b' to boot and and you should get to a system with a graphical screen.

Hope this helps you on the way to get at least a system with a graphical interface. You can make this change permanent by editing /boot/grub/menu.lst (not the topic at this stage).

If you have problems after the bootup (garbled or no video)

Get into recovery mode as you did before; select the root option to get you to a shell. Your prompt will look something like 'root@yoursystemname'
At the prompt type

Code:

fortyfourgalena@desktop1:~$ nano /var/log/Xorg.0.log

/var/log/Xorg.0.log is the log file that people are referring to and nano is an editor

press <ctrl>w (this is, the control key and W at the same time) and search for EE
write down the errors; you can post them here
press <ctrl>x to exit; if prompted to save, press n

Code:

fortyfourgalena@desktop1:~$ nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

/etc/X11/xorg.conf is the configuration file that defines the configuration of the graphical user interface.

press <ctrl>w and search for section "device"

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "NVIDIA Corporation NV44 [GeForce 6200 TurboCache]"
    Driver         "nvidia"
#    WimS: removed for LCD screen
#    Option         "UseEdidFreqs" "False"
EndSection

Check the driver (in my case nvidia) and post it here. Change the line so it reads

Code:

Driver         "vesa"

press <ctrl>x and save when prompted

You can now reboot your system

Code:

fortyfourgalena@desktop1:~$ shutdown -r now

This should get you to a working graphical environment.

Please provide the errors and the driver that was chosen by Ubuntu. Also let us know the make and model of the monitor.

PS Info taken from Ubuntu 8.04

ian.walsh · 06-30-2009, 03:08 PM

Many thanks for all who replied. I got this solved, although I'm not sure I followed the rules (the ones I wanted to... ).

I went to the video card site (using my windoze box), downloaded a driver and installed it... not quite the 'open source' solution I was after - but I have a screen and a ubuntu 9.04 on my AMD64 that works.

Again, thanks to all who helped, your assistance reinforces my opinion of the open source community and I will continue to search for solutions / ask questions until I can one day offer some solutions... may take a while!)...

Even ubuntu seems to not approve of my solution... (using my newly visible screen) when I click on 'Hardware Drivers' I get a 'proprietary drivers are being used to make this computer work properly' (is my O/S chiding me?)...

chutsu · 06-30-2009, 03:16 PM

Your OS is not chiding with you, you see when you installed the driver from ATI, it is not an opensource software, so what your OS (Ubuntu) is saying is correct, your using a proprietary driver from ATI.