New to Ubuntu - help with installation, hardware, booting, shutdown issues in 8.04
 

Good afternoon,

I hope someone can help me with some frustrating issues - I am a newbie and don't know the first thing about Linux, so I apologize if any of these things are remedial.

First, my computer:
Intel Core 2 Duo 6700 2.67 Ghz, 4 GB RAM
ATI HD3780 (dual GPU)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty
WD Raptor 74GB SATA HDD
Seagate Barracuda 7200 500GB Ultra ATA/100 HDD

I had been running XP Pro 64 on it, and am attempting to set up a dual-boot with Hardy Heron. I've split the 74GB between NTFS for XP and three Ubuntu partitions (/, /home, swap). The 500GB drive I was planning a smallish partition of NTFS for XP files (and >4GB file support), and a FAT32 partition for shared data.

Unfortunately, when attempting to run 8.04 64-bit edition from the Live CD, I came across multiple errors, so I decided to try to install the 32-bit edition first and get it running, then move to 64-bit if testing shows improvement for the applications/games I want to run. So I installed the 32-bit edition.

The first problem I came across was that after installation was complete, loading the OS consistently takes over 2 full minutes. Given that I installed 8.04 on an older laptop with less than 1 GB of RAM, and it loads in 20-30 seconds, this surprised me. I suspect this has to do with my driver problems (see below). The second problem, possibly related, is that when I go to shut down Ubuntu, it doesn't give me the splash screen with the orange bar I am used to, showing progress, or a console screen stating the progress in text, but rather it locks the CPU with a screen full of orange colored bars. Only a hard reset resolves this issue.

I have no sound at all. I have attempted to install the recently released Creative X-Fi drivers for Linux, but I am having a problem compiling the source. I posted a request for help on Ubuntuforums, but one of the reasons I am writing all this is because the forum I am using has been pretty unhelpful in the past, and this time has been no exception. The text of my post may be found below (which has had no replies, unfortunately)

Finally, it won't recognize my video card. I haven't even begun to look for a solution to that, yet.

Can anyone help get me get off the ground here? Is my machine simply unable to handle Ubuntu? Am I asking the wrong questions, or going to the wrong places (Ubuntuforums) for help?

Thank you,

-Brian

Drivers are a major problem with Linux. Since you have attempted to compile the kernel afresh, I think you can promote yourself out of the noob league.
Secondly, I would suggest that it is less time consuming to try out other distros than to try to make Ubuntu and your hardware to tango.

When booting, there would be a key you can press to reveal the boot messages to show. Usually Esc. Do this so that you can identify which step is taking too long. That will also help identify the bottleneck.
My guess is that the shutdown screen status is a display issue, but probably you should try waiting a bit more to see if it is transient state, with the system recovering and shutting down after some time ( especially since the booting takes too long as well).

Thank you for your suggestion. If my problem is primarily with drivers, will trying another distribution really help? Do you know of somewhere I can go for assistance with the compiler issue above? One way or another, I need to solve that issue to get sound working, I believe.

Thanks again!

In my experience, distros differ in their ability to handle hardware. An extreme case : I have a motherboard with Realtek gigabit PCIE lan chip onboard, and none of the distros could configure it properly. They would detect and install drivers, but I could not connect to the net (this is a popular issue with a lot of references on the net). The easiest solution was to put in an older LAN card or use Belenix (Opensolaris) which had no problems with the lan.

Hate to tell ya man... but the X-fi and Ubuntu Hardy are not friends http://connect.creativelabs.com/linu.../AllItems.aspx

they released a new beta driver on 4/17 that i have not gotten around to try yet. it is found

http://connect.creativelabs.com/linux/default.aspx


what video card are you running?

Hi, thanks for your reply!

I am running an ATI Radeon HD 3870 (dual GPU).

I am willing to try a different Linux distribution if it can help, especially with the sound drivers, though getting used to Ubuntu has been difficult enough :)

The problem with your sound card is well documented, as pointed out above.

With Linux, the newer the hardware, the harder it will be for everything to work "out of the box".

I am trying to get MadWiFi to work and Ubuntu says that I need a compiler.

sudo apt-get install build-essential

What is your wireless device? Madwifi I believe is generally for Atheros devices(although it might work w/ others)

IGF

yes I have that hardware see my other one about networking but I am here asking how to compile it.