booting 7.04 livecd on Thinkpad T20: no X, hangs

[dhfx]

After much time spent on configuration and workarounds, I got Kubuntu 6.06 LTS running on a Thinkpad T20 with 256 MB memory. So now I'm trying to get the 7.04 live cd to boot, so I can decide if I want to upgrade (i.e., wipe out 6.06 and install 7.04). It gets as far as the terminal screen with the message about Ubuntu software being open source, etc. (the text disappears before I can read it), then the screen goes blank and eventually the CD drive activity stops.

I assume it's trying to start the X graphics and can't. But how could it be a video compatibility issue when 6.06 runs fine? (I admit I don't recall what, if anything, I had to do to get 6.06 to run.)

Ideas, anyone?

[dibl]

Re: booting 7.04 livecd on Thinkpad T20: no X, hangs

Does your blank screen have a blinking white "_" in the upper left corner? If so, press Alt-F1 to get to the text login. If that works, you're in!



OK, if you want a GUI, then (after logging in) type

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and on the first screen choose "no" to the auto-detect question, and on the second screen choose "VESA" as the display type. From there, you can accept the defaults unless you have knowledge of "special" hardware requirements, until you get to the monitor section. In that, choose a screen resolution that you can live with for a short while, and refresh rates that you know your monitor/LCD can use. When you finish the script, it will dump you back to the command line. At that point, you type

startx

and you should have a functional GUI. Then you start your search for the correct driver for your graphics card.

HTH

[dhfx]

Re: booting 7.04 livecd on Thinkpad T20: no X, hangs

No, there was no blinking cursor - X was trying to start, and Alt-F1 had no effect. So I rebooted and this time selected "Start in safe graphics mode" which I should have done in the first place. KDE came up, I "logged in" (nothing to log into yet, there's no "account" set up) and figured out how to select the correct driver and resolution (800x600 looks horrible on a 1024x768 LCD screen).

Couldn't see much difference, on the surface, from 6.06 yet. Probably the differences will become apparent when I get deeper into it. Meanwhile I also have 6.10 running on an Athlon box, and that's what I'm posting from.

Thanks for the quick response and willingness to help.