Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

[jacatone]

I followed this sites instructions for installing the ATI driver. Opted to install it "the Ubuntu way" by downloading the fglrx file and going into xorg.conf and changing ati to fglrx and rebooting. Only problem, when I rebooted, all I get is a blinking cursor. Fortunately , I made a backup of the xorg.conf file before hand. How do I get back to the desktop from this blinking cursor?

Compaq Presario 5000
384 megs of ram
ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card

[Rog131]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

How do I get back to the desktop from this blinking cursor?

HOWTO : Repairing xorg.conf
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3082808.0

How to get started with no GUI
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3085112.0


FAQ: Links - How to Install AMD(Ati) Proprietary Linux Display Driver (fglrx)
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3085652.0

The easiest way:
Envy
http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

Envy will detect, download and install the right version of the proprietary driver for your ATI or Nvidia card...

How i install:
Topic: how do u install ATI drivers?
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3084084.0
(How i edit xorg.conf)

What went wrong:
Topic: HOWTO : Repairing xorg.conf
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3082808.0

Check what is wrong:
Xorg.0.log is log file for X Windowing Server. It is in /var/log/.

In text mode:

:~$ nano /var/log/Xorg.0.log

"nano is a small, free and friendly editor".

Markers in the Xorg.0.log

Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.

Just looking errors:

:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "(EE)"

Just looking warnings:

:~$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep "(WW)"

[opie]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

To return your xorg.conf to the previous state you can boot into recovery mode and then use the cp (copy) command to copy your old good backup over the xorg.conf file

assuming you saved the backup file in the same /etc/X11 directory

cp /etc/X11/backupfilename /etc/X11/xorg.conf

for example, if you backup up as xorgbak.conf in the /etc/X11 directory you would type

cp /etc/X11/xorgbak.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf


Then you should be able to reboot using your original working xorg.conf file.

[SheeEttin]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

Or you could try to figure out what's wrong and, when this happens, hit Ctrl+Alt+F1, log in, and say "startx".

[jacatone]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

I tried "cp /etc/X11/backupfilename /etc/X11/xorg.conf" with the correct file name and just kept getting "command not found". Tried different variations and still got the same answer. Then cd'ed to the /etc/ director and tried cp /X11/backupfilename /xorg.conf and got xorg.conf is not a directory. Which true, it's a file. How do you open a document as opposed to a file? Can I fix it this way?

[Rog131]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

Hmm - it should work

:~$ sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf_my_backup_001 /etc/X11/xorg.conf

What says:

:~$ whatis cp

How do you open a document as opposed to a file?

Editing xorg.conf:

:~$ sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

[integr8e]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

Try this, type (in the command prompt) 'dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg' and choose the 'nv' driver, not the ATI one; it sounds to me as though your ATI driver has some how become corrupted (I had the same problem when installing my Nvidia driver). Then type 'X' and see if it opens a window; if it does, reboot, download, install, and run Envy from the following websight:

http://www.albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

It installs the correct version of your driver for you automatically, and does a good job with it too

Try this and see what happens

Edit: Looking at the above more carefully, it appears as though you have already tried Envy; sometimes it still installs a corrupted driver, just uninstall the driver and re-install it with Envy. What do y'all think?

[SheeEttin]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

Uh... Why would you use the nv driver? That's for nVidia cards.

The open-source ATI driver is "radeon" (or "ati", which will load the radeon driver for Radeon-based cards). Or, use "vesa" for a sure-fire working session.

[opie]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

" I tried "cp /etc/X11/backupfilename /etc/X11/xorg.conf" with the correct file name and just kept getting "command not found"."


I don't know why this didn't work. Were you booting into recovery mode in your boot options or are you trying to work from a live cd boot? You want to boot the machine off your hard drive but you should be getting the option to boot recovery in your boot menu. This should send you to a command line with root access.
If you are in recovery mode it sounds like you didn't type something correctly at the beginning and it wasn't recognizing cp as a valid command. You used lower case c then lower case p then a space before typing the path and filenames?


"Then cd'ed to the /etc/ director and tried cp /X11/backupfilename /xorg.conf and got xorg.conf is not a directory. "


you often get this response if you type a forward slash after the file name. Did you type /xorg.conf/ ?
Also if you were in the etc directory you would need to type

cp ./X11/backupfilename ./X11/xorg.conf

otherwise xorg.conf will be put in the root directory. The period represents the current directory that you are in. If you type /X11 then they system will look for an X11 directory off of root. The period tells it to work relative to the current directory.

At any rate you can open files from the command line into the nano editor as stated in the post above.

nano /etc/X11/backupfilename

The reason I didn't specify sudo is because you should already be root in recovery mode but it shouldn't hurt to use

sudo nano /etc/X11/backupfilename

This will open your original good file and then you will need to follow the shortcut instructions in nano for saving the file out.

Make sure when you save it out you type the full path name

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

otherwise it will matter which directory you are in when you open the file in nano



integr8e : The nv driver isn't going to work with an ati chipset is it?

[integr8e]

Re: Problem installing the ATI Proprietary Driver

My bad, I wasn't thinking ATI completely, I use an Nvidia card; just try vesa.

Edit: At this point, if you can't get past the blinking cursor, unless you've done some extensive modification of your xorg.conf file, and if you are having trouble backing it up / restoring it, you shouldn't really "need" to back it up / restore it (personal oppinion). Just start from scratch with 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg' and choose 'vesa' as your driver (temporary solution). (Or 'dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg' if your not confident with configuring your xorg.conf file) Then run Envy again, uninstall the old ATI driver and re-install it. Restart X (ctrl-alt-backspace) and see what you have.

Thanks SheeEttin for the correction, I'm sorry for the confusion.

Edit: Since you already created a backup, just create a new xorg.conf file and reboot your computer. Once it boots, login and open your backup copy of the file; click 'save as' from the 'File' menu and tell it to save as xorg.conf. Override the newly created xorg.conf with your backup and you should be in business, that is, if you want to restore the backup and not just install the proprietary driver.