garbage video display on install of 7.10

[hypotaxis]

I know a little about about Kubuntu, and I'm trying to install Kubuntu Gutsy on a friend's old computer.

It's an AMD Athlon 1.5Ghz with on onboard video card and a Philips Pro 3CM9809 monitor.

Currently it is running W2K at 640x480x16bit but it will not tolerate any other video setting. The screen turns to garbage (zig-zag lines etc!).

When I start a live install all goes well, I see the Kubuntu logo and the blue rectangle zooming back and forth, then it goes to the rectangle moving slowly from L to R then it then flicks to an underscore and the then screen turns to garbage. The install does continue you can vaguely see it through the crap

I have tried pressing F4 and choosing the same video setting as W2K, but same result. I have tried booting in safe graphics mode; same result.

I can't go the Alt-F1 route because I don't have a username and passwd to use at the command line, and anyway I doubt the install has progressed far enough.

I think I am probably stuck with an old box that ain't gonna run, but if anyone has ideas, I will be *very* glad to hear them..

TIA

Brett

[toad]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Hi,

what you need is the alternate CD which does not go in for all this graphical hullabaloo. Give it a go and report back.

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Hi,

what you need is the alternate CD which does not go in for all this graphical hullabaloo. Give it a go and report back.

Right oh, sergeant-major. I'm on to it

Brett

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Hi Toad

Downloaded the alternative install and went to my friend's house this morning.

The install went perfectly, but after the reboot we got to the Kubuntu logo and the blue bar moving L to R, and then a quick blank screen with a message about CUPS and then the video garbage again. As before, you can see KDE loading behind the crap, and Cntrl-Alt-Del dropped me out of the process just fine. So it's working it's just X-windows doing it's weird thing again, I suppose

I selected video resolution of 640x480 when asked (and no other).

[toad]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

well done for persevering...

looks like your /etc/X11/xorg.conf is at fault here which unfortunately I do not know too much about (I've got an NVIDIA card and their installer works a treat for me). I reckon a

sudo -dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

might be worth a try 'cos you can try different configurations.

if that doesn't work post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf and I am sure some guru or other will be able to sort it out.

another thought - how does knoppix come up? does X work? if so, copy knoppix' /etc/X11/xorg.conf and paste it into your kubuntu installation (making a backup first, of course).

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Right. I've got a Knoppix CD so I'll give it a go.

I have a nasty feeling we have hardware problems here. We'll see!

Just as well our summer weather is very beautiful, or this could be getting ugly

I'll let you know what happens. Thanks for the help so far.

Yo toad!

Brett

[toad]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Summer? Summer You lucky sod!!! I'm freezing my balls off here, warming my feet on the computer, with a hot tea drip to stop me from turning into ice art...

Brrrrrrrrrr...

[dibl]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

It's an AMD Athlon 1.5Ghz with on onboard video card

The solution to this is going to be all about that onboard video chip -- can you ID the make and model? If you're able to get to a CLI running on that system (Live CD, for example), just enter

lspci

and observe the VGA-compatible line in the output.

Then search this forum and Ubuntu forum, and prolly you'll find a lot of information about the driver and configuring xorg.conf to run it.

[toad]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Yep, dibl is of course correct. If my quick 'n dirty method turns out to be a dud (chances are 50:50) then take dibl's sensible route and do it properly.

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

I think I'll go get my mate's computer and bring it home. It will save a lot of mileage (why is there no better word in metric than "kilometerage" ... can't say that, can you?).

Thanks toad and dibl for the ideas. Will Cntrl-alt-F1 intercept the boot into xwindows and drop me into a command line? I don't have a username and passwd yet, remember! Does Kubuntu have a default passwd for root?''

Ah yes ... summer. I live right in the middle of a wine district ... life is sooo hard. Sat on a friend's porch last night in our shirtsleeves until about midnight, drinking a sauvignon blanc or two, sashimi ... the garden is full of fruit ...ah yesss. I hope you computer is overclocked ... sounds very ... ummm ... frigid where you are. Not that I'm gloating at all mind you. Heaven forfend ...

We do a very nice line in possum fur ball warmers, if you're interested?

Cheers

Brett

[monte48lowes]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

One of the unsecure parts of ubuntu is that booting into the recovery mode will give a person sitting at your computer root access. So no, a password is not required.

I am interested in some possum ball-warmers though...

Mike

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

Thanks Mike. That'll help.

I'll send you the ball-warmers. They're currently in alpha and you need to take care with the fully automated self-tightening drawstring. Can be tricky. >8-[ ]

Brett

[hypotaxis]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

I was rummaging through my old computer hardware and found an old Intel 740 graphics card and a Matrox G40 (450?). So I'll install one of those and see how I go.

I presume Kubuntu will pick up the new graphics card?

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll let you know how all this turns out.

Brett

[toad]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

One of the unsecure parts of ubuntu is that booting into the recovery mode will give a person sitting at your computer root access. So no, a password is not required.

Wow I didn't know that...

A little bit off topic, but how do you reckon you can make your computer secure? A BIOS and a grub password for one are no brainers (Qqmike, in case you're reading this - there is a way of having a grub password in the menu.lst which is not shown, have you got a link handy?). BIOS password means no one can boot a different medium and grub means that the user is restricted to those listed (and recovery in that case would definitely be off that list).

Do any of you encrypt your hard drives?

[monte48lowes]

Re: garbage video display on install of 7.10

I don't encrypt my hard drives. I think it might really only be necessary for something that I take out of the house, such as my laptop. I guess if someone wants hundreds of pictures of my boys playing they could steal my desktop...

Mike