cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

[vincentg]

I have a thinkpad r61
nvidia quadro nvs 140m
2 gb ram

the live cds of unbuntu 7.10, kubuntu with kde 4 and kubuntu 7.10 64 bit are all showing blank screen after I click on " try or install unbuntu"
I was finnaly able to install kubuntu 7.10 64 bit using the text installer. But when I chose kubuntu in the grub menu ( dual boot with vista) I still only get a blank screen. I hope someone can help me because I have ubuntu 7.10 on my desktop computer and I love it. I'm sad not to be able to run it on ma laptop. Soory for the language, english is my second language. Thank you.

[Snowhog]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

When you are at the GRUB Boot menu, press F4 (I believe) and select to boot into Safe Graphics (VGA) mode and see if this gets you all the way to the Desktop. If it does, then you are going to have to get your nVidia video card/chip properly configured. There are guides in this Forum for doing that.

[toad]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

7.10 64 bit on an IBM laptop? It is a miracle that it is running at all...

If what Snowhog suggested does not work, download the alternate CD which has a text install. BTW, what is your resolution? Also, you might want to google "R61" and "Ubuntu" for more info from people who have been through the same procedure already.

[vincentg]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

@toad

I tought that if my proccessor is a core 2 duo , I was able to run 64 bit. In my post , I wanted to say that I get the same problem with ubuntu 7.10 32 bit live cd. I was able to install it by using the text installer of my kubuntu 64 bit live dvd. Finaly, before to post here I searched many time on google and found nothing to help me.

@snowhog

F4 does nothing and others f keys too. Before installing, I tryed the safe grapique mode of the life dvd but It gave the same result : a blank screen. In the grub loader, If I edit the kernel line by adding vga=792 ( something I saw on another board) it doesn't work either. The only thing I can do is to boot to the system but without graphic (only a command line)

[toad]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

Okay, okay, I have never been near such an unbelievably fast piece of machinery so I take your word for it that it works

Back to your blank screen. Bit of a wild guess, but worth a try:

If you know your way round grub this is easy, if not it is easy, too.

Boot, press ESC after the BIOS to get into grub, select your kernel, press "e" to edit, select the line starting with "kernel", press "e" again to edit, go to the end of the line and delete "splash" and "quiet", press "enter" to accept your changes and finally press "b" to boot.

Report back.

BTW, this method is only a one-off meaning if it works you have to do adjust your /boot/grub/menu.lst and if it doesn't work you're back to your old settings.

[vincentg]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

I did what you said , now I see alot of text moving ( like when i boot to recovery mode) but the lcd goes blank after some minutes. The last line seem to be something like = starting kdm.

I really think that its a problem with display.
Is it hard to configure video with the command line ?
would it be a good idea to try to install kubuntu 8.04 alpha 4 instead ? Maybe my hardware would me more suported

thanks for helping me

[toad]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

Thanks for following my advice

If I am not mistaken kdm uses X, meaning that either kdm or X itself is at fault (Snowhog suggested the latter in the first place).

Do what I suggested again and try to press CTRL + ALT + F3 at the same time - see if you get into terminal mode... If you do, log in followed by a

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

If that didn't fix it try

sudo dpkg-reconfigure kdm

[vincentg]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

I tryed it but it still doesn't work

[dibl]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

At the text prompt, you need to run

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and on the first screen choose "NO" for detecting your graphics, and and the second screen choose "VESA" as the display type. Then finish the script. When it finishes and dumps you back to the CLI, enter

startx

and maybe you will have a desktop.

[vincentg]

Re: cannot boot kubuntu, I only see a blank screen

it worked ! I writing this from kubuntu 7.10 64 bit on my laptop.

Now, there ' s only one thing. My desktop is really ugly. I'm only in 800x600. I will try to install nvidia drivers and see what it says

thanks a lot everyone !