[Solved] Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

[bhamm77]

I am new to Kubuntu and Linux. I have decided to give it a try. Let me warn everyone that I do not seem to be as computer savvy as most of you. I have purchased a Kubuntu Intrepid CD and am in the process of installing it. I am getting a distorted screen after booting from the CD drive. The kubuntu label appears on the screen with the progress bar underneath. just as it is finish filling the bar and I think The OS will have the desktop appear, the screen goes purple from the bottom to about 3/4 the way up the screen. the rest of the screen is a dark blue, almost black with vertical dotted lines. I am running this Kubuntu CD on a HP mediacenter pc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Princey]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Could you please give us more details about the pc as to what hardware it comes with? Maybe brand/model number would go a long way in helping you out. Things needed would be:

1. Processor Type
2. Video card (dedicated or onboard)
3. Memory
4. Hard drive

That should aid a long way.

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

HP Pavilion 061 Windows XP Professional SP3 & (hopefully Kubuntu)
model#: PU061AV
X-86 based PC
AMD Athlon 64 processor 3200+1.79GHz
1.25 GB of RAM
Video:NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (dedicated)
hard drive: Maxtor 6Y080M0, 60GB

hope this will help you help me!

[The Liquidator]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

I suspect it's to do with your graphics card which, to work properly, will probably need drivers that are not loaded by the live cd.

I'm not at my 'buntu box right now so I might be a little wooly, but as soon as the CD starts to run select the options at the bottom of the screen (think it might be F4) and select the option to vga option. Also IIRC you can set the resolution to tie in with your monitor. To gether those ought to get you up and running.

HTH

ian

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Tonight I tried the method recommended by Liquidator. Upon the running of the install disk I chose F4. There was no such option as VGA option. I also checked the other F menus. So once I chose the safe graphics option. I received a bundle of error messages. Next I chose the normal option and then received the same budle of error messages. Here is what the errors were saying:

[ 373.003575] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x1c3
[ 373.003625] SQUASHFS error: unable to read page, block 6b116, size 5dd9
[ 373.005175] SQUASHFS error: sb_bread failed reading block 0x1c3
[ 373.005225] SQUASHFS error: unable to read page, block 6b116, size 5dd9
[ 374.651576] SQUASHFS error: zlib_inflate returned unexpected result 0xfffffffd, src length 131072 avail_in 498, avail_out 131072

This is the best example that I can give. Any help from you guys is much needed. I took some pictures of the screen but have been unable to load them on this forum. They are too big. I could email them to anyone who may want to see all the errors that were on my screen.

[Princey]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Your issue could be down to one of two options.

1. Your CD burn is flakey/faulty.

2. ACPI is possibly interfering.


In case of point 1, when you arrived at the prompt to boot from the live CD, chose "Check CD for defects". If it spits out garbage, then it was a bad burn and you'll have to burn another, this time at a slower speed.

In the issue of option 2, if #1 proves not to be the case, press the F6 button and type in

acpi=off

then press "Enter".

Do note, that when you press F6, you have to press the backspace to delete the boot parameter inserted there by default. Good luck!

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Princey,

Let's begin with option 2. The installation CD is good. I have ran it on another PC that I have, and it worked just fine. The system I'm working with now is the one I have listed specs for previously in this post. It is the one I'm having trouble with.

I have seen the boot parameters sitting there when you select option F6. I will backspace & enter the command you have specified. Will let you know later how it works out. Thanks for the Help!

[Princey]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Do note that a faulty burn may work on one pc and not on another. So, just to be safe, I'd still test it to make sure that it is fine.

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

1st thing done today was to check my linux CD for errors. Found 3 errors on the CD that I purchased on amazon. Oh well, didn't cost much. I created a DVD using the instructions on the Ubuntu site. It turned out error free.

Next I tried the F6 option, deleting the boot parameters & typing

acpi=off

This did not work, I received the following:


[ 0.708150] VFS: Cannot open root device"<NULL>" or unknown-block(8,1)
[ 0.708200] Please append a correct "root=" boot option; here are the available partions:
[ 0.708268] Kernal Panic - not synching: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(8,1)

I rebooted & chose F6 again. This time I left the boot parameters in. I hit F6 again to see if any other options came up. To my surprise they did. One of the options to choose from was "acpi=off'. I selected the option & continued to run the disk. This time, another distorted screen was produced, it was a different color, but close to the same shapes as mentioned at first. On the top 1/3 of the screen, I can see the mouse pointer moving as I move the mouse. It is still unusable.

I have taken pictures of all my scrrens during this process if that will help anyone figure out what is my problem.

Also, I went the NVDIA website and saw that they had drivers for my graphics card & Linux. I wouldn't know how to run them during this installation anyway.

Should I make sure the resolutions of the os & video card are set the same? If so, how would I do that during install? Just guessing at things now.

Any Suggestions? Hope one of you guys can Help...

[Princey]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Ok, at least we have one thing out of the way. I'm still gunning for the LIVE CD mode with you here. However, if that fails, the only other alternative is to use the text installer (it is non graphical) and might be a wee bit intimidating. You said that the first CD did prove defective, so the question remains, did you try "Safe Graphics Mode" after pressing F4 with the one that you have tested and proven to be properly burnt?

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

Yes. I have tried "Safe Graphics Mode" also. Got a similar screen to the one specified, but slightly different. I can see the mouse pointer on part of the screen, and hear the music that happens during start-up. Nothing else. If we take another course other thatn the live CD, wouldn't the graphics still be distorted regardless of how we installed.

Or could we download drivers from CLI one installed?

[Princey]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

I'm not saying that's your issue here, but some years aback I had a similar problem only to find that it was partly due to the restricted drivers not being available on the live cd. I installed via text mode and after reboot, I did have a useable desktop. I was then able to install the proprietary drivers and was well on my way.

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

I'm certainly willing to try it. If you get the time, I would need you to give me some good (step by step) instructions as to how. I could try to look up the instuctions. If so, would you please advise on my search?

[The Liquidator]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

I must confess that I'm not convinced that the disk is not playing a part here.

I have just downloaded the live version of jaunty (9.04) - it ran 1st time. I just slapped in the disk and it ran. Mind you I don't have an Nvidia Graphics card but my understanding is that if the proper drivers aren't available for it it will default to a basic level and you need to install the right drivers to get proper performance. Princey makes a very good point about the installation of restricted drivers.

Are you able to download a CD from the kubuntu website? If you have broadband, I would get the 9.04 live cd as Jaunty is significantly better than intrepid. The issue you face might not even apply with jaunty, it might just work for you. I say give the live cd another shot because if you were to use the alternate cd you will be faced with a text-based installer and unless you know what your way around it the partitioning process will be daunting, to say the least. At least you will be doing things with a GUI if you use the live CD.

When you download the file burn the image to CD at the slowest burn speed you have available. This will minimise the risk of error. Whichever option you choose you can get help here before you embark on it.

[bhamm77]

Re: Distorted screen Kubuntu Intrepid

I don't have any idea what happened, but last night the Live CD ran with no problems. I was able to play with the os without officially installing. I don't know how to explain it except to say that maybe it was because I created the new CD & it had no errors. If I remember correctly, I tried the new CD the night before & still got the distorted screen. Maybe It was because I was changing the default boot parameters. I could have swore I tried it in it's default mode and got another distorted screen, maybe I am mistaked and never ran the "error free" CD without modifying.

Anyway it is running fine on my system now!

Liquidator, you said that you beleive jaunty (9.04) is significantly better than Intrepid. The term "significantly" makes me want to reconsider and install Jaunty (9.04). Would you mind telling me more specifically why Jaunty (9.04) might be better. I am convinced that I want to learn to use Linux via one distro or another. I will be preping my system for an install creating a dual boot this weekend. I will probably try to let the CD do the partition for me, but I have saved all the installation documentation I can find in case I have trouble using the CD to partition my HD.