Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

[dibl]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

If both Ubuntu (uses GDM) and Xubuntu (uses GDM) are working correctly, and Kubuntu (uses KDM) does not, then the finger of blame seems to be pointing at KDM -- the "K" Display Manager. You may have discovered a bona-fide bug in KDM.

It would be interesting (and a bit of possibly unwanted work on your part) to burn a Live CD of some other KDE-based Linux distribution, and boot the Live CD, just to see if that version of KDM is happy to play on your hardware. Two that come to mind are Open SUSE and sidux KDE-Lite. I would say if they will boot and display correctly in Live CD mode, then you are entitled to write a launchpad bug, if you want to, against Kubuntu's KDM in the 9.10 RC, with respect to your hardware.

[mudlark]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

Are you running squeezebox server beacuse some of your problems sound very similar to my issues.

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

Are you running squeezebox server because some of your problems sound very similar to my issues.

No.

It would be interesting (and a bit of possibly unwanted work on your part) to burn a Live CD of some other KDE-based Linux distribution, and boot the Live CD, just to see if that version of KDM is happy to play on your hardware. Two that come to mind are Open SUSE and sidux KDE-Lite. I would say if they will boot and display correctly in Live CD mode, then you are entitled to write a launchpad bug, if you want to, against Kubuntu's KDM in the 9.10 RC, with respect to your hardware.

Tried both Open SUSE and Sidux KDE-Lite Live CDs. Open SUSE clearly had problems with my old Intel video card and ground to a halt after several visually garbled screens. Sidux KDE-Lite booted into exactly the same minimal desktop I get with Karmic Kubuntu -- a blank/black screen with only the mouse cursor visible. Alt-F2 opens the "Run" dialogue, and all programs seem to be available through KRun; however they open in a small square in the upper left hand corner, and can only be maximized by dragging the corners. So, it seems the problem had more to do with KDE in general than a particular distro.

[dibl]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

Wow. I really did not expect to hear this. I can't recall a prior case of total KDM incompatibility with a graphics chip, when GDM will run on it.

I think we know the answer here -- there are some very usable distros build on GDM, including Ubuntu, Xubuntu, sidux Xfce, and Elive. Give Elive (Development Live CD) a try, for fun. Hint -- all menus are accessible through a left-click on the desktop.

But I'm afraid KDE is not in your future, on that hardware.

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

But I'm afraid KDE is not in your future, on that hardware.

Sadly, I have to agree. I was able to run KDE 4.1 in Kubuntu 8.10 with no problem, but encountered exactly the same difficulty with 9.04 as I am having now with 9.10. I had high hopes for 9.10 as I knew the Intel driver with 9.04 was buggy, but the problem appears to be greater than an issue with my video card. As you have said, however, both Ubuntu and Xubuntu 9.10 appear to work well, so all is not lost.

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions.

[Zardoz89]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

If the problem are in KDM, why not remove KDM and install GDM GDM can launch KDE, not ??

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

If the problem are in KDM, why not remove KDM and install GDM Huh GDM can launch KDE, not ??

It doesn't make any difference if I try to launch the KDE desktop with GDM or KDM -- same result. I think the problem is with KDE, not KDM.

[flarson]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

I can not see how these conclusions make any sense. KDM, GDM, XDM, KDE, Gnome do not control your video hardware. The Xserver does that. You use the same Xserver in all of these cases. All the other programs use the Xserver.

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

I can not see how these conclusions make any sense. KDM, GDM, XDM, KDE, Gnome do not control your video hardware. The Xserver does that. You use the same Xserver in all of these cases. All the other programs use the Xserver.

Agree with you 100%. wrt Xserver. Don't see how my problem can be video-related. It has to be a configuration bug somewhere in KDE that is hardware related. There are several posts in the KDE community and other Linux forums that talk of similar problems with the desktop; unfortunately, none contain solutions that work for me.

[dibl]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

If you want to tweak xorg.conf and see if you can get that old Intel GPU to work, here's the guidance:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

[mudlark]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

when i mentioned squeezebox above I think I now know a bit more about my problem. Kubuntu 9.10 relies on akonadi server to run the desktop properly. Akonadi relies on Mysql 5.1 and won't work on Mysql 5.0. Squeezebox won't install with Mysql 5.1 in place.

You may have a package that relies on Mysql 5.0. when installing 9.10 the process gives you the option to remove conflicting packages and if you answer no to removing the conflicting package I broke kubuntu 91.0.

i did get Squeezbox server to run by uninstalling Mysql 5.1 and putting in 5.0, but when i reboot the desktop won't start because akonadi won't start.

M.

[Guest]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

I had exactly the same problem. It turned out it was this bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...bs/+bug/433486

It can be fixed by deleting the file ~/.kde/share/config/kdeglobals

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

It sounded promising but, alas, tiuned out to be another dry hole. After I deleted the ~/.kde/shre/config/kdeglobals file and re-booted I ended up back in the very same place: blank screen with mouse cursor.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm going to keep looking/trying for a fix to the KDE problem, while in the meantime using the Gnome or Xfce desktop, both of which work perfectly.

[Guest]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

Upgrading 9.10 with the changes from 5. to 10.Nov.09,
after restart I first saw a greenish rectangle on my screen (maybe some part of a failsafe screen),
then everything black...
But the system was up and running - i was able to do a blind shutdown.

As a workaround, I found:
adding a "sleep 10" after the "/bin/bash" of
/etc/gdm/failsafeXServer
solved the problem - so I can write these lines...
(using a Samsung Q45 notebook: Intel T7100 chipset 965GM)

Dorian

[trevor4706]

Re: Karmic Boots into a (somewhat) functional blank screen)

Thanks, Dorian. Yday I decided trying to get Karmic Kubuntu to work on my old system was a low probability event, and I'd have to be satisfied with Ubuntu and Xbuntu. I actually removed kubuntu-desktop and KDE from my system. If I decide to give Kubuntu a go again, I'll try your suggestion.