Purge and Install XServer

[kingerthethird]

Hello all,

I've got (had?) a Kubuntu 10.04 box with an ATI graphics card in it, and I made the super intelligent decision to install the proprietary drivers from the ATI site following their instructions.

...Won't be doing that again.

I rebooted as part of the install process(IIRC, this was a little while ago), and now xserver no longer starts. My current plan is to try and purge xserver and reinstall it in the off chance this fixes the problem, but I'm a little uncertain of how to do that from the command line, so I'm looking for some of instruction on that front.

However, if someone has a better idea, I'm happy to hear it.

Thanks in advance.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

There is usually an "uninstall.sh" script in the ATI Catalyst directory. Or, there is an option on the Catalyst UI to uninstall it.

From the Konsole:

sudo aticonfig--initial-f (from ati website) 
followed by 
sudo apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx 
for proprietry drivers

You can reboot into a console (no desktop is now present) and issue
sudo apt-get autoremove
to make sure all the dependencies are cleared.

Then do
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati
and reboot to let upstart do its thing.

If, after rebooting, you don't get a desktop but are asked to log into a console, do that.
Then issue
sudo service kdm start

That should start up KDE. If it doesn't try
startx
or
startkde

[kingerthethird]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

Working from home today, so I'm hoping I can make some headway on this.

I'm not entirely sure where the ATI Catalyst directory is, so I wasn't able to run the uninstall.sh (I did some poking around to no avail). I'm not certain if that part was necessary for the other portions to take effect.

The aticonfiig came back with output similar to

Uninitialized file found, configuring.
using etc/x11/xorg.conf
saving backup to [somewhere]

the apt-get remove of xorg-driver-fglrx said that the package was not installed.
the apt-get install of xserver-xorg-video-ati said the package was already installed.

startx came back with the same error as before, and startkde came back with

$Display is not set or cannot connect to xserver.

Is this all because I didn't run the uninstall.sh? Any leads on where I might be able to find it?

[de_koraco]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

You can't uninstall fglrx, because you installed it via the install script, not a .deb file.
You can find the uninstall script in /usr/share/ati.

Try some troubleshooting here

[esperado]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

"I've got (had?) a Kubuntu 10.04 box with an ATI graphics card in it, and I made the super intelligent decision to install the proprietary drivers from the ATI site following their instructions."
Can somebody explain-us why this broke his system, and this was the only way form me to get mine running ?

[de_koraco]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

Depends on the card. some don't seem to want to work with older drivers, like the ones provided in the Additional Driver utility, and some refuse to work with the newer ones, provided by AMD on their website. X is a fragile animal. I just had me some ATI destroying the system fun with Fedora.

[kingerthethird]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

Posting this as I do it (Great thing about being a programmer, you can work from anywhere, like home)

Followed the steps in the link in de_koraco's post to completely remove fglrx and ati and reinstall them. Rebooted and it came back High Def, a good sign, but it still brought up the console. Went to startx and it gave me an error saying it couldn't find the fglrx module, so I installed that, and voila.

Up and running. Thanks for all the help.

[de_koraco]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

I suggest you make a copy of your xorg.conf file as soon as possible. You might need it. You can find it in /etc/X11.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Purge and Install XServer

I don't know if you know this, but "locate" in the Konsole makes a fantastic search tool.

Examples:
To search for a binary that you know starts with "eki" but you aren't sure where it is or how to spell it, you can:
locate bin/eki
and it will show you. If you know how to spell it you can issue
whereis ekiga

If you make changes to your system you can wait for the cron script to update the database that "locate" uses, or you can hasten your search by popping open a Konsole and issuing
sudo updatedb

man locate
for more info.