3

This is a weird one, I think.

The hardware: Fujitsu Siemens Amilo 3530, 4GB RAM, 2x500GB HDD, ATI Radeon 3650

So, I upgraded from 11.10 to 12.04 from the Update Mangler. Everything went swimmingly and it took about 90 mins to install. Then, following reboot, it tells me that it can't determine my graphics settings and is running in low res mode. Then it gives me 4 options:

run in low graphics mode for one session
reconfigure graphics troubleshoot the error
exit to console login.

Whichever I choose it just shows me the terminal and asks for login, which i do, then it just leaves a blinking cursor. I have no idea what the hell it is expecting me to do.

What am I supposed to do? 11.10 installed and just worked, which made me quite happy about my decision to ditch Windows. However, now, I find I have a laptop that I cannot use at all and Ubuntu is giving me no pointers at all. Not a happy bunny. If anyone can help me, I would really appreciate it as I need my laptop back asap and don't want to have to go an buy a copy of Windows!

1
  • I just tried burning another [newer] version of the 12.04 install CD. I thought I may be able to boot up and fix something from the Try Ubuntu. However, it boots with exactly the same result... May 2, 2012 at 17:47

5 Answers 5

0

I don't know how useful this update will be for anyone else as I'm fumbling around like a blindman...

Anyway, not having any idea of what I was doing, I fell back on some old-school fumble around,'try it and see what happens'. Hey, it worked with DOS in the '80s...

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop (this ghave a message that latest version was already installed)
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install fglrx
sudo apt-get update
sudo reboot

I have no idea why I did what I did, it just seemed like the thing was broken anyway, I had nothing to lose with a bit of seat-of-the-pants stuff and, guess what? Yep, it booted into 12.04 at full res.

I do not think I have fixed it. I have bodged it, for now.

After booting it gave me an error: 12.04 has experienced an internal error This is related to something called zenity?!

Followng another reboot it gave same error but this time with: /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnucolord/colord I have no idea why this worked.

Update Manager is now offering me some updates which, I am a little nervous about trying.

Can anyone tell me why what I did worked and do I need to do something else now?

Cheers! Mark

0

Can anyone tell me why what I did worked and do I need to do something else now?

Mark, IMHO you can install the updates quietly; if something will go wrong, it means that you already have an instable OS.

It seems that in your case the simple installation of the graphic driver fixed issue. Driver was not yet installed, unlike the ubuntu-desktop that was properly set-up during the OS installation.

So let Ubuntu updates all important packages that it is offering, then reboot your system and check: if all will work fine it will be good, otherwise if the errors will pop up again try update the packages described in the error screen (you may need to click Details button and scroll down)

Let us know!

1
  • 1
    You should probably delete this and add the information here to your first answer by editing it, and/or post a new question to get information about why something works. Aug 10, 2012 at 9:40
0

I am experiencing the same issue, but with a ATI Radeon HD6850. Looking in to the issue further, but I don't have an explanation as to what is going on.

Will be back to report my findings.

Mark: It might be relevant, but which display drivers were you using at the time?

Edit: Got my system fixed. I found this thread which helped me fix it:
"Your system is running in low-graphics mode'' on an Acer Aspire 5552

Step by Step, here's what I did:

1.) Get to the console

2.) sudo apt-get remove fglrx ( and fglrx-amdcccle if exists)

3.) sudo sh /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.sh ( if it fails, run it with the --force option)

4.) sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove

5.) sudo shutdown -r now

The system will reboot to the login screen. At this point re-install your drivers via Additional Drivers, reboot, and you're good to go. and issue resolved.

3
  • Steve, I tried what you suggested. I'm not sure why but it has not made any obvious difference. However... Firstly, although not a novice to command lines, it's been a long time and I have little to no linux knowledge at this point... May 3, 2012 at 17:26
  • I removed fglrx successfully. fglrx/amdcccle it said didn't exist. and laughed at the --force option. I went and removed the files and directories manually. The update runs with lots of lgn Hit and Get but, at the end, it gives me a list of duplicate sources and tells me to run apt-get update to correct these errors. Then it Hits and gets more, telling me it Fetched 12.6MB in 26s. May 3, 2012 at 17:27
  • If I then run the upgrade, it tells me 0 Upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Same thing with autoremove. So, I'm figuring the update doesn't actually do anything at all... Rebooting always gives me the old Low Res Graphics routine... May 3, 2012 at 17:27
0

I've a similar issue. My scratch installation of 12.04 went fine but since 1st boot I was unable to work: blank screen. My system uses ATI HD 6770. Only console lets me work.

I checked the /var/log/Xorg.0.log and it showed me that there was any valid configuration for graphic.

I have fixed (it seems) it in this way:

  1. I re-installed ATI driver by running

    sudo apt-get install --reinstall fglrx
    
  2. I edited the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file (that contains the configuration to load graphic) by replacing the driver "VESA" with the ATI driver that is fglrx.

  3. I rebooted the system and it GUI works fine!

But I had the same error about Zenity. I'm now going to upgrade all related packages as suggested in the error screen, then I will let you know.

IMHO you can install the updates quietly; if something will go wrong, it means that you already have an instable OS.

It seems that in your case the simple installation of the graphic driver fixed issue. Driver was not yet installed, unlike the ubuntu-desktop that was properly set-up during the OS installation.

So let Ubuntu updates all important packages that it is offering, then reboot your system and check: if all will work fine it will be good, otherwise if the errors will pop up again try update the packages described in the error screen (you may need to click Details button and scroll down)

2
  • As additional info, surfing the net while searching for my issue I found lots of people that are experiencing similar troubles with ATI HD cards.
    – Matteo
    Aug 8, 2012 at 10:03
  • Ok, as I said I configured graphic and it works but first time it worked I had the Zenity error. I tried to upgrade all the packages listed in the error screen (really only zenity went upgraded, all others were already up-to-date) and launched reboot command. Machine hanged on the Ubuntu screen during shut-down. Forced reboot pressing power button, all seems working fine. No further errors and graphic is ok!
    – Matteo
    Aug 8, 2012 at 10:18
0

I had a similar issue (scratch install of 12.04) with ATI Radeon 5450 - install fine in high resolution (1920 x 1080 ) but then sometimes (argh...) after reboot Ubuntu was still in low resolution. I've installed/re-installed the driver with no luck. Eventually, I added manually a new mode line as explained here in the Ubuntu help wiki.

Due to buggy hardware or drivers, your monitor's correct resolutions may not always be detected. For example, the EDID data block queried from your monitor may be incorrect.

If the mode already exists, but just isn't associated for the particular output, you can add it like this:

xrandr --addmode S-video 800x600

If the mode doesn't yet exist, you'll need to create it first by specifying a modeline:

xrandr --newmode <Mode``Line>

You may create a modeline using the gtf or cvt utility. For example, if you want to add a mode with resolution 800x600 at 60 Hz, you can enter the following command: (The output is shown following.)

$ cvt 800 600 60
# 800x600 59.86 Hz (CVT 0.48M3) hsync: 37.35 kHz; pclk: 38.25 MHz
Modeline "800x600_60.00"   38.25  800 832 912 1024  600 603 607 624 -hsync +vsync

Then copy the information after the word "Modeline" into the xrandr command:

xrandr --newmode "800x600_60.00"   38.25  800 832 912 1024  600 603 607 624 -hsync +vsync

After the mode is entered, it needs to be added to the output using the --addmode command as explained above.

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .