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I'm new with Ubuntu and I'm scared to mess around with drivers, as every single time I end up with an unusable system and I have to reinstall the OS from scratch.
I've installed Ubuntu yesterday and, despite some big issues with the network adapter, the menus, the fans and the sound card, it seemed to work almost perfectly. But after a restart I got this result:

image

(that's the desktop with just an instance of monkeysearch in the foreground, the other windows are only artifacts).

Now it always happens, even 5 minutes after reboots. Here is the desktop right after a reboot:

image

To test the 3D capabilities I've tried Kerbal Space Program and it works nicely, it's not stuttering and it runs pretty fast (I haven't tried complex ships). Only thing missing are the icons of the part categories.

PC specs:

  • AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 955
  • Gallium 0.4 on AMD BARTS (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0)
  • Radeon HD6850

How should I proceed in attempting to fix this error?

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  • Can you clarify, is the desktop OK only after a clean install, or is it good for a while after reboot then not? Also, which drivers are you using? I really think you need to try the AMD driver. I assume you're confident your card is OK (but that seems an unlikely cause of the problem) May 20, 2016 at 12:37
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    This problem is not that uncommon actually
    – sav
    Jun 18, 2018 at 3:43

2 Answers 2

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I've seen incredibly similar issues caused by not having the right drivers installed - highly recommend finding an AMD driver for your card. The drivers are available from:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/previous/detail?os=Ubuntu%20x86%2064&rev=15.9

The driver comes with full installation instructions if memory serves, and you should be up and running in no more than 30 minutes with your desktop looking normal again.

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  • Installed the radeon drivers (I already had the amd ubuntu provides), but that didn't helped. Ended up installing ubuntu again.
    – Salomanuel
    May 23, 2016 at 10:44
  • Once you'd installed the proprietary drivers, did you remove the default ones? If not, it was probably still using them...
    – XtrmJosh
    May 23, 2016 at 14:58
  • @Salomanuel i think he can not install fglrx amd proprietary driver on Ubuntu 16.04 as fglrx driver can be installed in Ubuntu up to 15.10 ,even on page is written → Distributions supported: Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS, 14.04.2 , as i know last ubuntu version where you can install and use fglrx driver is 15.10 because new version of ...in Ubuntu 16.10 ! choices are not to update to 16.o4 ,downgrade back to 15.10 or even more back..or to upgrade graphic card to amd 3xx seria,fury,fury X,and amd rx 4xx(yes 480) and even vulkan driver will work,and Steam(games platform) will work flawlessly!
    – siniša
    Aug 3, 2016 at 7:11
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I ended up installing Ubuntu again from scratch. It's not professional, but I needed a working machine.

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    Unfortunately, this is usually the easiest, least time consuming solution. Important factors for a professional.
    – sav
    Jun 18, 2018 at 3:44

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