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I just attempted to install the latest ATI video drivers on my laptop. Upon rebooting the system (including the mouse and keyboard) freezes after the Ubuntu logo. Because the keyboard is frozen I am unable to switch consoles and uninstall the ATI drivers.

I am able to access the computer by booting with an Ubuntu live CD. So I was hoping that from there I could remove the ATI driver by hand but I'm not sure exactly how to go about it. I found a glrx-uninstall.log file from previous successful attempts at uninstalling the driver (older versions) and I would like to think I could just follow that log and remove everything it said it did like

/usr/lib/xorg/modules/linux/libfglrxdrm.so
/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libAMDXvBA.so

And so on. Will this work or am I likely to further screw up my system? Is there anything the uninstall script installs that I would also need to install?

Alternately is it possible to run the uninstall script while using the Live CD with the HD mounted (can it be told to look in the mounted directory instead of /)?

Edit (as per request below): I initially installed the drivers downloaded from ATI using their installation method.

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  • This should give you the idea: askubuntu.com/questions/124878/… Jan 20, 2013 at 17:26
  • How exactly did you install the ATI video drivers? Please edit your question adding that information. Jan 20, 2013 at 17:26
  • AbrahamVanHelpsing: That method seems to require one to boot to a recovery console which I seem unable to do. For example, grub never shows up during the boot process it just goes straight to booting up. Jorge: I've added the info
    – bfootdav
    Jan 20, 2013 at 17:41
  • @bfootdav You can do the same from a liveCD/DVD. Recovery console just removes the requirement for optical media. Jan 20, 2013 at 17:44
  • the jockey-test command does not appear to be part of the Live CD and apt-get does not seem to want to install it.
    – bfootdav
    Jan 20, 2013 at 17:53

1 Answer 1

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Try to boot on recovery mode. To get the grub menu to show up, just short-press the SHIFT key several times after your bios POST messages (you might be able to see the Loading GRUB... message, that's the moment.

Then, choose the option netroot on the recovery menu, and remount your filesystem with write permissions by using this command:

mount -o remount,rw /

Then, follow the instructions on the Unnofficial AMD Catalyst wiki for 12.04 or for 12.10.

If you don't have Internet access (you don't have direct ethernet access with dhcp, need wifi, etc.) you can't do this, but just do the first step and you should be able to boot your system again. After boot the system and get Internet access, do the other steps.

And when you are done, just reboot:

reboot

Can't you make into the grub menu?

Just let's do it from a live cd environment. Just ensure the live cd is for the same architecture as the installed system. Open up a terminal. Then, mount your / partition.

sudo su
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

That is, assuming your / partition is on /dev/sda1, of course, which might not be the case. Try to guess the correct device by using the Disks tool.

Then, create a good environment, and use chroot:

mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
mount --bind /sys /mnt/sys
mount --bind /run /mnt/run
chroot /mnt

If everything is OK, now you are inside your installed system, running inside a chrooted environment. From here, follow the wiki instructions.

When you're over, hit Ctrl+D to exit the chroot environment. then, carefully umount your system, and reboot

umount /mnt/dev /mnt/sys /mnt/proc /mnt/run /mnt
reboot
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  • When I power up the computer I get a Toshiba splash screen and then it turns purple. Normally after like 10 seconds or so it will give a login screen. Now, when I hit the shift key repeatedly throughout I get to what looks like a console screen with kernel messages but again the keyboard is frozen and I am unable to enter any commands or switch consoles. Is there perhaps a grub setting I can change using the Live CD to get the grub menu to show up? Btw, I'm using Ubuntu 12.10.
    – bfootdav
    Jan 20, 2013 at 18:12
  • your shift key was too late, or your box doesn't recognize your usb hid Jan 20, 2013 at 18:30
  • I've now tried it multiple times, constantly hitting the shift keys from the moment the machine powers up and I'm not getting the grub menu. Also, I'm trying to get the computer's grub menu, not the one from the USB Live CD (which comes up fine).
    – bfootdav
    Jan 20, 2013 at 18:41
  • Hitting the shift key too soon might be the problem. Anyways, I've added info to do the same from a live cd. Jan 20, 2013 at 19:26

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