Where to look for errors
A good general place to start is /var/log/syslog
or dmesg
. You can search through these logs for relevant info based on the type of driver or hardware, or based on the time that an issue occurred. The /var/log
directory has other logs that may help depending on the issue.
Graphics errors may be listed in ~/.Xsession-errors
or /var/log/Xorg.0.log
.
If you can find a relevant section based on that searching, then this section will be a good place to start for searching for solutions here or elsewhere.
Types of issues
Totally dead
This may mean that you either must install the drivers manually, or the device is not supported by the drivers. Searching based on the hardware name will help in deciding which this is. If the device is not supported by the driver, you can file a bug (or see if one already exists).
Intermittent problems
Try to determine when the issues happen. Does a specific action trigger the problem? This information will probably be needed to fix the problem. Noting the times when the issue happens will help when looking through log files for clues.
Configuration problems
This will depend on the driver and type of device.
Alternate drivers
Some devices, notably certain graphics cards or network devices, have multiple drivers available. Try the "Restricted Drivers" tool in Ubuntu to see if options are listed there. If nothing shows up, search for your device model to see what the options are.
The Ubuntu help documents provide a good starting point for debugging many driver issues. Also, there's a good chance that someone has been in the same situation, so make sure to look on the forums and here for possible solutions.
Device info
For PCI devices, try lspci
.
For USB devices, try lsusb
.
Devices may be listed at boot in /var/log/syslog
when they are detected. Graphics hardware is listed in /var/log/Xorg.0.log
.
Graphics Drivers
The most common drivers are for graphics cards by Intel, Nvidia, and ATI/AMD.
Intel drivers are included in the kernel, so they should automatically be loaded for most Intel cards. Updating your kernel (either through software updates or by upgrading Ubuntu) could fix issues with the Intel drivers.
Nvidia and ATI/AMD cards have two options: an open-source driver and a closed-source proprietary driver.
For supported cards, the open-source driver is used by default. For Nvidia this is the nouveau
driver, and for ATI/AMD this is the radeon
or ati
driver.
Closed-source drivers are also available from the manufacturers. Nvidia provides the nvidia
driver, and ATI/AMD provides the fglrx
driver.
Closed source drivers generally provide better performance and features than the open source versions, and may be worth a try when resolving issues.
For other types of cards, such as SIS and VIA, the drivers are included by default, and may be updated between versions of Ubuntu or in regular software updates.