PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] 8.10 on Dell Inspiron 1100


nashikens
April 16th, 2009, 08:49 PM
I get a black screen, sometimes orange, sometimes no video on startup. Download "ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso" burned with Toast (on Mac OSX Tiger). Checked the CD, no errors.
Every time now I get an orange screen with a pointer that I can move, but nothing else (after the login screen).

Dell Inspiron 1100
Bios A32
UMA 8MB (i changed it)
RAM 640MB
80GB HD
One partition, fresh install

Restarted after install, login screen (entered Username & Password), blank screen (can wait as long as I like).
Restarted in Recovery Mode, tried both methods about removing the splash page (possibly helped).
Tried to edit the xorg.conf, got blank screen with blue "~" wasn't sure what to do. Tried typing all the code, then ":exit" returned "could not write file" I was expecting to see some code to edit though, not have to add the code entirely.
Removed compiz... no change.

That's where I'm stuck. I know little about code and almost nothing about Ubuntu/Linux. I'm sure the machine will run the system, seems like it's just a video issue, but I'm not sure how to fix it. I've read a lot on the web but most isn't about 8.10.
If you can help, please be kind of specific... If you save save and exit and I need to type something unintuitive like ":qw" I probably wouldn't know that without you telling me.

coffeeaddict22
April 18th, 2009, 03:28 AM
Hi,
Sorry, but need more detail.
When you boot up, it's going into the login screen? Is the picture fine there? can you see your username being entered no problem? Once the password is in, does it go blank immediately? Have you tried another monitor?
UMA is ?the video card?

If you hit Ctrl-Alt-F1 you should go to a black screen (it's a terminal). Does that work? If it does, then you're half way there; anything you can do with a fancy desktop can be done in a terminal, and a few other things as well.