ATI & Nvidia: no X, just blinking on 2.6.31 (Karmic 9.10)

[airencracken]

I'm having much the same problem, except older kernels aren't booting into a graphical environment either. I did the alternate-cd install via bittorrent and this is the second time I've had problems with it. That method needs a bit of work. Oh well, I'm not really complaining, this is one of the fun parts about using linux, I like fixing things.

However, I currently don't have a gui (posting this from elinks) and navigating nvidia's site in a text only browser is a major PITA. There were some broken packages after the update so I'm trying an "aptitude safe-upgrade" before I do anything else (which is going to take just as long as a normal upgrade would have, sigh...), but I'll report back here if the problem persists afterwards. Hopefully I won't have to do a clean install.

[-=hazard=-]

Same problem here with flickering shell with 2.6.31 kernel, the screen goes in panic... but it's ok with 2.6.28 kernel. Apart this I got problems with audio too. Example Alsa cant recognise the sound cart and if I go on configure it crash. Here is the bug reported. And pulseaudio device chooser doesn't even start. Apart all this, the start-up is more slower than 9.04 version.

[DustofDust]

I managed to get round this by removing fglrx and doing
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

i did not have fglrx installed.

i had to mount the alternate iso disc first, because he asked for disc in cdrom because of media change, it didnt just download the driver if there is no disc.

alt f2 for another bash, because it dont let you escape.
sudo mount -o loop ~/path/ubuntu-9.10-alternate-i386.iso /mnt/cdrom

i did something like

sudo apt-get remove --purge xserver-xorg-video-ati xserver-xorg-video-radeon xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri xserver-xorg-core
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-mach64

last line or radeon or fglrx depending which generation of card you have.

this time i did only some of the stuff above, i dont remember what i tried exactly but it works now.

i had such a problem some month ago when i played around with graphic card drivers, so i already knew the possible solution. i remebered this when someone in a mainstream newspaper forum postet that he had an x problem while he was upgrading to karmic.

when will this f u c k i n g problem be fixed? a lot of people have problems with this. it happens very often if someone was reading the forum.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1305924
more the 40% have problems they can not solve! also there some reported about this problem with x and the driver!

the more people subscribe at the launchpad bug i reported
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/464591
the more the chance that it get fixed in way it does not happen again and people who dont have a glue what could be the reason and how to solve it, can get a running ubuntu.

but thanks for your try to help!

[Regele IONESCU]

I made a fresh install too on an Acer Aspire 9423wsmi laptop, after I installed Windwos7. When I try to boot I get the same flickering black screen with tty1 and login lines. I hardly manage to type the username, but when it comes to password it types nothing.

[DustofDust]

I made a fresh install too on an Acer Aspire 9423wsmi laptop, after I installed Windwos7. When I try to boot I get the same flickering black screen with tty1 and login lines. I hardly manage to type the username, but when it comes to password it types nothing.

just do similar what i posted above you.

[Regele IONESCU]

I was not on a network, so I had some trouble doing exactly what you said above, but your method did work, thanks! This is what I did:

1. Use a different computer to download the NVIDIA-Linux-*.run for my new laptop
2. Copy that new driver to a USB drive
3. Boot to recovery mode on the new laptop (had to look this up):
   
   Hit ESC just after your Bios loads when (in theory) you see the "Grub loading blah blah" (it was WAY too fast to see it on my machine)
   A menu will come up with boot options, select the one that ends in (recovery mode)
   You are dropped at the root@yournmachine:~# prompt
4. Plug my USB drive into the laptop (after a few seconds I saw some stuff scroll by the screen)
5. Mount the USB drive (had to look this one up):
   
   Find the drive with the command: sudo fdisk -l (mine was /dev/sdb1)
   Create a directory to mount it as: sudo mkdir /media/external
   Mount the drive: sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/external -o uid=1000,gid=100,utf8,dmask-027/fmask=137
   NOTE: if your USB is not FAT## you need a different -t option
6. Copied the new driver to my home directory (may not have been necessary)
7. execute the NVIDIA-Linux-*.run file
   
   I had to change permissions on the file before I could run it: chmod 777 NVIDIA*
   Ran the file with: ./NVIDIA*.run
8. Follow the instructions
9. Reboot

This made the flickering login problem go away and allowed me to get in and start using Ubuntu on my new machine.

Hi!
I managed to boot, to mount and to run nvidia*.run. But when it starts it says "Skipping the runlevel check (the utility runlevel failed to run)", then in the licence page both Accept and Do Not Accept buttons are red and I have no visible way to switch between them(Tab seems no working), and all ends saying "Unable to find the kernel source tree for currently running kernel. ... specify the kernel source path with the '--kernel-source-path' command line option.

[Regele IONESCU]

just do similar what i posted above you.

I have an Nvidia graphics board. I tried to replace ati with nvidia where it says apt-get install xserver but failed.

[lapdog]

Similar update experience: got flashing text login screen on tty1 with normal bootup--no way to log in since most keystrokes did not register. tty2 - 6 had the same flashing. tty7 was blank. With either "recovery mode" option, got to login but startx gave "screen not found" error, among others.

With the guidance of other posts here, I am now writing from a working 9.10 system. Yeah! Since my network connection was working and I apparently needed the latest nVidia driver, I did the following:

1. Hit ESC after the BIOS loads (at the grub screen).

2. Select the "recovery mode" with the later kernel: 2.6.31-14. (The other choice I had was 2.6.28-16.)

3. Login

4. Pray that ftp will work and you can download from nVidia's site--necessary step! don't skip!

5. ftp

6. open download.nvidia.com

7. for username, use: guest

8. for password, just press <Enter>

9. cd XFree86
10. cd Linux-x86
11. cd 190.42

12. binary

13. get NVIDIA-Linux-x86-190.42-pkg1.run
and wait for it to download; took about a minute for me

14. bye

15. chmod 777 NVIDIA*

16. sudo ./NVIDIA*.run

17. Follow instructions in nVidia installation. Remember to choose Yes when it asks if you want to replace current X config options.

18. reboot

19. Praise God with a prayer of thanksgiving when it works, and add a prayer of thanks for the Ubuntu community.


Boot up time for me is about the same, maybe a few seconds longer. The new graphic defaults look cool and so far have been very fast and non-intrusive.

While I don't mind installing an extra file, getting a huge file onto a machine that doesn't boot correctly is a *major* source of stress. Please, Ubuntu, put a message for nVidia users in big, bold type on your main 9.10 page saying the latest driver is needed. Fetching this file beforehand would save a *lot* of trouble, as this thread shows. This really is a serious issue that should not be present in a standard release. (More than 40% with major problems? Is that normal?)

Still don't have working sound or floppy, but nothing new there. I saw a sound sticky...

On a positive note, thanks to the Ubuntu forum and community members for pointing me in the right direction!!!

---
mobo: MSI K9N2GM-FIH (nVidia GeForce 8200); proc: AMD Phenom X3 (AM2+) 8450; 4 Gig mem

[DustofDust]

I have an Nvidia graphics board. I tried to replace ati with nvidia where it says apt-get install xserver but failed.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bi...erHowto/Nvidia
i think these are the nvidia names. dont know if they changed it...

[budfrogs]

I was not on a network, so I had some trouble doing exactly what you said above, but your method did work, thanks! This is what I did:

1. Use a different computer to download the NVIDIA-Linux-*.run for my new laptop
2. Copy that new driver to a USB drive
3. Boot to recovery mode on the new laptop (had to look this up):
   Hit ESC just after your Bios loads when (in theory) you see the "Grub loading blah blah" (it was WAY too fast to see it on my machine)
   A menu will come up with boot options, select the one that ends in (recovery mode)
   You are dropped at the root@yournmachine:~# prompt
4. Plug my USB drive into the laptop (after a few seconds I saw some stuff scroll by the screen)
5. Mount the USB drive (had to look this one up):
   Find the drive with the command: sudo fdisk -l (mine was /dev/sdb1)
   Create a directory to mount it as: sudo mkdir /media/external
   Mount the drive: sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/external -o uid=1000,gid=100,utf8,dmask-027/fmask=137
   NOTE: if your USB is not FAT## you need a different -t option
6. Copied the new driver to my home directory (may not have been necessary)
7. execute the NVIDIA-Linux-*.run file
   I had to change permissions on the file before I could run it: chmod 777 NVIDIA*
   Ran the file with: ./NVIDIA*.run
8. Follow the instructions
9. Reboot

This made the flickering login problem go away and allowed me to get in and start using Ubuntu on my new machine.

I had the same problem. I also had no sound after the upgrade with tty flashing on kernel 31 and not able to login.

I booted into recover mode for 31 kernel.
Once logged in I went to the director my NVIDIA driver was and tried to install it again.
No luck
Not ROOT
Logged in as Root
Tried again. No Luck at Run level 1 Nvidia said to change to Run level 3.
Typed telinit 3 I think and it went to the next run level
Tried the NVIDIA install again and it started. It did have an error but did some type of recovery and finished the install with no issue.

Rebooted the machine in to 31 kernel and it started up fine. I even had sound back. Bonus. I am definitely a noob on Ubuntu and it seems to me the new kernel has issues with the video drivers and need them reinstalled on that kernel. If that makes sense.
Good luck guys. I think I will not upgrade for a while.