Graphics Resolution- Upgrade /Blank Screen after reboot

[bogan]

Hi!, markMDW,

Thanks for the data Posted.

Unfortunately, I made a typo in the lspci command, so it did not give the data I was interested in getting.

Would you please Post the output of:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 VGA

However, it did show that your MB is an Nvidia MCP51 with an ancient nForce 430 Serial ATA GPU.

Nvidia stopped supporting those several years ago, so you are lucky the default nouveau driver does as well as it apparently does for you.

Chao!, bogan.

[markMDW]

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 VGA
00:05.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation C51 [GeForce Go 6100] [10de:0247] (rev a2)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:30b7]
	Kernel driver in use: nouveau
	Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb

I had been thinking about installing Xubuntu 12.04 on this laptop but had heard that Ubuntu was just as quick, and I figured that since it was now at an LTS version, it was a good time to dive into the Untity interface. In hindsight I suppose graphics might not have been an issue since compiz wouldn't have been running (based on my limited knowledge of those type things).

Anyhow, I glad Ubuntu has been brave enough to try a new GUI metaphor other than the classic desktop.. its about time users have something truly different to chose from. Thanks for helping everyone out!

[Davey H]

Hello all,
New poster here!

This thread seems to be what I have. A blank screen on a non bootable laptop after upgrading to Xubuntu 12.4. But at over a 100 pages long I thought I would confirm it with the thread followers to make sure this is the same sort of error before back tracking for hours over the posts.

It is a Sony Vaio AMD x500 series that was running Ubuntu 11.4. But on a fresh reinstall of Xubuntu 12.4 I ran into difficulty on install and kept getting the 'The installer encountered an unrecoverable error and will now reboot'. It would boot to the try version but would not install. Even trying to install it from the loaded trial produced the same error.



I tried a suggestion of running sudo apt-get remove ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu fix and the install proceeded past the data input point then just hung. I left it 15 minutes but it was obvious it was in trouble so I forced quit the install and shut down.


The only other thing that occurred apart from this is that xubuntu prompted me to update some driver (which one I can not now recall). I selected this and it downloaded and installed some update.


The problem is now that on attempting to start it up the computer will not boot at all. Not from any of the Linux ISO CD's I have or from the Vaio Windows XP product recovery CD.


All I am getting is a black screen with a repeated white flashing underline input curser in the top left corner, no keys at all seem to have any input affect.


I am totally stuck now on finding a way to get the PC to boot to anything at all. Plugging in an external monitor didn't help and no output was received from the laptop. I think (but have no idea) that there is a serious screen display issue going on here - probably caused by that driver download.



Any suggestions please? Anyone had this?

Regards

David

[bogan]

Hi!, hotpost david, Welcome to the Forum.

There is no need for " tracking for hours over the posts."

Post #2 of MAFoElffen's magnum opus has an extended Index and Post #1 is a step-by-step Trouble shooter.

Some questions assuming 11.4 & 12.4 mean 11.04 & 12.04 Xubuntu:

1.: Is the 11.04 installation still there? or was the attempted "Fresh install of 12.4" over the top of it or after formatting the partition?

2.: Direct install or via wubi?

3.: You Posted:

All I am getting is a black screen with a repeated white flashing underline input curser in the top left corner, no keys at all seem to have any input affect.

Does this mean:
3A.: You do not get a grub menu?

3B.: You do not get a Mouse cursor?

3C.: "no keys ...have...effect" includes such key combinations as: 'Crtl+Alt+F1-F6' or Crtl+Alt+del'?

3D.: You do not have access to a Terminal or tty?

3E.: The results are exactly the same whether trying to boot from hdd Ubuntu , or from Windows, Ubuntu, or Xubuntu CD or USB, regardless of version?

4.: Can you access Bios or the Post screen? Usually F2 or F1 at initial switch-on.

5.: Have you tried booting from a Live USB by selecting USB boot from Bios boot menu? [ may be a sub menu of HDDs].

6.: Can you get a copy of Boot Repair and run it.
per drs305:
Boot Repair :

Chao!, bogan.

[Davey H]

Hello Bogan,
Thanks for the reply.

I did scan through a few answers, I think the one you said was one of them. The only confusion I wasn't sure of is that it seems to assume that the computer outputs a display of some description.

My problem is that there nothing at all except a blank black screen and keying in anything makes no odds.

To run through your questions.

1. I can not see anything on the screen to know if there is anything booted but not visible. I suspect that it is not.

2. This was a direct Xubuntu 12.4 install from a ISO CD running in test mode.

3A. No grub
3B. No mouse pointer
3C. No keys produce any other effect
3D. No terminal or anything else
3E. I have tried booting from the Xubuntu, Ubuntu 10.10 and 12.4 and a windows XP recovery disc. No change in behaviour.

4&5. No F keys work - No bios screen

6. Not done the boot repair - I am looking at this now.

Worse of all the laptop I was trying to upgrade belongs to my 16 y/o daughter who is going into facebook withdrawal symptoms!!!

[Davey H]

I have looked at the boot repair and I think that assumes that you can get into the system of some type to launch it from.

I am fast approaching the thoughts that I may need to ditch the HD as totally corrupted and put a fresh one in!

[bogan]

Hi!, hotpost david,

Well, looks bad; my next suggestion was going to be a hardware fault, and to try fitting another hdd with a system installed [ internal or external, though the later seems unlikely to work].

No access to Bios seems to me to make it a near certainty it is either the hdd or the Motherboard.

Sorry I cannot offer any other solution, except to buy your daughter an ipad.

Chao!, bogan.

[Davey H]

Thanks again Bogan,
The thing is over 10 yrs old so I am not going to mess about with it too much for now. I figure that a HD is a fraction of the cost of a new replacement laptop so just brought a new HD online for £50, if that don't work then it is doomed (and I'll sell the new HD on eBay!).

I was going to up the RAM as well but it is at its max on half a GB. I hear that Xubuntu is better on older PC's with less RAM than the full blown Ubuntu versions.

I'll post back here the findings when I fit the new HD.

What I can not figure out is if I had done something or it failed of its own accord by coincidence. - Strange!

[Johnexx]

Ok so I have done the following, but I am having no luck, I am getting rather frustrated now.

Trouble Shoot flow chart

Step 1: I have the Grub Menu it looks like this



Step 2: Am I doing it right?

FIRST ATTEMPT



(Pushing 'E' on GRUB above)

I pushed CTRL+C here for Command Line (I think that's what you asked)



Now what?!


Step 3

Incase I did that bit wrong, I tried looking more

From GRUB i selected Recovery Mode



I got this page, where I selected Failsafe (You said Low GFX its only option available)



But then It got a Fatal Server Error



Step 4

In the command line I got in Step 2 entering "sudo service gdm start" It says Sudo isn't a recognize command



This is getting me frustrated now, I have re installed it off the disk twice but it still didn't work

I appreciate all help thanks a lot

[bogan]

Hi!, Johnexx,

Your Post is not clear what your problem is, what you are trying to do, or wth what you want help . Are you referring to the Post#1 Trouble Shooter? or some other Post?

Assuming you are intending to add 'nomodeset' to the 'Linux' line in the grub menu script, you are all correct at"Step2, First attempt", after pressing 'e', and that is where you edit the line and press 'Crtl+x' to boot.

Pressing 'Crtl+C' gives you the Grub shell prompt [CLI] which is very limited, as you found. Its most likely use would be to run 'vbeinfo' to find out which screen resolutions are available at that stage. [Your error post shows that is one problem you are having.]

If you do that it should show the version of the 'vesa' driver in use, a list of available resolutions, with the preferred one listed separately near the bottom; plus a reference to the VGA adapter, probably showing 'No info'.
Make a note of the resolution you are interested in and press 'Esc' to return to the script and then 'Crtl+x' to boot.

Running 'sudo service lightdm start' would be from the Terminal option of the recovery menu, after selecting 'fsck' to set the system to 'Read/Write'.

Hope that clarifies things a bit for you.

Chao, bogan.