[12.04] Stuck in low graphic mode (freeze)

[BramWillemsen]

Hi,

I recently installed Ubuntu 12.04. I downloaded the fglrx drivers from ATI's site and followed the install instructions. Everything worked nicely. Then ubuntu updated the kernel, and of course fglrx broke like it always does. Normally I just reinstall it. But the problem is that I cannot enter Ubuntu anymore this time. Each time Ubuntu starts I get the message 'Low graphics mode, blabla'. When I press enter the dialog disappears and a new one appears. It has 4 options. Stuff like 'run in low graphics mode once' etc. The problem is that I cannot select anything or get out of this dialog. There is no mouse pointer and the computer does not respond to any key.

I tried running in recovery mode. This does not work. When I try to run failsafe graphics mode I still get to see the dreaded dialog of 'you shall not pass'. When I select terminal from the recovery actions I don't get much further. I wanted to reinstall the fglrx drivers from the terminal but for some reason I get the message that I am on a read only filesystem.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can do ? It seems like I ran out of options. I just cannot enter Ubuntu anymore...

[BramWillemsen]

(bump since the post fell to the 4th page)

[t_shawn]

I have the same problem. Installed on a Dell Precision T5400. Never had any issues with Mint or OpenSuse. Have re-installed which is of no help.

[bogan]

Hi!, Bramwillemsen.

Recovery in 12.04 is Read Only by default. Running the fsck option will set it to Read/Write, you can then drop to a text root terminal with writeability.

Does: "the computer does not respond to any key." include not responding to 'Crtl+Alt+F1 - F6' ??

Chao, bogan.

[t_shawn]

I have the same problem. Installed on a Dell Precision T5400. Never had any issues with Mint or OpenSuse. Have re-installed which is of no help.

I solved my issues after 2 days of trying various solutions. I ended up purging all Nvidia drivers, rebooting, logging in to the console (ctrl+alt+F1), killing lightdm (sudo service lightdm stop), switching to run level 3 (sudo init 3) and installing the drivers I downloaded from Nvidia (sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-304.43.run). After another reboot all was fixed.

Dual monitors working perfectly. Not sure why I didn't do this to begin with.

[BramWillemsen]

I installed Ubuntu 12.10 a few weeks ago. Had to install the beta drivers from AMD since no other version was available yet. Everything runs awesome and nice, but a week or so later Ubuntu suddenly does not boot again. I don't know what broke it this time again.

Sometimes when I try to run Ubuntu the screen is just black. Some other times I see the Ubuntu logo with the 5 red dots below it. These dots do not move. The computer does not respond to cntrl + alt + F1-F6. The only thing it responds to is the power button. When I press that once it will shut down, even though all the way to the end the ubuntu logo appears. It seems like the graphics are frozen.

Maybe the Kernel got automatically updated? I remember this could cause problems in older Ubuntu version. Each time I'd have to reinstall fglrx. But in recovery mode I only see 3.5.0-17 as kernel. Running Ubuntu in recovery mode does not help by the way. The failsafeX does not do anything, maybe because of this failsafe read-only mode.

Bogan, you suggested running the fsck option to get read/write. But when I select read/write from the recovery option list I am warned that it will enter read-only mode. The progress stops after 0.2%.


It seems like I have to give up on this installation again... I have no idea what is going on. Ubuntu used to be very stable in the past. But now two new installations (first 12.04 and then 12.10) both died.

Does anyone have an idea what to do?

EDIT:
I managed to get read/write with this guide.
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/fixsudo

I then simply force uninstalled the ATI drivers and when I rebooted ubuntu was working again. Sweet! I will just wait untill the official 12.11 is out and install it through some repository.