I've been having technical problems installing/running ubuntu 8.04.1 amd64 on my desktop computer. My hardware configuration consists of an Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600, an Intel (Stoughton) G965 motherboard, an Nvidia 8800 gt video card, displaying on a Philips 109b 19” CRT monitor.
The problem is that I get a blank, flickering screen after selecting the Ubuntu linux generic option in the grub boot loader. Imagine a black image displayed on a monitor set to a resolution and refresh rate it does not support and that's what it looks like.
I've read through a myriad of posts on these and other forums and tried everything I could find that seemed applicable to my problem. I outline everything I did below, reproducing the exact commands I use and the output I get in chronological order leading to the present moment (I put "//" before my comments to help distinguish them from output). I apologize for the disgusting length of this post; I wanted anyone willing to help me to have all the necessary info and I'm just too inexperienced with Linux to discount anything.
Installing with the alternate cd for ubuntu 8.04.1 amd64 worked fine and I wound up with a roughly 61 gb “/” partition with a swap of about 3.5 gb. Once the process was complete, it prompted me to remove the cd from the drive and boot into my new operating system.
After restarting, I saw the new grub bootloader with options to boot into Windows Vista a couple of times (one for the os and another for a recovery console for it) and options for booting into linux (generic kernel, recovery, and memtest). Unfortunately, this is where the trouble begins.
Selecting linux generic produces a black/blank screen that sort of flashes every so often. Pressing “e” on the linux generic option and modifying it with nosplash at grub loader failed to resolve the issue. Pressing ctrl + alt + F1 (from the black screen) puts me into the command line (i.e. black background, generic white font, blinking cursor) where I see,
Loading, please wait...
Kinit: name_to_dev_t (/dev/sda5) = sda5(8,5)
Kinit: trying to resume from /dev/sda5
Kinit: No resume image, doing normal boot...
Ubuntu8.0.04.1 test-box tty1
test-box login: entered username
Password: entered password
Linux test-box 2.6.24-19-generic #1_SMP Wed Jun 18 14:15:37 UTC 2008 x86_64
//It displays messages here about being free software, a lack of any warranty, where to go for documentation, and how to run commands as admin.
Kernel alive
username@test-box:`$
//The first thing I tried from this position was startx.
username@test-box:`$ startx
xauth: creating authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
xauth: creating authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /temp/.X0-lock and start again.
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keygiving up
xinit: Interrupted system call (errno 4) : unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3); Server error.
//The next thing I tried was
username@test-box`$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
//I selected from the options the menu presented, opting to disable the frame buffer.
Xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting possibly customised configuration file; backup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.20080730154216
//After restarting the machine, selecting the generic kernel from grub and facing a blank screen, I went back into command line (ctrl + alt + F1).
username@test-box:`$ gdm stop
Message says gnome is stopped.
username@test-box:`$ startx
//I hear the sound of Ubuntu starting up but I have a blank screen.
//Return to command line where I now see,
Build Operating System: Linux Ubuntu (xorg-server 2:1.4.1~git20080131-1ubuntu9.2)
Current Operating System: Linux test-box 2.6.24-19-generic #1 SMP Wed Jun 18 14:15:37 UTC 2008 x86_64
Build Date: 13 June 2008 01:10:57AM
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org to make sure you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) waring, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: “var/log/Xorg.0.log”, Time: Wed Jul 30 15:51:56 2008
(==) Using config file: “/etc/X11/xorg.conf”
(II) Module “i2c” already built-in
(II) Module "ddc" already built-in
(II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
expected keysum, got XF86KbdLightOnOff: line 70 of pc
expected keysum, got XF86KbdBrightnessDown: line 71 of pc
expected keysum, got XF86KbdBrightnessUp: line 72 of pc
expected keysum, got XF86KbdLightOnOff: line 70 of pc
expected keysum, got XF86KbdBrightnessDown: line 71 of pc
expected keysum, got XF86KbdBrightnessUp: line 72 of pc
SetClient Version: 0 9
SetGrabKeysState - disabled
//Restarted the machine.
//Ubuntu kernel generic, pressed e key, replace "quiet" with "nosplash" and press b.
//I get a blinking cursor in the upper left corner, otherwise blank screen.
//Restarted the machine.
//I try the recovery mode from grub boot loader.
xfix
resume normal boot
//I get a blank screen
//Go into command line
//Try username@test-box:~$ sudo apt-get install nividia-glx
Reading Package Lists...Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information...Done
Suggested Packages: nvidia-kernel-source nvidia-settings
The following NEW packages will be installed: nvidia-glx
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 52 not upgraded.
Need to get 7333kB of archives.
After this operation, 22.4MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy-updates/restricted nvidia-glx 1:96.43.05+2.6.24.13-19.45 [7333kB]
Fetched 7333 kB in 38s (191kB/s)
Selected previously deselected package nvidia-glx.
(Reading database...95147 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking nvidia-glx (from.../nvidia-glx_1%3a96.43.05+2.6.24.13-19.45_amd64.deb)...
Setting up nvidia-glx ( 1:96.43.05+2.6.24.13-19.45)...
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
//Now I try username@test-box:`$ gdm start
* Starting Gnome Display Maganger... [OK]
//I'm still in the command line, so I try username@test-box:`$ sudo gdm
gdm[6431]: Warning: GDM already running. Aborting!
GDM already running. Aborting!
//I restart the computer and still get the blank screen, go into command line, and try startx.
xauth: /home/username/.Xauthority not writable, changes will be ignored
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again.
No protocol specified
giving up.
xinit: Resource temporarily unavailable (errno 11): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/username/.Xauthority
//I try sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
//Blank screen...ctrl+alt+F1 puts me back into command line
*Stopping GNOME Display Manager... 0 @ 8000-d000 [OK]
*Starting GNOME Display Manager... [OK]
//Restart, and I'm still getting the blank screen when I select Ubuntu generic linux kernel.
I wasn't sure how to get at the xorg.conf file from the command line so I installed Ex2IFS in Windows and copied the xorg.conf file onto my desktop. I used Firefox to open it using Unicode UTF-8 character encoding and pasted everything in it below:
------------------------------------------
# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
--------------------------------------
At this point, I feel like I've done as much as I can searching through forums. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time.
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