12.04 and radeon hd 4650 driver problem

**newellj79** · May 20th, 2013

I can't seem to find drivers that work with my HD 4650 and Ubuntu 12.04. Installing them off amds site results in drivers not found. And no drivers show up in additional drivers in Ubuntu. Any ideas?

**Cheesemill** · May 20th, 2013

Is this a new installation of 12.04? If so then it's actually 12.04.2 which won't work with 4xxx series cards and the closed source driver.

You have 2 options. Either carry on using the radeon driver which is already installed or reinstall using the 12.04.1 installation disk which ATI still support.

If you want to do this then you can download the 12.04.1 iso files from here...
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04.1/

**newellj79** · May 20th, 2013

Check out this picture. Under graphics is says driver unknown. And of course there are no additional drivers. Should'nt it at least report that it is using the radeon driver? Yes it is a new install of 12.04 LTS. I thought there was a way to downgrade certain aspects so it will work.

pic link... https://www.dropbox.com/s/0xp3bxhsfrwfs0y/Screenshot%20from%202013-05-20%2016%3A11%3A08.png

**Cheesemill** · May 20th, 2013

The issue of system settings showing the driver as unknown is a known issue and nothing to do with what card or driver you are using, you can fix this by doing...

Code:

sudo apt-get install mesa-utils

To be able to use the ATI proprietary drivers with your 4650 you have to install 12.04.1. Any later versions of Ubuntu won't work with the closed source driver.

The only difference between a fully updated 12.04.1 installation and a fully updated 12.04.2 installation is the kernel and the graphics stack, 12.04.2 uses a newer version which AMD don't write a driver for. THe rest of the OS and any software you install will be identical between the two versions.

**newellj79** · May 20th, 2013

[QUit worth semill;12656303]The issue of system settings showing the driver as unknown is a known issue and nothing to do with what card or driver you are using, you can fix this by doing...

Code:

sudo apt-get install mesa-utils

To be able to use the ATI proprietary drivers with your 4650 you have to install 12.04.1. Any later versions of Ubuntu won't work with the closed source driver.

The only difference between a fully updated 12.04.1 installation and a fully updated 12.04.2 installation is the kernel and the graphics stack, 12.04.2 uses a newer version which AMD don't write a driver for. THe rest of the OS and any software you install will be identical between the two versions.[/QUOTE]

Is it worth it to upgrade to 12.10 and downgrade server like I've read about doing? I would like to avoid a clean install... My computer is running so damn hot because of this that I have to do something.

**Cheesemill** · May 20th, 2013

Although it may work I really wouldn't recommend it. The X server and kernel are such an important, tightly integrated part of the OS that you have no absolutely no idea what problems will arrive in the future using the graphics stack from one version of Ubuntu with a version that it wasn't designed for or tested with. If you do decide to take that route then every time you update anything on your system you risk breaking the whole thing.

Do you have a separate home partition? If you do then a clean install takes next to no time.

**newellj79** · May 21st, 2013

I don't beLeave I have a seperate home partition. I used Ubuntu defaults when i installed it. I made no changes. Ill probably go the route your recommending later tonight. So it looks like I should never update past 12.04.01?

Edit... I have 320gb ext4, a 6gb extended, and 6gb swap. I probablly just need to complete reinstall right?

Edit 2... Installed 12.04.01 as suggested. The proprietary driver popped right up under additional drivers and things seem to be running great. If I install all the updates its prompting for is it going to upgrade me to .02 or I am safe to do so. Obviously I want to stay at .01. Thanks again for all your help!

**Vorgon** · July 13th, 2013

I was having issues with getting my video card working properly but by following this and changing from 12.04.2 to 12.04.1 I was able to get it working properly. Also it took care of some of my other problems I was having. Thanks for the guide. I am a new Linux user.