Hardy Heron updated, Ubuntu fails to load

[Rocket2DMn]

Ok so i did a fresh install of hardy and then updated and installed the restricted driver. then after a restart it loads Ubuntu and goes to the log in screen. hover once i log in the screen turns black then white. if i alt-ctrl-backspace it shows the background as part of the log out and the log in screen. booting in the safe mode and trying to use the package repair or the xfix does not work neither does

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh

i also tried booting into the 2.6.24-16 rather then the 24-19 but still no change.
would removing the restricted drivers fix this? which was what i thought the above code did.
please let me know what to do.

Probably, try

sudo apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh

Then reboot or restart X.
Once back in the GUI you can try using EnvyNG to install restricted drivers - http://albertomilone.com/envyngfaq.html#A

[lilbluegremlin]

the code you listed did work in allowing me to get back into the gui.
then i did install envyNG and ran it. it installed the drivers. then when i restarted it would load ubuntu then go blank. after using xfix and the package repair in safe mode it would goto the log in but when i logged in it again went black then white right after.
now what?

[Rocket2DMn]

Boot into the recovery mode kernel and run

envyng --uninstall-all
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg -phigh

to get back to the normal setup again. You might need to search the forums a bit to see if other people have had problems with your make/model of video card, perhaps somebody has a more elaborate solution.
The alternative is to try installing the restricted drivers from ati's website - http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html
If you do, don't delete the installer since you need it to uninstall the driver if it screws up.

[tehman]

I'm having pretty much identical problems. I have just installed HH but i think we did update the kernel prior to video drivers. With the ati restricted driver installed with envyng, i restart into a black screen. if i boot into recovery, fix xserve and damaged packages, try to login to xserver, i get white screen. boot into recovery, then fix xserve and packages, then login to fail safe gnome, works fine but with mesa drivers. I have a radeon 1300. a buddy of mine was trying to figure it out and told me that my xorg.conf is much shorter than should be and wasn't listing a lot of things like my resolution list. anyway, he mentioned a command that would prompt you for supported resolutions and other settings allowing you to configure your xorg.conf pretty much like a wizard would. i plan on trying some of the above codes in just a minute and I'll post results. thanks in advance.

[Rocket2DMn]

Hardy Heron uses a new version of X that relies more on autodetection than it used to, so xorg.conf is different than before. You should try removing the restricted drivers, then rebooting into the newer kernel and reinstalling them from there.

[tehman]

just tried reinstalling HH. install seems to be stuck on a black screen. been there for about 15 minutes. hesitant to restart during an OS install, but...

[Rocket2DMn]

Try installing from the alternate cd, it uses a text based installer rather than a live session, but it is still intuitive and easy to use - http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Check the box at the bottom of the page for the alternate disc.

[tehman]

I'll try that alternate cd. However, when I did restart, it started pretty much ok (after redirecting my bootloader AND grub...) enabled restricted drivers and added the ati driver before updating anything and that was no good. Then I disabled restricted d/ls, removed the ati driver, started the updates and now black screen again and i'm hesitant to restart. does ubuntu have a power saver feature by default? lol

update: i'm dumb. ubuntu DOES have blank screensaver enabled by default. apologies.

[AWende]

Had the same problem. Did a clean installation which went fine. After the installation, the system had to reboot. After showing the bootloader for a few seconds the screen turns black and nothing happens anymore. Fixed this problem easily however by pressing "Esc" when GRUB is loading, starting Recovery Mode and choosing the option named "Try to fix X server", which fixed the black screen problem.

[tehman]

Ok...I would say this bit of information pretty much settles my problem...

"Unsupported

You are currently not able to use the "radeon" driver for the following cards and derivatives:

X1300 / R515 based cards.
X1600 / R530 based cards.
X1800 / R520 based cards.
X1900 / R580 based cards.

For these cards you must use the "fglrx" driver, or the new open-source "radeonhd" driver (no 3D, and in development). "

found here
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Ra...5c6073aec882af

As far as I'm aware, neither of those driver options will support the enhanced effects, so I'm pretty much looking at a new video card if I care about it that much.