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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 8.10 install crashes X... Wacom tablet to blame?



TheKid965
January 12th, 2009, 08:46 AM
I've been in XP now exclusively for about two months, but have started to get that itch back in me to put Ubuntu back on my main box. Though I have friends and family who'd be happier if I could just pick an OS and stick with it for the duration, I'm just the kind of person who isn't happy unless I'm "tinkering," as they like to say.

Anyway, my issue is this. I'm trying to put 8.10 on here, but for some reason when I'm installing X just... dies. By that I mean, without warning it acts like I hit Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, then gets trapped in a restart-die-restart-die loop; it gets as far as showing the "X" cursor for about a split-second, then quits back to console, then restarts again and the cycle continues until Ubuntu throws up a warning screen saying there've been too many X restarts in the last 90 seconds.

I wish I could provide a full error log, but I'm not on that system right now (and couldn't have found it even if I did). I also wish I could tell you at what point in the install process this happened, but the truth is it seems to be totally random. Sometimes it gets as far as 95% on the progress meter; other times it dies as soon as I select my keymap (Dvorak, if it matters) and region.

What I can provide are my current specs: AMD Athlon X2 5700 (I think) @ 3 GHz
4GB RAM
Two internal Samsung HDs - one 250GB, the other 400GB - both SATA
Two Lightscribe DVD burners - one LG that's SATA, the other a no-name OEM that's IDE
nVidia GeForce 7300 w/512MB
Sound Blaster Audigy 4
Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet (4x6")After some research on my end, I tentatively determined the Wacom to be part of the problem, even though Ubuntu picked it up right away and it was working well (except for the buttons and scroll pad); it was also the only nontrivial piece of hardware that was different on this system now versus the last time I had Ubuntu on here. And after searching the forums here, I kind of came to the conclusion that low-endian Wacom tablets like the Bamboo series tended to be problematic with 8.10... even up to the point of causing random havoc in X.

Any advice? (Incidentally, this isn't just limited to Ubuntu; a Xubuntu 8.10 disc had the same reaction. Both discs checked out fully with matching MD5sums and a passing grade from the "Check Installation Media" option at the bootup screen. And yes, I am sticking with 32-bit distros for full compatibility; I had 32-bit versions on this box previously with no serious issues.)