Xubuntu freezes before login

[Mugga]

Hi :)

I just got an old laptop, and I decided to try out Linux as Windows was really slow on it. First I tried to run the Ubuntu LiveCD, but that froze. Then I tried the Xubuntu LiveCD as I was told that my laptop was to slow to run Ubuntu.

Then I was told that my laptop was to slow to run the LiveCD itself, so I decided to make an install next to my Windows XP with the Xubuntu alternate CD. The install went perfectly fine, but when I got to the login-screen it froze.

Here are my specs:


------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 7/22/2009, 11:03:51
Machine name: DIT-F3F513180D1
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.090206-1233)
Language: Danish (Regional Setting: Danish)
System Manufacturer: MTC
System Model: Montara-GML
BIOS: Insyde Software MobilePRO BIOS Version 4.00.00
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) M processor 1.30GHz
Memory: 256MB RAM
Page File: 359MB used, 258MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9600/9700 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI MOBILITY RADEON 9700 AGP (0x4E50)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E50&SUBSYS_80501071&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Standardskærm

------------------------
Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------
Drive: C:
Free Space: 30.8 GB
Total Space: 38.2 GB
File System: NTFS
Model: SAMSUNG MP0402H

Drive: D:
Model: QSI CDRW/DVD SBW242C
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.2180 (Danish), 8/27/2004 14:00:00, 49536 bytes

I hope that you guys can help me.

[dstew]

Can you boot in Recovery Mode (a grub boot menu option)?

[Mugga]

In the recovery menu I get the following options:

resume
clean
dpkg
fsck
grub
netroot
root
xfix

Which should I choose?

EDIT: Just now I was able to enter username but before finising entering my password it crashed and the screen got full of hundreds of small vertical lines in different colors filling up the entire screen. I've seen it before where it's only the top or bottom that graphicly screw up.

[Mugga]

*Bump*

[dstew]

First try xfix, to see if you can get a useable interface. If that doesn't work, use root to get a command line. If you can get a command line, there are other things we might try.

[Mugga]

I appreciate the help!

xfix didn't do anything to the problem. Still freezes at the login screen.

I searched google to find a solution to my problem and I came across this


With the newest realease of Ubuntu (9.04 Jaunty Jackalope) came a major problem with support for older ATI graphics cards. Though these cards work with generic drivers, the ability to use dual heads and more advanced configurations has been lost. You may think that you can simply head over to AMD’s ATI driver page and get a driver, but the latest version of Catalyst does not support the older cards. “Maybe I can just download an older version of the driver,” might be what you are thinking, but the old driver is not compatible with the new version of xserver that is included with Ubuntu Jaunty.http://tan-com.com/posts/technology/linux-os/fix-ubuntu-904-ati-driver-issue

I see that there is a topic on this here, but no one mentions how to solve my problem with not being able to log in at all :( http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1133931

[dstew]

The ATI driver may have a bug in it. If you remove it, Xubuntu will default to another driver that should work, but have less features. To remove the ATI driver, boot in recovery mode, and select "root" to get a command line. On the command line enter
sudo apt-get remove xorg-driver-fglrxThat should remove the bad driver. Then, you can shutdown and reboot. To shutdown, do
sudo shutdown -h now

[Mugga]

It says E: Couldn't find package xorg-driver-fglrx :(

[Mugga]

What to do now? Any ideas?

[dstew]

You can get a command line boot, correct? If so, try startx and see if you get any errors. Maybe that will give a clue.

[Mugga]

It jumped almost right away to my desktop with startx, but unfortunately I can't move the cursor at all :(

I just tried again, and it logged in again, but shortly after the screen went all blue in the same kind of pattern I've seen before.

[dstew]

Clearly the xserver is having trouble with your hardware. You could keep trying to fix it, but it might be better to try an earlier release, like 8.04. That would probably work. Since you had install problems before with a live CD, I would recommend installing 8.04 using the Alternate Install CD (http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/downloadmirrors#alternate). The 8.04 iso's are listed below the 9.04 ones.

[Mugga]

Previous version of both Xubuntu and Ubuntu still freezes.

Ive given up on this. I installed Ubuntu via Wubi on my main laptop to test it out.

Thanks for your help!