Telescope_Nerd
February 6th, 2010, 01:27 AM
This is a guide for how to solve the issue of a blank screen on boot, specifically the one which occurs with a fresh install of 9.10 on machines with and ati/amd graphics card.
Basically the solution is to access the command line and use that to install the ati graphics driver, here's how.
Step1. Using a working machine/partition go the the amd website and download the appropriate driver for your graphics card.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
Save the driver to an external hard drive or memory stick.
Step2. Make sure your machine has an Internet connection plugged in. Install 9.10 using wubi or the live cd. After the initial installation boot ubuntu for the first time. The important thing in this step is DO NOTHING. After booting ubuntu will finalise the install. Let the screen go blank and wait. After some time the machine will automatically reboot.
Step3. After the second boot the screen will go blank again, wait a minute or two and the press ctrl-alt-f1. This should call up the command line. Enter your user name and password as prompted to log in.
Step4. Enter in the command line
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
This brings up a file showing the repositories where ubuntu looks for packages. The lines listing repositories begin deb..... a few of these lines are commented i.e. they start # deb... find these lines and delete the '#' symbols.
When you've finished type ctrl-x to exit. Choose 'Y' when asked if you want to save the file then press return.
Step5. Enter in the command line
sudo apt-get update
this makes ubuntu search the repositories for updated packages.
Step6. Enter the command
sudo apt-get upgrade
this installs the missing packages.
Step7. Reboot
sudo reboot
Step8. After reboot log in again by using ctrl-alt-f1 to get to the command line, then enter
sudo apt-get install libqtgui4
Step9. make a directory to mount the external drive containing the graphics driver.
sudo mkdir /media/Exdrive
Step10. Plug in the external drive containing the driver. The drive will be assigned a name in the directory called /dev/ (usually this is 'sdb1' but it may be something else e.g. 'sdc1') you will have to check. Assuming that it is sdb1 do.
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/Exdrive
Step11. Make a folder in your home directory to hold the graphics driver
sudo mkdir ~/Graphics
Step12. Now copy the ati driver from the external drive
sudo cp /media/Exdrive/ati-driver-filename ~/Graphics
Step13. unmount the external drive
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
and unplug
Step14. navigate to the driver
cd ~/Graphics
Step15. Make the driver executable
sudo chmod +x ati-driver-filename
Step16 run the driver install
sudo ./ati-driver-filename
Then follow the instructions on screen selecting all the default options.
Step17 When the driver has finished installing enter
sudo aticonfig
Step18. Then finally....
sudo reboot
If all that worked after the reeboot the blank screen should be gone and you can see the lovely hi-res ubuntu gui!
Note:- some clever people can download files from the Internet using the command line which may mean you can do this without using an external hard drive. If one of them is out there please reply to this post adding that info!
Basically the solution is to access the command line and use that to install the ati graphics driver, here's how.
Step1. Using a working machine/partition go the the amd website and download the appropriate driver for your graphics card.
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
Save the driver to an external hard drive or memory stick.
Step2. Make sure your machine has an Internet connection plugged in. Install 9.10 using wubi or the live cd. After the initial installation boot ubuntu for the first time. The important thing in this step is DO NOTHING. After booting ubuntu will finalise the install. Let the screen go blank and wait. After some time the machine will automatically reboot.
Step3. After the second boot the screen will go blank again, wait a minute or two and the press ctrl-alt-f1. This should call up the command line. Enter your user name and password as prompted to log in.
Step4. Enter in the command line
sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list
This brings up a file showing the repositories where ubuntu looks for packages. The lines listing repositories begin deb..... a few of these lines are commented i.e. they start # deb... find these lines and delete the '#' symbols.
When you've finished type ctrl-x to exit. Choose 'Y' when asked if you want to save the file then press return.
Step5. Enter in the command line
sudo apt-get update
this makes ubuntu search the repositories for updated packages.
Step6. Enter the command
sudo apt-get upgrade
this installs the missing packages.
Step7. Reboot
sudo reboot
Step8. After reboot log in again by using ctrl-alt-f1 to get to the command line, then enter
sudo apt-get install libqtgui4
Step9. make a directory to mount the external drive containing the graphics driver.
sudo mkdir /media/Exdrive
Step10. Plug in the external drive containing the driver. The drive will be assigned a name in the directory called /dev/ (usually this is 'sdb1' but it may be something else e.g. 'sdc1') you will have to check. Assuming that it is sdb1 do.
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/Exdrive
Step11. Make a folder in your home directory to hold the graphics driver
sudo mkdir ~/Graphics
Step12. Now copy the ati driver from the external drive
sudo cp /media/Exdrive/ati-driver-filename ~/Graphics
Step13. unmount the external drive
sudo umount /dev/sdb1
and unplug
Step14. navigate to the driver
cd ~/Graphics
Step15. Make the driver executable
sudo chmod +x ati-driver-filename
Step16 run the driver install
sudo ./ati-driver-filename
Then follow the instructions on screen selecting all the default options.
Step17 When the driver has finished installing enter
sudo aticonfig
Step18. Then finally....
sudo reboot
If all that worked after the reeboot the blank screen should be gone and you can see the lovely hi-res ubuntu gui!
Note:- some clever people can download files from the Internet using the command line which may mean you can do this without using an external hard drive. If one of them is out there please reply to this post adding that info!