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View Full Version : [ubuntu] 10.04 Black screen on the live CD or when trying to install



Papex
April 30th, 2010, 09:28 AM
I want to make a clean install of 10.04 instead of just upgrading from Karmic.
However when I run the boot cd I get the new Ubuntu boot up screen (with the five dots) but after a while I get a black screen and at the same time the cd stops running in the drive.
The only thing I can do is pressing down the start button until my computer shuts down.

I do get the menu to choose to run the live cd or make a new installation, but whatever I choose, I end up with the black screen.

I'm trying to install on an older IBM Thinkpad R50e, with 500 mb RAM so I figured that it was simply just too old to run the new ubuntu. The strange thing however is that the cd is actually running fine from within my Virtual Machine. This I don't get..

Any suggestions?

Right now it seems that the only way for me to get 10.04 is to upgrade from Karmic instead of making a clean install.

kansasnoob
April 30th, 2010, 10:21 AM
Are you aware that the "boot options" menu is now hidden by default? When you first see the initial boot screen with two emblems "human = keyboard" you have about 3 seconds to press any key which will bring up the "select language" followed by the old boot options screen.

I'd begin by checking CD for defects and if it passes exploring some of the boot options under F6:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootParameters

Pedr3
April 30th, 2010, 10:37 AM
I experience exactly the same problems described by Papex on an older Pentium4 notebook (but with 2GB of memory).
I tried various boot options, among them "nomodeset", "noacpi", and "nolacpi" since several postings indicated that people got the live-CD running with these options. However, I'm still stuck at the black screen...

I'm currently using 9.04, so I cannot upgrade. Would the alternative installer help?

torpe0
April 30th, 2010, 11:39 AM
Yesterday I heard of the same issue on twitter - and in that case the alternative installer did not work. Today I experience the same issue myself on a Dell Latitude D510. The Beta 2 iso image works just fine on the exact same computer, but not the release. :(

Kilcaff
April 30th, 2010, 12:06 PM
I had a similar problem where I had a black screen with occasional graphics glitches across the screen. Turned out it was having issue with the dual screen setup. Once I pulled out the second monitor and rebooted the cd it worked.

drorlev
April 30th, 2010, 12:10 PM
Same problem here.
With an LG E300 laptop, 2MB RAM and ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics card.

First I tried upgrading a Karmic Koala. The installation went ok but after the re-boot I got a flashing _ for several seconds and then a black-blue screen forever.

Then I figured something is wrong with the installation so I made a CD and tried to work with it, to no avail: both the live-cd option (booting from the CD) and the Install resulted in the same flashing _ followed by the blank screen.

Just to be sure, I've re-installed Ubuntu 9.10 without any problem.

I figured it might be a graphics card issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465883) or a problem with the GRUB (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465663), but don't know how to proceed.

Any help will be much appreciated.

dror

green_arrow
April 30th, 2010, 02:03 PM
Suggestion: try the alternative installation instead of the live CD. I will try it after my frustration abates.

This is really disappointing. Good job Ubuntu. How hard is it to write code that finds the right monitor of a laptop instead of sending 0's and 1's into the abyss? I had the same problem with 9.04 but only after nvidia was involved. It took a long time until a fix emerged online. I have VAIO CW (more specifically VPCCW17FX) - a fairly common machine and all I saw was a 7 second blocky purple screen. A true disappointment. I was so happy to try out the Ubuntu One music service. Alas. Back to the annoying but at least WORKING Windows 7.

shabadoo52
April 30th, 2010, 02:07 PM
I have a vaio PCCW29FX and had the same problem with my screen going black after the purple screen. If I hit any key on the purple screen the menu came up. Then I had to hit F6 and select nomodeset. This let me continue through the rest of the install without problems.

Now the problem is when I try to boot into Ubuntu I just get a blank screen before the login. Haven't found a solution yet.

sti2444
April 30th, 2010, 02:09 PM
i am having the black screen problem after install , and i cant seem to figure it out.

can some pls help :)

skbhat03
April 30th, 2010, 02:13 PM
This is a issue which i have been trying to report since Beta1. But no one cared for it back then.

This is caused due to your graphics.

No need to worry.

Please see the solution given in this thread. (Please go through the steps given by Irihapeti, you will need to scroll down a bit to arrive at his post)

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465883

Or you can try the solution given here:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-fix-ubuntu-10-04-lts-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup.html

Solution is much the same in both.

Best regards,
Subbu.

drorlev
April 30th, 2010, 02:16 PM
I have a vaio PCCW29FX and had the same problem with my screen going black after the purple screen. If I hit any key on the purple screen the menu came up. Then I had to hit F6 and select nomodeset. This let me continue through the rest of the install without problems.

Now the problem is when I try to boot into Ubuntu I just get a blank screen before the login. Haven't found a solution yet.

I've reached a similar stage thanks to the instructions in this (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9195971&postcount=14) post.

In that post it is further suggested to press e during boot "on getting the GRUB bootloader." and then change a few words.
Unfortunatly I was not able to do that.
I'm not sure I even reach the GRUB bootloader.
Can anyone give a sign for that?

Thanks,
dror

drorlev
April 30th, 2010, 02:29 PM
Hi again,

In the thread mentioned by skbhat03 and myself, Irihapeti writes (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=9198134&postcount=6): "You probably have a file called /etc/X11/xorg.conf"

Now, I don't have one.
I'm looking into my system, using the live-cd after choosing nomodeset, after installing 10.4.
The folder /etc/X11 doesn't have any xorg.conf file.

Could this be the reason that it won't boot but show the empty screen?

Thanks,
dror

oblomir
April 30th, 2010, 02:50 PM
Suggestion: try the alternative installation instead of the live CD. I will try it after my frustration abates.

I tried it on my Thinkpad R50e, the installation goes through fine, but on boot it again just gives a blank screen.

ImpressMe
April 30th, 2010, 06:26 PM
This is just Linux as we know it. After wasting hours every time I updated Linux, I lack the motivation for doing it again. One thing is annoyances another thing is a pitch blank screen.

Less updates please - and better quality, please.

Sylslay
April 30th, 2010, 06:41 PM
To create Xorg.conf please go to Yours home folder and run comand in terminal:
"sudo Xorg -configure :1"
than it should be able for change seting Yourserlf
That command work awsome in 9.10.
Lucid is testing by me today :-)

For black screen:
Whan you see grub2 press TAB and delete from some line words "squash and quiet" and type setinig to load by graphic, type:
gfxpayload=AxB

where A is witdh resolution of Yours displey, in pixels
and B is high resolution in pixels
mine is :
gfxpayload=1024x768,

for permament change need edit/ add that to grub.cfg and run update-grub2,

PS. Old windows buttom for 10.04 are in my faiferite theme - clearlooks, :lolflag::lolflag:as in 9.10

bentrider1957
May 7th, 2010, 08:14 PM
[QUOTE=oblomir;9201431]I tried it on my Thinkpad R50e, the installation goes through fine, but on boot it again just gives a blank screen.[/QU

On 10.04, load the CD and when you see the little guy and the keyboard icon, just hit any key. It will take you to a boot menu.

Hit F6 (function key 6) and you will see a small text appear. Just using the backspace key, eliminate the words "splash quiet". Replace with this command:
i915.modeset=0 xforcevesa

Hit return and the machine should boot. Now, here is the deal. You need to install this Ubuntu to the disk drive. Since you can't write to the CD, if you use that CD each and every time, you will have to type that command over and over.

So, if you want to run Ubuntu and are just wanting to test, buy a cheap 2GB USB stick and install the OS onto that stick and BE SURE TO ENABLE PERSISTENT memory. Only a very small amount is needed, so I set mine to 512MB, which is probably WAY overkill.

Anyway, you need to load the correct video drivers onto a writable media. That way, it will work every time. Check for software updates immediately. Install them. If you get the correct video drivers, then you will have no problem.

Now, there is another way of doing this, but it also requires a writable media. Next post, I can show you how to edit Grub2 so the media boots the same.

I know this makes sense but MAYBE some new people have not figured that out. Hey, I was there once.

Also this is not the ONLY solution to Black Screen Of Death

Catharsis
May 7th, 2010, 08:26 PM
Sounds like most people here are suffering from this bug:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Those for which "nomodeset" worked during the LiveCD, you can do the same in your installation through GRUB:
1) Hold down Shift while booting to get to the GRUB menu.
2) Hit 'e' to edit. Add "nomodeset" after "quiet splash".
3) Ctrl+x to boot.

You can make this permanent by editing /etc/default/grub:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub
and replace:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
with:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
And then update grub:

sudo update-grub

Chet Hardin
May 8th, 2010, 09:07 PM
Thank you, Catharsis. This is the fix I have been looking for!

axel_2078
May 9th, 2010, 03:57 AM
Sounds like most people here are suffering from this bug:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Those for which "nomodeset" worked during the LiveCD, you can do the same through GRUB:
1) Hold down Shift to get to the GRUB menu
2) Hit 'e' to edit. Add "nomodeset" after "quiet splash".
3) Ctrl+x to boot.

You can make this permanent by editing /etc/default/grub and replace

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
with

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"

I've tried to modify this file while using the live cd but it wouldn't let me due to permissions. I even did a sudo su - to become root but that didn't work either. How do i modify this file?

Edit: I was able to do this with nano but now I need to run the update-grub command but i can't because it keeps saying /dev is not mounted even though the hard drive itself is mounted.

Catharsis
May 9th, 2010, 04:44 AM
I've tried to modify this file while using the live cd but it wouldn't let me due to permissions. I even did a sudo su - to become root but that didn't work either. How do i modify this file?

Edit: I was able to do this with nano but now I need to run the update-grub command but i can't because it keeps saying /dev is not mounted even though the hard drive itself is mounted.

I'm confused. Are you trying to add "nomodeset", or is this completely unrelated? If the former, just hold down Shift as you boot and add it as I described earlier. Then you should be in your installation, and then just update /etc/default/grub normally.

zhi hao
May 14th, 2010, 05:27 PM
Same problem here.
With an LG E300 laptop, 2MB RAM and ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics card.

First I tried upgrading a Karmic Koala. The installation went ok but after the re-boot I got a flashing _ for several seconds and then a black-blue screen forever.

Then I figured something is wrong with the installation so I made a CD and tried to work with it, to no avail: both the live-cd option (booting from the CD) and the Install resulted in the same flashing _ followed by the blank screen.

Just to be sure, I've re-installed Ubuntu 9.10 without any problem.

I figured it might be a graphics card issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465883) or a problem with the GRUB (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465663), but don't know how to proceed.

Any help will be much appreciated.

dror

Exact same problem. I installed using Wubi first, but when it didn't work, i tried using the live CD. But that didn't work either. The solutions listed didn't too, though i guess that's cos of me using the same LG E300 with ATI Xpress chipset. Man, ATI's support for Linux has much to be yearned for. I wish I got an nVidia equipped laptop instead.... Can anyone else offer some help? Thx very much

zhi hao
June 2nd, 2010, 05:21 PM
Same problem here.
With an LG E300 laptop, 2MB RAM and ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 graphics card.

First I tried upgrading a Karmic Koala. The installation went ok but after the re-boot I got a flashing _ for several seconds and then a black-blue screen forever.

Then I figured something is wrong with the installation so I made a CD and tried to work with it, to no avail: both the live-cd option (booting from the CD) and the Install resulted in the same flashing _ followed by the blank screen.

Just to be sure, I've re-installed Ubuntu 9.10 without any problem.

I figured it might be a graphics card issue (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465883) or a problem with the GRUB (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1465663), but don't know how to proceed.

Any help will be much appreciated.

dror
Hi, i tried typing radeon.modeset=0 after "quiet splash" in whilst using the live cd and hitting F6 for the command script. I could then load the OS, but now i have problems with the keyboard. But i can fully connect to internet, etc. with it. You could see this as a temporary solution, or a problematic one, but it works :) Btw if anyone could advice me on how to get the keyboard on my LG E300 working with 10.04 or refer me to a relevant thread, i would really appreciate it. Thx!
Hope you fix your Ubuntu!

wowshailen
April 23rd, 2012, 09:55 AM
Hello,

I don't know what to do, and my problem seems to be unique. Most of the people here have either been able to access the install menu, or see a human/keyboard figure etc.

I am stuck at the very first options: "Run live CD, Install Ubuntu to hard disk, Do memory test etc.." (Exact wordings are different.)

When I choose to boot from Live CD, I see some disk activity. After 30 seconds on so, my display says: No signal detected, and goes black.

I have an ATI Radeon HD 5700 graphics card, H55 motherboard and i7 870 processor.

Ubuntu 11 works, but I need 10.04 since Android only provides supports for the LTE version, that is the 10.04.

I would appreciate any help!

Thank you,

Shailen.