PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] black screen with white flashing stripes



700
July 15th, 2010, 11:28 AM
on a cold computer randomly appears black screen with white flashing stripes up to half of the screen preceded by a message "checking battery state... [OK]".
- ubuntu 10.04 LTS
- desktop compaq evo d510 sff
- intel 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE chipset integrated graphic device
keyboard is not active on that black screen, BIOS settings look OK

SteveDee
July 16th, 2010, 07:33 PM
Is this after install of 10.04, or was it working previously and now broken?

700
July 17th, 2010, 03:10 PM
this is first install on this machine.

SteveDee
July 17th, 2010, 05:24 PM
2 of my 3 evo D510 usdt computers are running 10.04 and so far I have not completely eliminated problems associated with the Intel chipset. All 3 ran great on 9.04, so I have not bothered to upgrade the 3rd machine.

See this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1470930&page=2
...along with the Ubuntu info here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

vikas.sood
July 17th, 2010, 05:32 PM
700, I had a similar problem with my dell inspiron. It turned out that my RAM had crashed. Does this happen every time you boot? or it doesnt boot anymore?

700
July 17th, 2010, 09:23 PM
i am writing right now on this computer. this computer is running like an hour right now and several programmes at once - no black screens so far. last time it happened (twice) 2 days ago. its random on a cold computer while working on something. never happened working on blender (rendering), sometimes happened surfing the internet or using toolbars and start-bar.

djinnkeeper
July 26th, 2010, 03:11 PM
I got the flashing screen with white bars while updating, following a fresh install. After getting it back on and discovering nothing was wrong with the monitor (thank god).. We had it running for over an hour.. (streamed an episode of Star Trek from CBS.com) ..then it very suddenly went black and said "Checking Battery State" and shut down.

I have already posted to the related thread for the battery problem.. but I just thought I'd cross-reference my experience here, because I first noticed the white bars. Also, it is worth mentioning that this appears to be a chipset problem, rather than having anything to do with the ram or battery. If you have an Intel 845 chipset on a P4, you're probably susceptible to this problem. (this of course means that it happens to desktops, too..)

Xaifas
July 29th, 2010, 06:45 AM
I had the exact same problem. My monitor started to flicker and turn off while displaying flashing stripes. I never suspected it is something related to Ubuntu so I to took my monitor to an electrician he changed the image converter went back home used windows for couple of days and when i finally had to work on something booted to ubuntu and it did the exact same thing as last time. I got a WinFast PX9500 GT Nvidia card and using a packard bell lcd monitor....

TimRV
July 30th, 2010, 01:24 PM
I had the exact same problem. My monitor started to flicker and turn off while displaying flashing stripes. I never suspected it is something related to Ubuntu so I to took my monitor to an electrician he changed the image converter went back home used windows for couple of days and when i finally had to work on something booted to ubuntu and it did the exact same thing as last time. I got a WinFast PX9500 GT Nvidia card and using a packard bell lcd monitor....

I've just upgraded (?) to Lucid from 9.04 and I am seeing exactly the same thing, on an Intel 845 chipset. It happens when I try to go into the screen saver preferences, but I've been web browsing a couple of times now and the same thing has happened - flashing vertical white lines across the top of the screen, machine unresponsive and have to eb re-booted. It's not the websites. I have re-loaded them after a re-start of Lucid and there are no issues. This is the first version of Ubuntu that I have found to be unstable. 9.04 was rock-solid, although 9.10 had the same problems as Lucid, for the brief time I had it running before upgrading in the expectation that the new version would fix things.

djinnkeeper
July 30th, 2010, 03:36 PM
Has anyone noticed the problem following any particular keystrokes? I've seen it happen twice upon striking the backspace key.. (simply during normal use) .. and though I'm 99% sure this is a coincidence, it did appear to happen twice.

Going out on a limb here, but is there a combination of shortcut keys to activate hibernation-mode or something? So far, some people have noticed that it sometimes appears to have something to do with their screensaver settings.. just about everyone has confirmed using an 845 chipset.. and we know it's not limited to laptops. (aside from CMOS, there is no battery to check in a desktop..)

Any other symptoms I am forgetting to mention, that should be kept at the forefront of our reports?

ianozia
July 31st, 2010, 08:43 PM
A friend of mine is having this exact same issue.
Someone even posted the problem on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq-U-fnysIU

It happens to him, whenever he does a sudo command; he even tried it in tty1, and the same thing happens.

Also, when he installed ubuntu, he installed it from windows (it still boots into grub, and he can duel boot into windows or ubuntu, now, though).

From a quick search, it seems there's a moderate few having this problem, sadly they never find a solution (that is, the topic has no replies).

I hope we can find a solution to this.


EDIT: On a side note, this doesn't just happen in gnome, or in X, as it also happens in the terminal (e.g. tty1, etc).

700
August 5th, 2010, 01:11 PM
Confirmation - sudo command and backspace key sensitive problem

Big1984Brother
August 13th, 2010, 04:56 AM
Same problem on a Dell Dimension 2400 w/ a 845 Intel card. Screen goes black, and vertical white bars appear on a small section in center of the screen. This PC had Ubuntu 8 & 9 before, problem started immediately after upgrading to 10.04.

I guess a lot of other people are having this problem as well...


https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/541492

djinnkeeper
August 13th, 2010, 04:24 PM
Honestly, I'm surprised that our Dell (the one in question anyhow) performed as well as it did. Crashes aside, I have been thoroughly impressed with Xubuntu's performance on the more-or-less stock Dimension 2400. ..but I knew it was temporary and now I'll be gutting it. (Yes, I will salvage even the ugliest case)

For anyone that is willing to consider new hardware, but still have to stick to a budget, check out the Atom/ION-based mini-itx boards. You can get your board w/integrated processor and graphics + memory for about $200 (maybe $250 if you max out the RAM, or buy one of the pricier boards..) That is all assuming that you have the other parts laying about to cannibalize, but if you can afford that, they are pretty much guaranteed to run circles around our stuffy old P4s.. especially with video.

If you need to save a few more dollars (euros, what have you), skip the ION platform and look at anything sporting an Atom 330. Alternatively, if you hate integrated processors, the Athlon II X2 has been a wonderful improvement from my old P4.. and it was (by comparison) super cheap.

Good luck fellow crashers. I hope this bug gets what it deserves - a squashing!

(Oh! and if you decide to reuse your old Dell cases, remember that their power switches do not comply with the standard pin layout. Don't get elbow deep in to the refit before assessing your new motherboard's power switch needs!)

carolineictwiki
August 19th, 2010, 04:18 PM
I'm running a 35-seat dual boot lab, and I've got this problem on about 4 computers.

They are all Compaq Evos, with Intel 845 chips.

They had this problem even while trying to install - and I had to attempt several times or use an alternate CD in order to get a successful installation.

I can induce it with the 'AntSpotlight' screensaver. All the other screensavers are ok, but even in the screensaver preferences window the AntSpotlight sent it straight into the black on bottom, white stripes on top flashing.

Tried backspace and sudo with all of them and they were fine.
I've heard a report that it can happen just during normal work, but haven't seen too much of that.

Other computers in my lab of the same type are not having this problem.

EDIT: Both Workarounds B and E seem to work - at least they don't crash on the screensaver anymore! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Nowarrantee
August 22nd, 2010, 06:19 PM
I too have experienced this problem. I am using a Dimension 2400. I was reading some of the older posts and tried a solution offered by aust77. I added a line in as suggested and it works a better. It doesn't seem to crash as much and the black screen with the flashing white stripes is gone, however, you get that battery notification flashing issue and you do need to reboot the computer manually.

rw62827
August 22nd, 2010, 08:57 PM
having same problem when upgrade to 10.4 from 9.10..
screen black with white flashing bars on top..
so>> when is fix coming

KdotJ
August 22nd, 2010, 10:19 PM
This problem happens to me occasionally (say 1 in 60 boots). It comes up during loading, but once it reaches GDM it works no problem there on

cutekazuya
August 23rd, 2010, 11:45 AM
I had the similar problem when randomly it would go blank with grey stripes.

If i changed the screensaver to AntSpotLight, it would crash straight away with grey stripes.

I fixed by switching the "vesa" driver in xorg.conf and it has not crashed on me since 3 weeks now. I can set the AntSpotLight screensaver without any problems aswell now.

If you look at this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1558917

I have replied on exactly what i did to fix it.

Hope it helps.

700
December 17th, 2010, 08:09 PM
So far no black screens at all with Ubuntu 10.10