Drivers and .run files

[ubuntienewb]

as you can probably guess im a first time user of ubuntu (linux in general) i have ubuntu 11.4 and a little while ago the additional drivers thingy (yeah very technical me) told me i was missing a graphics card driver i have a Radeon HD 5670, so i installed, and it said i needed to reboot. after i rebooted the screen stayed blank and a little message popped up on the screen saying unsupported video type, so now i can only run ubuntu in graphical failsafe mode (i think thats what its called) so i went to the website and downloaded the drivers for it, but it comes as a .run file and just like .bin files (havent figured out how to use them yet either) i cant run it... i have spent the last 2 hours feeling like im banging my head against a table so any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Jesus_Valdez]

Go to "System -> Administration -> Additional Drivers" and try to choose different drivers for your graphic card.

[3602]

Um... fglrx I see.
Do a

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.old
Then reboot. Hopefully you will get a GUI. In the many instances where my dcking around resulted in a no-GUI problem that above command solves it.
Then...
(if the Steps 1 and 2 both return "no such file" or some "cannot find" type of errors proceed to step 3.)
Step 1.

sudo /usr/share/ati/fglrx-uninstall.shIf this returns "no such file or directory" it's fine. Proceed.
Step 2.

sudo apt-get remove --purge fglrx*This will probably return a couple of warnings: /usr/share/lib/fglrx and /usr/share/lib32/fglrx not empty. You do:

sudo rm -rf /usr/share/lib/fglrxand

sudo rm -rf /usr/share/lib32/fglrxProceed.
Step 3. COPY THIS DOWN on some papers before doing it!
Reboot. When in the purple boot screen with flashing dots, press F1 key to get into the emergency recovery board (white-on-black screen). Do:

sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.oldThen

sudo rebootYou will get a GUI.
Step 4.
cd into whatever dir you have the .run file.
You might want to

sudo apt-get install libqtgui4Then

sudo sh (your installation file).run --buildpkg Ubuntu/nattyWait. A Synaptic window might pop up if you're doing this for the first time. Let it go away.
Later you'll see the xterm returning four packages built.
Now

sudo dpkg -i *.debWait.
Step 5.

sudo aticonfig --initial -fthen

sudo rebootthen

fglrxinfoIf the last command returnes "MESA" then report back.
Else enjoy.

[ubuntienewb]

this is probably a stupid question but imma have to ask anyway
the only additional driver is for a proprietary FGLRX graphics driver.
whats FGLRX and does it encompass the radeon HD 5 series? because i have a feeling that this is the same driver name i installed that made it blow up.
thanks for all the helps.

also i should probably mention im running the pc from a vga port on the back of my sony tv not a normal monitor.

[ubuntienewb]

right small problem now. i cant use the pc at all because it says unsupported signal adjust your pc output.. i even tried removing the graphics card and running the MOBOs inbuilt GC but still same problem.....

*RAGE*!!

honestly there is no work files on there should i just wipe the disk and start over? i have a bootup disk

what the hell... works now and says no propietary drivers installed :S

[3602]

Did you properly run the purge command?

Try all this here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/FglrxInteferesWithRadeonDriver#Problem:%20%20Need% 20to%20fully%20remove%20-fglrx%20and%20reinstall%20-ati%20from%20scratch

Purge everything, reboot. See what happens. If you get a command prompt instead of a nice GUI then you still have to do the sudo mv command.

[ubuntienewb]

right i did what the page said and it seemed to work, but i still have the old desktop setup rather than unity, also i need to do the latest drivers for the card

[3602]

Oh you get straight to GUI after purging? That's good, man. Go to Step 4. If you don't need to regenerate a xorg.conf it probably means that your first installation was incomplete.
Oh and the -rf flag suppresses all messages, so you don't get a "success" nor a "failure".

[ubuntienewb]

:D oh goodie i am on the right track now... what does this mean exactly?

Step 4.
cd into whatever dir you have the .run file.


does this just mean open my DL folder? (where the file is stored atm)

[ubuntienewb]

sudo sh (your installation file).run --buildpkg Ubuntu/natty
tried it and got

sh:Can't open ati-driver-installer-11-5-x86.x86_64.run


honestly ubuntu has got to have a faster and easier way to find and install the right drivers other than this.. :S

[kaldor]

:D oh goodie i am on the right track now... what does this mean exactly?

Step 4.
cd into whatever dir you have the .run file.


does this just mean open my DL folder? (where the file is stored atm)

"cd" is a command. It means Change Directory. When asked to "cd" into a directory, you use that command to go to the directory you need to work with.

Example...

Your .run file is in /home/user/Downloads. use "cd Downloads" to cd into that directory. A Terminal always opens up in the user's home folder. Also, you can press Tab to autocomplete long directory/file names instead of typing it all out :)

Edit: Yeah, I've seen a surprising number of AMD and NVIDIA issues since 11.04 came out. In 7.10 to 10.10 all I had to do was Enable the driver, wait a few seconds, then reboot. No issues. They don't even show up for me on 11.04 :(

[3602]

Hmm... The file should be in Downloads if you got it through Firefox and didn't move it later.
In Terminal, do:

cd DownloadsNow re-run the sudo sh command. Tip: Just type "ati" then press Tab button on your keyboard, it will automatically fill in the rest.
The file should be runnable, at least I got no problems when I was installing it... If not, do:

sudo chmox a+x (your file).runBut in your case I think that you weren't in the correct directory. To make sure the file is there,

lsand you shall see the .run file in green.

EDIT: Nice kaldor! :)

[ubuntienewb]

/cry seemed to work and then said system needs to reboot... did so and after it got past BIOS screen the screen went black and stayed black:'(

[ubuntienewb]

now pc wont work at all :(

honestly if this is how hard its going to be every time there is a new driver out i may be forced to go and get W7.

[3602]

O...K That's not good.
Do you at least get a command prompt? Or absolutely nothing at all?