Will boot from CD, but not from HDD

[bonbonblu]

I searched a few similarly titled threads, but nothing seemed to match my comp's symptoms.

I just assembled the computer I'm typing on, and I'm doing that through the "try ubuntu" live cd. The installation went fine, no messy partitions, no hardware failure, drivers for the lan and video card work fine on the cd, but when I try to boot from the hard drive I get a sputtering screen (orange and black). I checked the hard drive (742 GB File System) and it looks like a normal layout, home directory and everything.

I hope this is the right forum; responses will be greatly appreciated.

(Btw I tried both the 64 and 32 bit .iso)

[FatFrog]

Can you switch to a TTY when this happens? If so, try running a 'unity --reset" from tty1 and see if that lets you log in...


(Switching between TTYs is easy: CTRL+ALT+'F1-F6' and I think CTRL+ALT+F7 will get you back to the GUI...)

[bonbonblu]

Do you mean switch the TTY and restart unity while I'm on the live cd, or when I'm on the hard drive? I tried from the live cd and it didn't let me log in.

[oldfred]

What video card/chip?

With nVidia I have to use nomodeset.

How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

[FatFrog]

was referring to booting from the HDD...
Basically, when you see the screen flicker, press CTRL+ALT+F1 and then run 'unity --reset' at the prompt after logging in with your UN and PW...

[bonbonblu]

What video card/chip?

With nVidia I have to use nomodeset.

How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

It's actually an AMD, but I'll try that.

[bonbonblu]

was referring to booting from the HDD...
Basically, when you see the screen flicker, press CTRL+ALT+F1 and then run 'unity --reset' at the prompt after logging in with your UN and PW...

I should have figured =] I'll try that but I can't for about an hour (I'm typing from my phone)

[bonbonblu]

I should have figured =] I'll try that but I can't for about an hour (I'm typing from my phone)

When I 'ctrl-alt-f1' it stops the sputtering screen, but it doesn't bring up a terminal prompt. When I change back to f7 the screen flashes (black and white)

[bonbonblu]

What video card/chip?

With nVidia I have to use nomodeset.

How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1613132
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

I tried reinstalling using nomodeset, and the the stuttering is now localized to the top of the screen (the rest is black). If I move the mouse over the stuttering part I can see the cursor. Ctrl-alt-f1 doesn't show anything on screen, but it still stops the stutter.

[oldfred]

Natty or later Video issues. MAFoElffen
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1743535

Some other settings, some have to use generic at first:
http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup-workaround/
* Older Intel video card: i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0
* nVidia: nomodeset
* Generic: xforcevesa or nouveau.modeset=0
* Radeon: radeon.modeset=0