PDA

View Full Version : [ubuntu] poo brown screen of death



bakpaker
November 19th, 2008, 07:07 AM
Hi,

First up, I know nothing about linux so need help (in non-linux english!)

I've just dived into the linux world and installed ubuntu 8.10 over my old dell2400 running XP. Install seemed fine, computer restarted and I got the login screen which rendered graphics on my widescreen monitor nicely and automatically (window 0, linux 1).

I log in and get the poo brown screen of death (or sometimes its black). The mouse still moves around but nothing happens (cltr alt bckspce does nothing).

Hard reboot and go to options. Loggin in on GNOME, failsafe GNOME & XClient have the same issue. Failsafe terminal brings up the DOS promt (sorry is this the shell?) where I can type stuff (but don't know what to type).

CLTR ALT F1-7 work before loggin in but not after.
CLTR ALT F1 is just text but the screen resolution is wrong. (but fine at the login screen)

Could someone please help and let me know what to do, how to diagnose. Unfortunately I don't know any linux commands so I'll need explicit instructions.

Thanks.