9.10 No video, intel graphics chipset

[anewguy]

I was working on a solution for someone else, and found something on the net that should be of interest to any of you who have/are going to update to 9.10 and have Intel graphics chipsets (such as many of the onboard graphics). First off, the credit goes to Steve Rosenburg (sp?), NOT me, as he had this posted on his tech blog.

I don't know what chipsets it applies to, I don't have any idea what it does, I don't know why it works, however several people have reported success with different Intel graphics chipsets.

The problem:

After installing 9.10, you either get a black screen or the terminal window login instead of the GUI.

A possible solution:

Apparently it's a kernel setting default causing the problem, and a work around is to try this:

As soon as you get the grub screen at boot (yours may have a very short countdown before it proceeds in to boot) press ESC *immediately*. Use the arrow key to scroll down to the boot line - should look similar to this:

Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-14-generic
press the "e" key to edit the line - you should see something like the following:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=dc3cf399-6b13-4704-80c5-0e02fe6cd364 ro quiet splash

using the arrow keys, go to the end of the line and add:

i915.modeset=0 <press enter>

so that the kernel line now looks similar to:

kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=UUID=dc3cf399-6b13-4704-80c5-0e02fe6cd364 ro quiet splash i915.modeset=0

press the "b" key to boot

If you get the GUI screen, you can make the change permanent by:

* booting up and logging in to the GUI
* click applications/accessories/terminal
* type:



sudo cp /boot/menu.lst menu.lst_save <press enter>

sudo gedit /boot/menu.lst <press enter>

* use the arrow keys and navigate to the same kernel lines you edited at boot time, and make the same change.
* save the file and exit.


I just thought I'd pass this along as I think it is probably a rather obscure thing that most people wouldn't find.



Dave

[stclaircj]

I had this problem and this solution completely solved the problem.

Thank you very much for posting it!!!

[Duck86]

I have a Dell Optiplex GX270 with Onboard Intel Graphics. I tried loading 9.04 onto the system. Everything seemed to work, but then I tried playing .avi files and nothing would play. I upgraded to VLC 1.0.2 and tried about 6 different fixes that people suggested and no luck.

I was then told that 9.04 doesn't support onboard intel graphics. Would this solution work for me?

[Bartender]

Thanks, copying these instructions for reference

I wonder if you'd have to do this again after a kernel update?