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Thread: Running X on new laptop

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Running X on new laptop

    Hi guys! I have a problem. I just bought a new laptop, but I can't get X to run on it. The laptop is a Toshiba Satellite C40D-A, purchased today brand new (March 31 2014). I swapped in my old HD from an older computer that had Ubuntu on it, and everything worked there, except it gave me a graphics error and then booted to command line. I subsequently created a boot USB to try to reinstall, but after I get past the Ubuntu splash screen (with the 5 dots that turn white and orange), the screen just goes black and X never loads. The power light is still on and the internals are humming, so something is happening, but the screen is not.

    The Ubuntu version on my old HD is 13.10, and the USB is 12.04LTS. I've tried the USB on another computer, and it worked fine, so I think it's a problem with my computer. Can anyone help me out? As I said, I just bought the computer today so I can return/exchange it if necessary, but I'd rather not if I don't have to, since this one has all the specs I want. Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: Running X on new laptop

    A question. Before you removed the hard disk did you run Ubuntu and activate the Nouveau open source video driver? The two machines have two different graphic adapters and the video driver on the old hard disk may not be compatible with the graphic adapter in the new machine. Can you see the problem?

    Do you get a Grub boot menu? If not hold down shift while the machine is booting. Then select Recovery Mode and at the Recovery menu select Resume. That should you Ubuntu without using a proprietary video driver. If you get to a desktop you can use Additional drivers to find a more appropriate driver for that machine.

    As regards the problem with the USB stick it also is a graphic driver problem. In this case

    1) At the first purple screen press Enter
    2) At the next screen select the language (English is default) and press Enter
    3) At the Try Ubuntu - Install Ubuntu press F6
    4) Look for a menu at the bottom right of the screen and select nomodest and press Enter
    5) Press Esc to clear the menu and then select either Try Ubuntu or Install Ubuntu.

    Regards.
    It is a machine. It is more stupid than we are. It will not stop us from doing stupid things.
    Ubuntu user #33,200. Linux user #530,530


  3. #3
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    Dec 2007
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    That appears to have worked. The 12.04 install did not recognize my 13.10 installation, so I'm just doing a pure format, which is fine cause there was nothing important there anyway. If this is not normal, let me know. In any case, I'll post back if something goes awry, otherwise I'll just close the thread.

  4. #4
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    I understand that you were successful using nomodeset

    The installer really should recognise previously installed systems, at least as a system. If it did not recognize 13.10, it is not normal.

    But an older Ubuntu version cannot be expected to 'be informed' about newer versions, so it should be recognized as a system, but maybe not described as 13.10 in the grub menu.
    Last edited by sudodus; April 1st, 2014 at 09:32 AM. Reason: If it did not recognize 13.10, it is not normal.

  5. #5
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    Sorry, maybe my question was unclear. I'll be a bit clearer. When I went to reinstall Ubuntu, the 12.04 installer said it did not recognize any operating systems on the hard drive (which had 13.10 installed) and hence did not offer to migrate my home folder into the older version. Is that normal?

  6. #6
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    I'll try to be more clear too.

    I think something is wrong. Ubuntu 12.04 should recognize that there is an installed linux system already, even if it is a newer system.

    It would be interesting to check, what you see, when selecting 'Something else' at the partitioning window of the installer.

    Could it be a problem of one system being in UEFI mode and the other system in old style BIOS mode (alias CSM)?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    Dunno. I'm not that knowledgable about this. Also I completed the reformat, so I can't check it

  8. #8
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    Anyway, are you happy with your installed Ubuntu system now?

  9. #9
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    Dec 2007
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    254

    Re: Running X on new laptop

    Well, it's fine, I'm just worried that if one thing went wrong then other things might also be wrong...

  10. #10
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    Re: Running X on new laptop

    Well, I'm testing the new Trusty version, to become 14.04 LTS in a couple of weeks. Doing that I cannot be too afraid of things going wrong

    Let us know if something seems wrong, otherwise we assume everything is fine

    And when you can relax with your system, please click on Thread Tools at the top of the page and mark this thread as SOLVED

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