My problem appears related to screen resolution. If I pick a screen resolution that decreases the desktop size to the size of the monitor screen, the problem disappears.
My problem appears related to screen resolution. If I pick a screen resolution that decreases the desktop size to the size of the monitor screen, the problem disappears.
Here's my version of what appears to be the same problem---
My machine -- Dell 933r P-III with 512 M ram and Dell 1028L monitor. The video adapter integrated in the Dell motherboard is i810 chipset (Intel 810).
I booted the 8.041 Live CD, it came up fine with 1280 x 1024 screen. I *really* wanted 1024 x 768 so I could view the screen easier, so I did PREFERENCES -> SCREEN RESOLUTION and changed to 1024 x 768 in the GUI.
The screen was now 1024 x 768 and looking good. So I double-clicked on the INSTALL icon, and the install went fine. When I rebooted into Ubuntu afterwards, the GUI login panel looked good, but then after my login the screen went into some bizarre pattern. I never got to a good desktop screen.
Next couple tries -- I booted Puppy Linux off a Live CD, and edited the Ubuntu install's /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, trying several valid combinations that work for Puppy on this box. All failed when I booted Ubuntu, producing either a blank screen or some bizarro pattern after booting Ubuntu.
(During this process I learned a better way of testing different xorg.conf files in Ubuntu... just boot into the RECOVERY MODE version of Ubuntu offered by the default /boot/grub/menu.lst file... then select XFIX off the text menu. This puts you back to your original xorg.conf file without having to use an external operating system like Puppy).
Thought I'd retry the Ubuntu install from scratch -- I booted 8.041 Live CD again, came up with 1280 x 1024 screen. Tried to install it by double-clicking the INSTALL icon. This time the install went fine and machine comes up fine to 1280 x 1024 screen. I have a good install and everything works great.
To change to 1024 x 768, this time I try a different tactic. Instead of using the GUI for changing screen resolution at PREFERENCES -> SCREEN RESOLUTION, I just went straight to editing the xorg.conf file.
I finally ended up with the xorg.conf file listed below. It gives me a 1024 x 768 screen just fine, but now I get the mouse-leaves-boxes-behind phenomenon (plus the mouse doesn't move smoothly across the screen).
Someone in this thread mentioned the "mouse-leaves-boxes" is a bug.... that makes sense to me, because I've never seen a case where moving down to LOWER resolution presents this kind of problem (normally, it's moving to HIGHER resolution that gives adapter issues).
If anyone has any ideas I'd appreciate it and will try them.
Meanwhile it looks like I'll be developing my expertise in xorg.conf MOUSE sections....
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubsection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
I was able to resolve the situation where the mouse was leaving little boxes behind as I moved it.
My basic resolution was--
(1) manually edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file
(2) restart X server to test by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
(3) if the screen fries and becomes uncontrollable, reboot the computer and when Ubuntu starts up, select RECOVERY MODE, then select XFIX to get back to the previous xorg.conf file (the original one that works but leaves little boxes behind the mouse).
(4) if the screen does not fry and become uncontrollable, see whether the xorg.conf solves my screen & mouse issues. If not, just edit xorg.conf file and try again.
Eventually I came up with the xorg.conf file below that works perfectly for both the screen at 1024 x 768 and also the mouse, solving the "mouse boxes" problem---
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-51
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Monitor"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
My resolution leads me to believe that those having the "mouse box" problem should be able to fix it if --
(1) their computer has sufficient memory
(2) their video adapter can support the resolution they're trying to use
(3) they manuaaly edit xorg.conf to what will work on their computer
The "mouse box" problem appears to me to be a bug in Ubuntu 8.041 that one has to find a work-around with by editing xorg.conf. (in other words, not every correct xorg.conf file will work due to the mouse-box bug but one should be able to find an xorg.conf file that works around the problem.) The difficulty here is that this might require xorg.conf coding knowledge, depending on the complexity of the work-around.
hope this helps.
For those that might have been following this thread, I finally figured this little puzzle out...
On earlier Live CDs, during installation, it recognized that this old chip set couldn't handle any visual effects, and it defaulted to "none" during install. Starting with the 8.04 Live CD, and then the 8.10 disk, it did not recognize that the effects could not run, and it defaulted to "Normal". A conflict then occured, and the little squares show up on the display.
As soon as I went to Appearance Preferences > Visual Effects > and changed the setting from "normal" to "none", everything was fine.
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