Ubuntu..GNOME failing to show itself on Acer 5500

[esumitkumar]

Hi

I have Acer 5500 having Pentium M 1.73 Mhz , ATI Radeon X 700 card . Yesterday I installed Ubuntu from its 3.5 GB DVD but its not showing GNOME desktop...it starts, then screen becomes black. I edited file xconf.org ...but there file has clearly a entry of "ati".

I again reinstalled Ubuntu to solve the mess. It is taking default of 1024*768,800*600 and 640*480 resolutions... Still GNOME isnt able to show itself

The same Ubuntu is working fine on my desktop (AMD 3600 + Nvidia 6150 Inbuilt)

Please Ubuntu users ...Help me.......

 

[mehulved]

ATI cards are a bit troublesome. Try changing the driver to vesa and then restart X. Once net is configured, install fglrx driver, then things should be fine. The open source driver of nvidia has been a bit lesser troublesome than ati.
So, we have to use those proprietory blobs to get good performance.

 

[esumitkumar]

Thanks tech I will try today...and will tell ya 2morrow
__________
Nothing is happening when changing driver to "vesa" or "ATI"..Please help...

 

[mehulved]

Did you restart X and see?

 

[esumitkumar]

yes tech..i tried every combination like "ATI" ,"Ati","VESA","Vesa","vesa" but every time it failed even after restarting....and typing startx too ...
__________
i also tried "radeon" but no success

 

[mehulved]

Try this command

 sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

It will ask for all the settings for xserver. In the driver section select vesa and try starting X again.
BTW, you use DHCP or have static IP. If you can get net working, then you can pullout the fglrx driver, then things should work fine.

 

[freebird]

not the fault of GNOME or Kde,
ATI card centred howto is available @ ubuntu wiki:

By default Ubuntu will use the open source 'ati' or 'radeon' driver for cards that manufactured by ATI. Some users however prefer the proprietary 'fglrx' driver for various reasons. The instructions on this page will tell you how to use this driver.

*help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

try acc to above howto and post ur doubts here..u can have Virtual terminal avail by pressing CTRL+ALT+Fn where n is 1 to 6.try apt-getting the needed drivers.

but "vesa" driver can let u have a non accelerated X for working for now.
edit:added hw2 link

 

[esumitkumar]

Try this command

Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

This command is saying some blah blah like dpkg wrong options and then presenting a list of options like ...dpkg -- force etc . Im thinking of installing Suse 10.2 ...bada sirdard hai ye Ubuntu lappi pe

 

[mehulved]

What command did you give exactly. I guess you gave some wrong syntax.

 

[esumitkumar]

tech bhai..yehi diya tha..kuch nahin ho raha

 

[mehulved]

Can you give the error that you got?

 

[esumitkumar]

tech bhai..bachao..ye linux is driving me nuts on my acer 5500..i installed Mandriva Linux 2007 now frm LFY DVD..and same f****g error is coming..screen goes black...i edited xorg.conf to go for vesa...but it says after "startx"..vesa module not found ..........

yaar ye linux aisa kyun hai ..

 

[esumitkumar]

bhai logo..google devta ki jai ho..jus found a very nice site www.linux-on-laptops.com...

for problem of mine solution is add an entry under Device section in xorg.conf file which is

Option "Monitor Layout" "LVDS", CRT"

So i got GNOME in Mandriva Linux @ 640*480

I am dloading ATI drivers 55.9 MB from its site...also sound isnt working..but lets fight...all problems

if somebody has got mp3,avi etc working on Mandriva please PM me

I am writing this post using Mandriva and its too gud as compared to Suse and Ubuntu

 

[freebird]

congrats for mandriva gnome,
btw enabling multimedia fully on mandriva:
*club.mandriva.com/xwiki/bin/view/KB/Multimedia
mandriva wiki:
*wiki.mandriva.com

your problems about playing most restricted file formats by getting win32codecs

 

[esumitkumar]

Thanks freebird..every day is a new struggle and learning day in Linux..and sorry its sexy KDE working on Mandriva...

well now a new prob has come ..i had installed ATI drivers (55.9 MB) but during installation it says Unknown X ..i continued..after reboot..startx fails saying "fglrx" module not found....saying some .so file missing..

so i am able to run @ only 640x480 mode...bada bada LINUX

ek aur prob.when system boots ..it says dev/dsp no sound device found..it will use null..while in control center it says Intel 82801 AC 97 identified..any clue to solve this ?

 

[eddie]

You seem to be missing kernel sources. Install it from the DVD using Mandriva's package manager. After that re-install your ATi drivers (uninstall and install again...don't just install again) and the perform any config operations needed by ATi. I have read somewhere that you need to run fglrxconfig after installing ATi drivers on linux...so I would recommend running that as well.

The /dev/dsp problem seems to be your ALSA modules no loading properly but one thing at a time. Lets first solve the graphics problem

 

[esumitkumar]

kernel sources ? what options do I give while loading from Install manager...?
In which category they appear ?

also fglrxconfig is no longer valid.. its on ati site that you have to run aticonfig after installation..i ran it but no success ...

 

[mehulved]

You should have tried using the package manager for install fglrx driver. It will handle all dependancies. I didn't like the mandriva's package manager at all, so I was using smart. So, you can install smart or yum, too for package management.

 

[esumitkumar]

All ends well...thanks !

as Linux on laptops site has given solution to acer problem on Ubuntu..I thought why not install Ubuntu and try the solution .........and whoa....it worked... Crystal clear Ubuntu GNOME desktop on my lappi with sound ...yahooooo !!

Thanks to everyone and Google...Digit forum rocks !

 

[freebird]

that's right.Debian Ubuntu all got a better pkgmgmt.i pray suse too switched to dpkg+apt or someother new pkg mgmt rather than this dying rpm and its messy gui's.