AMD A4-Series APU A4-3400 compatibility

Sat Dec 10 03:45:59 UTC 2011

The ATI proprietary driver is called 'fglrx':
[   128.967] (II) LoadModule: "fglrx"
[   128.968] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module fglrx
[   128.968] (II) UnloadModule: "fglrx"
[   128.969] (II) Unloading fglrx
[   128.969] (EE) Failed to load module "fglrx" (module does not exist, 0)
Your Xorg.log shows that the 'fglrx' driver doesn't exist - it hasn't been installed correctly. X tries to load it and fails so falls back to trying various other drivers (I think it ends up trying the radeon driver or framebuffer mode, I'm no expert in these things), but none of these drivers can handle it. So we need to get it installed properly. Unless you know how to install it from the command line (which I don't) then this means using the Additional Drivers tool.. but that needs X, so we need to get you into X. 

It's possible that 'nomodeset' may be confusing the various drivers. So we need to see if we can get you into X without using that option. If I take it as read that you can't just boot into X without using nomodeset, then this means bypassing the ****** plymouth splash screen.
edit /etc/default/grub: Comment out (with a hash) the line that starts with 'GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT'. Uncomment the line GRUB_TIMEOUT and set a value, e.g. GRUB_TIMEOUT=10.
Now run sudo update-grub, and reboot.
When you do this you should see the grub menu at boot. This will allow you to select 'recovery mode'. Do this and then just select 'Continue normal boot'. This bypasses the plymouth splash screen.
Try this with or without nomodeset - one way might get you into X from where you can install the ATI driver. Once done you'll again need to see whether you now need nomodeset to get the system to boot properly.

The other way to bypass the splash is just to prevent plymouth ever using a splash screen - I haven't tried this myself but in /etc/default/grub you'll see the options 'quiet splash' on GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT. You can remove these options, run sudo update-grub again and reboot and you'll get a good old-fashioned very messy looking linux boot up :)

I went through all this on a recent NVIDIA system install, so I'll try to help all I can.

Mark

On 9 Dec 2011, at 23:25, Jim Cunning wrote:

> Top-posted, see bottom
> 
> On 12/09/2011 03:11 AM, Mark Greenwood wrote:
>> It's plymouth. You'll probably find that if you boot into recovery mode and then just select 'continue normal boot', you'll boot up just fine. Otherwise 'nomodeset' is the way.
>> 
>> If there are proprietary video drivers for your card, install them. It fixed the problem for me.
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> On 9 Dec 2011, at 01:42, theuteck at gmail.com wrote:
>> 
>>> My Atom system does something similar.  I have to pass 'nomodeset' to grub and 
>>> and add it to /etc/default/grub to see the video.  If I boot into recovery 
>>> mode I can still see the screen so I can make the edit, so hopefully that is 
>>> the same for you.
>>> 
>>> On Thursday, December 08, 2011 05:04:38 PM Jim Cunning wrote:
>>>> Update:  I purchased the product and tried to install 11.04.  The
>>>> install CD first displays "error: prefix is not set", then grub gives me
>>>> the choice of "Start Kubuntu" or "Check disc for defects"
>>>> 
>>>> Regardless of which selection I choose, the screen goes blank, and
>>>> eventually the monitor reports "No signal".  Despite this, I believe the
>>>> system is booting because I can hear and see CD drive activity.  If I
>>>> select "Check disc for defects" the drive remains active for quite some
>>>> time, confirming my suspicions.  The problem is that the video never
>>>> comes back after the initial grub screen.
>>>> 
>>>> The behavior is the same with 11.10, however 10.04 LTS does boot,
>>>> successfully and install completely.  The problem with 10.04 LTS is that
>>>> the video is only 1280x1024 on a 1920x1080 monitor, and eth0 is
>>>> recognized and sends DHCP requests, but never receives the responses
>>>> from the router.  I know the LAN interface works with Windows 7 in the
>>>> remaining partition on the disk.
>>>> 
>>>> I also tried installing from a USB stick and got the same results as
>>>> with install CDs.
>>>> 
>>>> Anyone know what kind of grub/kernel boot parameters I can used to get a
>>>> video display to continue a 11.04 or 11.10 install?
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Jim Cunning
>>>> 
>>>> On 12/06/2011 09:22 AM, uteck wrote:
>>>>> That is one of the new Bobcat or Llano chips., I Googled for "ubuntu
>>>>> bobcat apu"
>>>>> The AMD forum has some good reviews of it working very well with 11.04
>>>>> http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&start=100
>>>>> <http://www.amdzone.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=532&t=138280&start=100>
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 10:56 AM, Jim Cunning <jcunning at cunning.ods.org
>>>>> 
>>>>> <mailto:jcunning at cunning.ods.org>> wrote:
>>>>>   Hello all,
>>>>> 
>>>>>   I am looking at purchasing an Acer desktop computer with an AMD
>>>>>   A4-Series APU A4-3400(2.7Hz) processor.  I assume the CPU itself
>>>>>   is
>>>>>   x86_64 compatible, but was wondering about the graphics
>>>>>   compatibility. I didn't see anything from Google to give me a
>>>>>   clue.  Anyone have experience with this processor? Any caveats?
>>>>> 
>>>>>   Thanks,
>>>>>   Jim Cunning
> There is no "recovery mode" available from grub on the install CD/USB
> stick, no "nomodeset" was my only option, and it worked.  I installed
> 11.10, but somehow Windows 7 screwed up the HDD grub, and I had to
> re-install grub from the live CD.  OK, so far.
> 
> Now the system (11.10) will boot as long as I put in "nomodeset", but X
> fails to start and I have only virtual consoles available.  I downloaded
> the AMD ATI proprietary driver, which had successfully installed on
> 10.04 LTS, but it aborts when started from a virtual console.
> 
> /var/log/Xorg.0.log has a lot of stuff (of course), but the error line
> near the end
> 
>    (EE) RADEON(0): Chipset: "SUMO2" (ChipID = 0x9644) requires KMS
> 
> The entire Xorg.0.log file is available at http://cunning.ods.org/Xorg.0.log
> 
> Jim
> 
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