Newbie video problems

[James Takac]

Hi Hal

On Monday 03 December 2007 09:04:20 Hal Davis wrote:
>  James,
>
>  Thanks for taking the time.
>
>  I tried to be careful to tell it to set up the new partition to 50% (moved
> the slider almost all the way to the left). However, after it was done, I
> think it reported that there was now only 8mb of free space on the Windows
> partition.
>

I'm guessing that was 8 gb not 8 mb

>  When I boot with the Ubuntu installation CD out, I don't get an initial
> menu.
>

Strange. Would expect a menu with a choice between Ubuntu and Windows at this 
point. Will work this part out after we get your screen back

>  When I boot with the Ubuntu installation CD in, the menu is includes Start
> Ubuntu, start in video safe mode, etc. I can change the video selections,
> but they apparently don't get saved and doesn't change what  happens when I
> reboot without the CD in.
>

When you boot with the cd in you're essentially running Ubuntu directly off 
the cd, not your hd. It's a live cd so you can run/try it without installing 
first.

>  After the splash Ubuntu screen, I see about four of the login screen
> horizontally, and it goes down about 80% of the screen, with gibberish
> underneath that. The screen has "untuubuntuubuntuubuntuub" going across,
> with 4 logos, and a half username box, 3 username boxes, and another half
> username box.
>

Ok, sounds like the driver have been switched to either the wrong one or wrong 
mode.

Use CTRL-ALT-F1 to get a console. You'll have to login there. Don't worry that 
it wont echo the password, that's normal

next type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" without the quotes. You'll be asked 
for your password again. Scroll down to where you see the graphic card 
idintified.  You should see something resembling the following

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Generic Video Card"
	Driver		"nv"
	Busid		"PCI:1:0:0"
	Option		"AddARGBVisuals"	"True"
	Option		"AddARGBGLXVisuals"	"True"
	Option		"NoLogo"	"True"
EndSection

What does yours list there? Take note more so of the driver here.

Below that will be the monitor and default screnn areas. Might help to report 
back what they say as well

At the very worst, where mine says "nv" can be replaced with "vesa" just to 
get a working screen. For nvidia cards it's usually "nvidia" for 3d support 
or "nv" for 2d acceleration

When making a change use CTRL-O to write back to disk. CTRL-X will exit back 
to the prompt at which you can type "sudo reboot" to reboot the system for 
changes to take effect for now

Do you recall exactly what you did before things went awry?

>  Laptop is a HP Pavilion zd7000. HP's site says the video card is nvidia
> geforce 4. Don't know the exact model of the screen to put into the ubuntu
> settings, but it's widescreen and 17".
>
>  So, how do I boot in video safe mode, change video settings, and then get
> them to stick when I reboot without the CD? And, any idea which video
> settings I should pick from the menu?
>

That would be recovery mode but you're not getting a grub menu to select that 
so not sure how to without that


>  Thanks so much.
>
>  Hal Davis
>

Hope I can be of help. Someonelse will likely chime in soon enough

James
>  James Takac wrote:
> On Monday 03 December 2007 07:10:44 Hal Davis wrote:
>
> I grew up in DOS and Windows, but just getting started in Linux.
> Installed Ubuntu 7.10, and had it set up a partition on my Windows laptop.
>
> First, I don't know how to interrupt the boot process to tell it to load
> Windows instead of Unix.
>
> Second, the Linux install didn't work until it reloaded using Video Safe
> Mode (or something like that). Then, noticed that the bottom of my
> screen wasn't being displayed, so if I moved the toolbar to the bottom,
> I couldn't see it (but I was able to move the mouse down all the way,
> right click, and access properties to move it somewhere else). Then,
> like a genius, I thought I'd change the video selection to solve the
> problem. I guess I was expecting the Windows-like temporary
> installation, that requires me to tell it that it works before it's
> really switched. But now, I can't read ANYTHING on the screen after the
> initial Ubuntu logo.
>
> Tried to figure out how to change the video (went online and looked at
> help), and it gave me some scripts to run. Problem is, I don't know how
> to run the scripts. The only DOS-like prompt I've been able to reach is
> GRUB> and it doesn't like the text I input. I'm guessing that if I knew
> how to get to the correct prompt the scripts would work fine.
>
> Can someone tell me how to get my Linux system out of the ditch?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Hal Davis
>
>
>
> Hi Hal
>
> Your system should have a menu when you first boot unless you told it to
> use the entire drive at which point windows would be gone. Assuming you
> resized the partion windows was on via the install you should see a boot
> menu. Just use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to navigate and enter
> to select
>
> As for the rest we need more info. What are the system specs, e.g. graphic
> card, etc. Even if we know the laptop in question we might be able to look
> up the specs online
>
> Can you get to a terminal via CTRL-ALT-F1
> You can think of that as a DOS prompt when you get there. It will ask you
> to log in at that prompt first time you enter it
>
> You also mention you can't read anything on the screen anymore. Fonts too
> small? Blury,............ You don't give any detail
>
> You mentioned changing video selection so I'm guessing you either changed
> the default graphic card or you changed the resolution or refresh rate
>
> James



-- 
Mankind and religion are like prism and light. The word of God passes through 
the prism of Man and seperates into the various colours we call religions. 

Penndragon.