Newbie video problems

[James Takac]

On Monday 03 December 2007 10:06:30 andy baxter wrote:
> James Takac wrote:
> >>  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?
>
> I was going to suggest exactly the same thing, but realised you can do
> the same thing in a way that may be easier for a new user by running
> dpkg-reconfigure.
>
> I.e.:
>
> get a terminal using ctrl-alt-f1
> log in as a normal user.
> type:
> sudo -i
> and type your user's password to become root.
> then type:
> dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
>
> This will start a text mode menu system which lets you reconfigure the
> graphics card. If you say yes whenever it asks you to autodetect
> something, and choose the selected option the rest of the time, you
> should get a working configuration. If not, try setting the driver to
> 'vesa' instead of (probably) 'nv' when that option comes up.
>
> You need to type:
> /etc/init.d/gdm restart
>
> to restart the graphics system (x server) after you've changed the
> configuration. You shouldn't need to reboot.



Hi Andy

You forgot to stop the gdm with 
/etc/init.d/gdm stop
before restarting it

However good point that it may well be easier for him as a newbie. Hell, I'm 
no expert myself ;)

James