downgrade, fresh install, or update drivers?

[Leonard Chatagnier]

--- On Fri, 10/24/08, Steven Christopher Talbot <talbste at iit.edu> wrote:

> From: Steven Christopher Talbot <talbste at iit.edu>
> Subject: downgrade, fresh install, or update drivers?
> To: ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
> Date: Friday, October 24, 2008, 12:23 PM
> I recently upgraded from 6.10 Edgy Eft to 8.04 Hardy Heron. 
> I was 
> attempting to download Netbeans 6.1 from sun, but my system
> freezes 
> mid-download.
> 
> I have attempted this several times, always with the same
> result, and 
> the only solution is a hard reboot.
> 
> I upgraded in order to take advantage of the presense of
> "ndiswrapper" 
> in Hardy Heron, in order that my windows driver for the
> WMP54G Linksys 
> Wireless-G PCI Adapter would function in Ubuntu.  It does,
> so I now 
> have a wireless internet connection, but now I have the
> download 
> freeze problem.
> 
> I've noticed that there are some screen resolution
> problems (dragging 
> a window off to the right of the screen erases pixels on
> the left side 
> of the screen, ala asteriods), so I was wondering if
> perhaps there 
> might be a graphics driver issue.  However, toggling
> "System-
> >Administration->Hardware Drivers" to use the
> nVidia proprietary 
> driver yielded no difference in "freeze"
> behavior.  Therefore, I'm 
> guessing that something else might be involved?
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Dell Dimension E521
>   Monitor: 1280 x 1024 pixels
>  Graphics: ATI Radeon X1300 (nVidia card)
> Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2
> 
> I was thinking of downgrading to an earlier version, but I
> can't seem 
> to find a safe way to do this (can't find info on fresh
> install 
> procedure).
> 
> Any help?
> 
Don't know how much help I can give but the Ubuntu drivers work for your wifi card. I have the exact same card installed with the linux drivers and it works ok.  However it is a little difficult to do, requiring pulling the card out, installing the driver and reinstalling the card, the precise details of which I have forgotten.  You'll just have to google unless someone had done it more recently.
The Nvidia restricted drivers were problematic for me but have them installed and working at native lcd resolution.  You said Nvidia but mentioned ATI. Explain please. Clarification may get you some specific help
Downloading netbeans and freezing up may be just a rate problem on congestion.  Perhaps you could give a little more detail, error messages if any or log messages.


Leonard Chatagnier
lenc5570 at sbcglobal.net