Installation problem with kubuntu 9.10 (probably also other 9.10 versions)

[Chris G]

On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 04:40:30PM +0000, Hakan Koseoglu wrote:
> Hi Chris,
> 
> On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 4:32 PM, Chris G <cl at isbd.net> wrote:
> > I'm trying to install kubuntu 9.10 on a new system with an Asrock
> > G41MH-GE motherboard.  I have various Ubuntu 9.10 versions on three
> > other computers around here and didn't have any issues with them.
> >
> > What happens is that the CD boots OK and I get the selection menu, I
> > select "Install Kubuntu" and it starts OK but after only a short while
> > it dies with a "Call Trace" and a series of messages starting with i915.
> >
> > What can I try to diagnose and/or workaround this?
> Without you providing the actual error messages it's hard to say.
> Here's a suggestion: Start with normal ubuntu. It might be KDE. One of
> my Asus desktops have a VIA chipset which causes similar errors. The
> bug I raised is still unresolved, which is similar to this one.
> Apparently the cheap on-board card cannot handle compiz but it gets
> turned on and crashes at that point. There is a blacklist of dodgy
> chipsets to prevent this from happening but mine appears not to be
> there. Outstanding since 9.04 early alpha. It works perfectly fine
> with Gnome.
> 
> If you don't want to install Gnome, you can start by installing the
> server version and then installing kubuntu via apt-get. At least by
> that time you would have a working server which you can login and pull
> the Xorg log out.
> 
Turns out that the problem is the known Intel i915 bug reported at:-

    http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910

I just added the i915.modeset=0 to the boot parameters and everything
seems to be going OK.  I wasn't helped by the very odd monitor and
motherboard ways of acting at boot time but that's another story.

-- 
Chris Green