Installation problem: Solved

[Alan Duval]

I installed Ubuntu 10.04 alpha 2. It froze at 88% when downloading language 
modules which I probably should have skipped. I thought it wouldn't boot as 
the install hadn't finished, but to my surprise it did. At first the mouse 
and keyboard were working but after opening a couple of programs the system 
froze again.
Rebooted and downloaded the Nvidia driver without installing it and then 
started downloading the AVI driver but system froze. Then downloaded the 
AVI driver on my other PC and copied it to a removable drive. Booted the M3A
PC to Ubuntu 10.04 and installed the AVI driver. Rebooted and Ubuntu works.
I can now use mouse and keyboard without system freezing. I haven't installed 
the Nvidia driver as it seems unnecessary at present. I think I was lucky
to be able to install the AVI driver as the system could have frozen during
its install.

Many thanks to all who have given advice,

Alan Duval


Avi Greenbury wrote:

Alan Duval wrote:

> > Ubuntu obviously doesn't have drivers for ATI and
> > Nividia. I installed PCLinuxOS and it works. PCLinuxOS has the drivers
> > and GOS must have them also.
>   

  >> It doesn't ship with the ATI or NVidia binary blobs, but I think they're 
  >> in the repos. And it should gracefully degrade to the vesa driver or 
  >> similar anyway. I've certainly never had issues using the free video 
  >> drivers on NVidia hardware.


> > That presents a problem with Ubuntu. How can I install these drivers
> > when the system freezes with mouse movements or when I use the keyboard?
>   

  >> Boot into recovery mode, which might not crash, and download the drivers 
  >> from NVidia's or ATI's website, then follow the instructions.

  >> Else you'd need to boot with no GUI, then acquire and install the driver 
  >> that way. Check whether recovery mode works first, if not I'll give more 
  >> details on this way.

  >> Either way, the installation itself, certainly for NVidia, requires X to 
  >> not be running.


> > They would need to be installed during the Ubuntu installation process.
>   

  >> No, they can be installed (and uninstalled if you like) on a running system.