Purple screen flicker on black screen when starting Ubuntu 14.04 with amd radeon 6450 gfx card

[Mikael Thurberg]

Hi there!

I cant start Ubunutu 14.04..

During the upstart I see the usual ubuntu loading screen (the one with the dots before loading x)..

But I see it with purple flicker and strange "noise patterns" across the screen here and there..

Then it continues on to the loginscreen in ubuntu but here I dont see anything, its black background with the same purple flicker/strange noise patterns here and there..

Some times I can see the cursor displaying on this black/purple distortion pattern and I have one purple "square distortion pattern" following the cursor when I move it around.. other than that I cant see a thing actually so something goes wrong when loading this..

It all worked a few days ago and then I updated ubuntu and it didnt worked.. Maybee it did have something to do with that I changed the harddrive with gfx-card to another computer with the same chipset on the motherboard (its only a slower cpu) because I was trying a thing there and then I changed it back.. if I dont remember wrong it stopped working there? Or if it did work and stopped working after doing the usual ubuntu updates.. I dont remember to be honest when it did stop working..

Im not that experienced with ubuntu so I dont know what to do from here, help would be appriciated!

You can write what I can try and so I can reply here with the results..

right now its working everything, but I did remove the amd radeon 6450 gfx card and run on the motherboards integrated gfx-chip..
then it loaded as usual so I suspect its something with the amd driver somehow.. but still I have no clue how to fix this.. Ive tried to run in failsafe-x mode at the grub start but with no sucess.. then its only dark with a blinking cursor up in the corner but with nothing else.. not with the purple distortion patterns anyway when I run that mode.. but nothing is loading as said..

I have changed the hd with ubuntu from another computer back and forth, both motherboards have the same chip, one comupter have a sligthly more power cpu, the other dont, Ive changed the gfx card also from one computer to the other.. It worked at first doing this with no errors but now suddently it doesnt work on the new motherboard/cpu..

Thankful for help anyway!
/Micke

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xorg 1:7.7+1ubuntu8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-32.57-generic 3.13.11.4
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-32-generic i686
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: i386
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: kwin
Date: Fri Aug 1 22:45:01 2014
DistUpgraded: 2014-07-30 23:07:00,955 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: trusty
DistroVariant: ubuntu
DkmsStatus:
 fglrx-updates, 13.350.1, 3.11.0-26-generic, i686: installed
 fglrx-updates, 13.350.1, 3.13.0-32-generic, i686: installed
ExtraDebuggingInterest: Yes, if not too technical
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2772] (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01ad]
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:01ad]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-07-11 (1116 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release i386 (20110427.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. OptiPlex GX620
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic root=UUID=aef7709e-7bbe-4499-bb59-2ec02f80afb3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xorg
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-07-30 (1 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 11/30/2006
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A11
dmi.board.name: 0FH884
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA11:bd11/30/2006:svnDellInc.:pnOptiPlexGX620:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0FH884:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvr:
dmi.product.name: OptiPlex GX620
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11.2+14.04.20140714-0ubuntu1
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.52-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu0.1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu3.1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Fri Aug 1 22:37:41 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.errors: [dix] Logitech Gaming Mouse G600: unable to find touch point 0
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 12292
 vendor DEL
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu2

[Mikael Thurberg (mthurberg)]

Also I can add that it did not stopped working directly after upgrading to 14.04 (from 13.10 I think), it did stopped working logged in/starting the graphics/windows enviroment a short time afterwards if that information would be of any help..?

[Mikael Thurberg (mthurberg)]

I think this problem is related to the "nomodeset" problem because when I try to start ubuntu from a usb-memory (when doing an install), that doesnt work eighter with this configuration if I dont start ubuntu from the usb-memory with the "nomodeset" option enabled.. Maybee I should add that (?) as a separete bug report that you cant install ubuntu straigth from the usb-memory without the nomodeset option enabled. I have seen this problem around so Im unsure if I should add it to a new bug report when trying to install ubuntu? What you think? Any idea adding that as a bug-report?

Thanks for help!
/Micke

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Mikael Thurberg, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xorg 1351479

Please ensure you have xdiagnose installed, and that you click the Yes button for attaching additional debugging information.

As well, given the information from the prior release is already available, testing a release prior to the development one would not be helpful.

Thank you for your understanding.

Helpful bug reporting tips:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for xorg (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Mikael Thurberg (mthurberg)]

Hi Christopher!

I beg you pardon for the extremely late answer :/

It did work afterwards, dont remembered what I did to fix it but I managed to get it working somehow,, maybe I did reinstall everything, dont remember to be honest. Sorry about that.

Right now at the moment its not a problem or I cant verify it is one, Ill get back if it is in that case.

At the moment I cant test with the latest development release, but in a few mounts I can do that , absolutely!

Do I have to install the development release then, or can I try this out with a live-cd?

I can try to see if everything works installing, because that was not the case before..
If others dont report this also, I think maybe one can assume its not a problem anymore?

I dont know..

Thanks for the help!
Have a great day!