[Gutsy] ATI = black screen?

[mtribbett]

using the live cd I installed ubuntu 7.1 desktop - the instillation seems to go fine - when it tells me to restart and ejects the disk, it restarts but then does not load, just gives me a black screen (immediatly after the press escape countdown).
i've got an ati radeon mobility m6 ly card - p4 2.2ghz

i tried reconfiging the xserver as per advice in a different post, and after i reconfiged and typed 'startx' it booted in a privliged login?? but upon restart still get black screen.

[Cactus (uzi18)]

Confirmed.

The same problem with Kubuntu 7.10
Driver "radeon"
Card Radeon 9100

Temporary solution :
1. CTRL+ALT+F1 (go to console)
2. ALT+F7 (go to X org)

Hint:
Driver (?) didn't set up proper resolution/refresh rate ,
when changed in display settings (even to the same param.)
after confirm to change resolution screen goes black and monitor turns off.

Want more information?

Best regards
Cactus

[Mario Young (mayeco)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This bug did not have a package associated with it, which is important for ensuring that it gets looked at by the proper developers. You can learn more about finding the right package at [WWW] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. I have classified this bug as a bug in xorg.

[Fabio Papa (papaf)]

It can't possibly be the X server, not right after the bootloader countdown!
I've seen the exact same behaviour with a notebook here. Try this: press escape during countdown to access the grub boot menu. Keeping the default kernel selected, press E to enter edit mode, jump on the line starting with "kernel" and press E again to edit that line. Finally, from the end of the line, remove "quiet" and "splash" parameters. Press ENTER and then B to boot. You will boot in text mode and if your situation is like mine, all should start ok.

What I think happens here is that during installation, a wrong graphic mode is selected for the boot process. The boot is also really really slow, but is extremely fast when using this trick.

[Fabio Papa (papaf)]

This seems a duplicate of #155711. Try that solution also.

[Lil (vicky-lamburn-deactivatedaccount)]

This is to do with Usplash and it's a stupid problem to have released Gutsy with in my book... Anyway the Release Candidate didn't do this for what it's worth.

My solution was slightly different to the one raised in #155711.

Usplash.conf gets incorrectly set up to use 1280x1024 which your laptop cannot display. So boot it, do the Alt + F1 and then Alt + F7 thing as described above, log in when X and login screen appears and when in load a terminal and enter:

sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf

This will edit that usplash.conf file

Inside it'll probably say:

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1280
yres=1024

Change this to:

# Usplash configuration file
xres=1024
yres=768

Save (Ctrl + O) and Exit (Ctrl +X) nano.

Then at the terminal prompt enter:

sudo update-usplash-theme usplash-theme-ubuntu

Then when done (this will take a while) reboot and all should be well again. I wrote more about it here: http://lilserenity.wordpress.com/2007/10/20/ubuntu-710-gutsy-gibbon-review-first-thoughts-3/

For what it's worth my Dell Optiplex GX240 with a Geforce 5200FX also boots Usplash with 1280x1024. It's almost as if Usplash has been fixed to take a 1280x1024 value which not every screen can display.

Tons of people have this problem and a new ISO needs to be put out with this fixed because for many trying Ubuntu will be stumped by this and give up. I know I was bamboozled as I can used Gutsy on a spare hard disk since Tribe 2, right up to RC without a hitch from fresh install, and Feisty to Gutsy upgrade was fine but a clean install of the final version just didn't work.