Intrepid Ibex beta xorg hp laptop gui wont load (EE) no devices detected

[Dolomite]

Laptop is hp pavilion with Nvidia Geforce Go 7150M

When booting from the intrepid ibex livecd beta the gui fails to load. Downloaded off of ubuntu website.

The cursor remains as an X and the screen is black except for a small white menu that appears asking if you want to troubleshoot or choose something else I will write a more detailed report on everything that it says.

Also upon trying any other menu options other than troubleshooting, the screen goes blank and nothing happens.

The Xorg error says EE no screen found.

Here are some excerpts that I've written down.

Ubuntu is running in low graphics mode
following error occured and you may need to update the config to solve

(EE) no devices detected

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Then if entering xserver log file:

(WW) failed to open protocol names file /etc/X11/xserve/protocol.txt

(WW) the directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist. entry deleted from path
(II) Cannot locate core pointer device
(II) Cannot locate keyboard
(WW) NV: Ignoring unsupported device 0x10de0531 (GeForce 7150M) at 00@00:12:0
(EE) No devices detected.
Fatal server error: no screens found

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the loading errors from that log file:

using config file "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe" 7858 7503
** (gedit:8002):Warning**: Could not write gedit state file
failed to create file '/root/.gnome2/gedit-2.Z05AJU: no such file or directory
I/O error no such file or directory
I/O error no such file or directory

[Cristian Arezzini (macavity80)]

I have the same problem with my laptop (hp pavilion dv2736us) which has the same graphics card.
But for me, the white cross on the blank display disappears after a fraction of a second, and I'm dropped to a console login. If I try to start x with the startx command, I get the same error than the OP - "Fatal error: no screen found". If I stop kdm, when I restart it with "sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start" I get the white cross on black background for a fraction of a second again.

I tried the live nightly cds dated Oct. 17 and Oct. 18, on different physical media, with the same result.

[Cristian Arezzini (macavity80)]

I forgot to add that I tried the "safe graphics mode" boot option, and most of the VGA cheat codes - down to 640x480 256color mode. No change at all.
The problem happens both when I try to run the "try kubuntu with no changes to the system" option and when I try to run the installer.

[Gabriel Forster (gforster)]

 bug #276180 seems to be a duplicate problem.

[Cristian Arezzini (macavity80)]

I found a workaround: after being dropped to the console login, I logged in, and stopped kdm:
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop
then I edited xorg.conf, and in the <Section "Device"> section, I added the line <Driver "vesa">
then I restarted kdm and x.
That allowed me to boot into kde, and from there I was able to proceed normally with the installation of the system.

[rudy.elgato (rudy-elgato)]

I'm running into the same problem using the ubuntu-8.10-beta-desktop-i386 and amd64.iso images, so am using the GNOME desktop. Guessing this 'kdm' workaround should apply as well, only I'd be using "/etc/init.d/gdm" instead, wouldn't I?

Can you provide more details on this workaround? Specifically:

- if you are running from a live cd how do you drop to "the console login"?
- what userid do you log in as?
- if you run 'sudo' what root password do you provide?
- when you edit xorg.conf, are you editing a copy that's on the live cd?

Sorry about all the questions. I'm just not very familiar with what all takes place when running from a live cd and didn't realize a person is able to get to a console login, login, run sudo, and edit files while in a live cd session. Thanks...

[Tim Pintsch (tim-pintsch)]

I did try this workaround with the Gnome interface and it worked to bring me to a basic 1024x768. I have a homebuilt machine based upon a Biostar TForce Motherboard. AMD Sempron Processor. Instead of the kdm I substituted it with gdm and inserted the line in my config. My new install is now doing a distribution upgrade and working relatively well however I am stuck at 800x600 which is fine, at least I can load restricted drivers now.

I still can't help find a cause though.

[Cristian Arezzini (macavity80)]

@ rudy.elgato:
Here's the step-by-step procedure...

- Boot the live CD. It won't finish booting, and hang before the graphical UI appears.
- Press Ctrl-Alt-F1. This will open one of the default 6 text consoles.
- You won't need to login (you're already logged in), but sudo works; it just won't ask any password.
- sudo vim /etc/X11/xorg.conf
- In the section named <Section "Device">, after the line starting with "Identifier", add the line <Driver "vesa"> (without the <> signs). Save and close vim.
- stop the dm: sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop
- restart it: sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start

Now the system will boot!

[rudy.elgato (rudy-elgato)]

Thanks for the information Cristian.

Attached is a failsafeX-backup-081022221648.694.tar file that contains the :0.log, Xorg.0.log, and xorg.conf files generated by my live cd session using the 10/22/08 daily intrepid desktop i386 iso image.

The system I am trying to run this live cd on uses an integrated NVIDIA GeForce 7050 PV chipset. I'm looking at my Xorg.0.log file and see:

(II) LoadModule: "nv"

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//nv_drv.so
(II) Module nv: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.5.0, module version = 2.1.10
        Module class: X.Org Video Driver
        ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.1

and then a large list of NVIDIA chipsets, but nowhere in this large list is "7050". Also, I do not see an entry for "7150" which is the chip that Dolomite reports having when this bug was filed. I don't see any Geforce 70** or 71** series chips listed.

Maybe there's some problem with the installer trying to use the 'nv' driver for those of us with a Geforce 70** or 71** video chip? Or maybe we with 70** and 71** should not even be defaulting to the "nv" driver?

Is there a developer who can look into this more closely? It does look like a very manual workaround is available (manually updating xorg.conf during the install), but this was something that was working find in 8.04 and is now broken. I'll be happy to shut up as soon as someone asks me to.

Also, apologies if I'm hijacking this bug report, but it does seem like we're all related. Thanks...

[Tim Pintsch (tim-pintsch)]

My chip turned out to be a Geforce 7025, and once the restricted drivers were installed after using this work around, everything was gravy, no other video problems to write home about. But my problem perfectly matched what was described in this bug report. I am not sure I would have been able to use the graphical install if I made these changes in the live cd system, I did the alternate install and changed the config file in the running system.