Can't install when Sony FW900 is connected

[DAP]

Binary package hint: xorg

(This is my second attempt to enter this, First attempt was discarded due to a "timeout" error by Launchpad)
When the Sony GDM-FW900 monitor is connected to this computer, The install sequence fails immediately after the first menu with a garbage screen.
If I use a different (lower resolution) monitor, The install procedure succeeds. If I then switch back to the sony monitor, the login screen is garbage.
The video card is an ATI All in Wonder Radion.
I suspect that Ubuntu is attempting to set a resolution that the video card can't handle.
This combination of video card and monitor has been working together for years in Windows 2000, and ubuntu 9.10 when I was able to set a lower resolution.
If someone could tell me how to limit the login screen resolution (what file to edit, and what to change), I think I can make this combination work.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: xorg 1:7.5+5ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-21.32-generic 2.6.32.11+drm33.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-21-generic i686
Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 18.226923] gameport: CS46xx Gameport is pci0000:00:0d.0/gameport0, speed 2209kHz
 [ 25.452060] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
 [ 34.060086] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
 [ 34.140095] end_request: I/O error, dev fd0, sector 0
Date: Fri Apr 30 00:09:56 2010
DkmsStatus: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
GdmLog1:

InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" - Release i386 (20100429)
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-21-generic root=UUID=96e8ef71-aee7-4d4e-921e-31c9e402ff61 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.utf8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: xorg
Symptom: display
XorgLogOld:

dmi.bios.date: 05/29/2002
dmi.bios.vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: 761-686B
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAwardSoftwareInternational,Inc.:bvr6.00PG:bd05/29/2002:svn:pn:pvr:rvn:rn761-686B:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:
glxinfo: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 codename: lucid
 architecture: i686
 kernel: 2.6.32-21-generic

[DAP (akadap)]

I have attached a photo of the login screen

[DAP (akadap)]

I tried ctl-alt F1 to switch to a text login. This is also oddly corrupted, the image is small and duplicated several times on the screen. Sorry about the poor quality, the display is dim and I was holding the camera by hand.

[Chris Halse Rogers (raof)]

The change between Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 most likely to have caused this was enabling KMS by default on your card. You can disable KMS for one boot by adding “nomodeset” on the kernel commandline, after “quiet splash”.

To edit the kernel command line you need to press ‘e’ at the GRUB menu. If the GRUB menu doesn't normally appear for you (by default it only appears if you've got a dual-boot setup) you can make it appear by holding down “shift” during the early boot process, just after the BIOS boot screen.

If booting with “nomodeset” fixes the screen problem, it would be good if you could attach the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file.

It would also be good if you could boot with the FW900 monitor attached, adding “drm.debug=0x04” instead of “nomodeset” to the kernel commandline. That will make the kernel print out lots of debugging information. Since the screen won't be usable, you'll have to reboot. The debugging messages will be saved in /var/log/messages, which you should attach to the bug. There is sometimes some sensitive information in /var/log/messages, so I'm marking this bug as private until we've inspected it and extracted the debugging logs.

[DAP (akadap)]

Adding nomodeset did not fix the problem, but it did change it back to the problem I had in 9.10.
The screen is no longer garbage, but a narrow strip on the left edge is duplicated in columns across the screen.
The login screen is unreadable, but I can guess what it is displaying and login.
Once logged in, the screen was also screwed up the same way (see attached), but I was able to guess where the menu item was for screen resolution, guess where the open window was and drag it into the visible part of the screen, then drop the resolution to 2048x1280 which does display properly.

I will now attempt the second part of your request

[DAP (akadap)]

Since this is a clean install that hasn't gone anywhere due to display problems, I doubt you will find mich in the way of sensitive information in those files.

[DAP (akadap)]

Why is this bug still marked as incomplete?
I'm adding a comment because nothing appears to be happening, and I don't want this bug to expire.

[DAP (akadap)]

I looked up the ATI All In Wonder Radion, it has 32 MB of memory. I also looked up the memory chips on the board and verified that it actually has 4 8MB memory ICs on it.
The mode Ubuntu tries to use when nomodeset is used is 2304x1440. This is a bit under 10 MB at 24 bit color, so it is not insufficient memory that is causing display problems even if it is using 32 bit color.
The display works when the resolution is dropped to 2048x1280, but I know of no way to change the login screen resolution.

[DAP (akadap)]

Oops, it looks like it is my job to change the status from incomplete to new when I add new data.

[DAP (akadap)]

This is still a problem in 10.10.

[DAP (akadap)]

This is still a problem in 11.04

[penalvch (penalvch)]

DAP, 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 (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p xserver-xorg-video-ati REPLACE-WITH-BUG-NUMBER

Please note, given that the information from the prior release is already available, doing this on 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

[DAP (akadap)]

I gave up on this ever working more than a year ago. I no longer have the setup to test on.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

DAP, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-ati/+bug/572104/comments/15 regarding you no longer have the hardware. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.