The system is running in low-graphics mode

[joshua z]

Have a Lenono ThinkPad E40. have been running 12.04 LTS without any problem.
Just upgraded to 12.10 last night. Booting seems much slower. The error message
comes up before login screen and refuses to go.

Please see info from lspci, xorg.conf and Xorg.0.log.

------------------------------------------------------------------
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 12.10
Release: 12.10

------------------------------------------------------------------
$ apt-cache policy fglrx
fglrx:
  Installed: 2:12.100~beta7-0ubuntu1~xedgers~quantal1
  Candidate: 2:12.100~beta7-0ubuntu1~xedgers~quantal1
  Version table:
 *** 2:12.100~beta7-0ubuntu1~xedgers~quantal1 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/ quantal/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:9.000-0ubuntu3 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ quantal/restricted i386 Packages

-------------------------------------------------------------------
$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 02)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RV710 [Mobility Radeon HD 4500/5100 Series]

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

$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Default Device"
 Driver "fglrx"
EndSection

-------------------------------------------------------------
$ tail -50 /var/log/Xorg.0.log

[ 28.043] (II) Module "ddc" already built-in
[ 28.043] (EE)
[ 28.043] (EE) Backtrace:
[ 28.043] (EE) 0: /usr/bin/X (xorg_backtrace+0x49) [0xb7764cd9]
[ 28.043] (EE) 1: /usr/bin/X (0xb75bd000+0x1abbc6) [0xb7768bc6]
[ 28.043] (EE) 2: (vdso) (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xb759a40c]
[ 28.043] (EE) 3: /usr/bin/X (xf86findOption+0x2a) [0xb766982a]
[ 28.043] (EE) 4: /usr/bin/X (xf86findOptionValue+0x23) [0xb76699d3]
[ 28.043] (EE) 5: /usr/bin/X (0xb75bd000+0x8073c) [0xb763d73c]
[ 28.043] (EE) 6: /usr/bin/X (xf86ProcessOptions+0x37) [0xb763dd57]
[ 28.043] (EE) 7: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libvbe.so (vbeDoEDID+0xe5) [0xb6432655]
[ 28.043] (EE) 8: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so (0xb757e000+0x2895) [0xb7580895]
[ 28.043] (EE) 9: /usr/bin/X (InitOutput+0xb5e) [0xb76407ae]
[ 28.043] (EE) 10: /usr/bin/X (0xb75bd000+0x29f06) [0xb75e6f06]
[ 28.043] (EE) 11: /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 (__libc_start_main+0xf3) [0xb72064d3]
[ 28.043] (EE) 12: /usr/bin/X (0xb75bd000+0x2a4e9) [0xb75e74e9]
[ 28.043] (EE)
[ 28.043] (EE) Segmentation fault at address 0x3
[ 28.043]
Fatal server error:
[ 28.043] Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting
[ 28.043]
[ 28.043] (EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
     at http://wiki.x.org

[Daniel Letzeisen (dtl131)]

The problem is that AMD dropped support for that GPU in newer versions of Catalyst,a nd older versions won't work with Ubuntu Quantal/12.10