Linux Installation Advice

MaxPower

MaxPower

MaxPower

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Joined
11 Jan 2005
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Bognor Regis
First of all please note that although I am pretty good with computers I am a bit of a Linux noob so no long words or technical jargon please.

Right the problem, well I would like to install Ubuntu on my main machine I have successfully installed it on my Macbook to test the environment out and it works a treat so I'm going to try and replace Windows entirely. However when I attempt to install the Ubuntu splash screen graphics go a bit mental and I cant see anything. I thought this was odd so I tried Fedora core and exactly the same problem occurs.

My machine runs perfectly with Windows and I only intend to install Linux on a small partition to start with.

Is this a problem with my graphics card (radeon x850) or could It be an incompatibility with my monitor (Dell 2007wfp). Any help greatly appreciated or even diagnostics I could run would be handy.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
You don't have an installed system yet. Use the "Alternate" install version. Its installer is text-only. It should work nicely for you.
Click to expand...

Where is this version available from? I have tried the low graphics setting from the menu and it still dies during the loading process. I thought the Ubuntu compatibility was one of the best?
 
Have just tried the text version of the installation as per advise and it installed without a hitch but when booting up for the first time I get this loading screen:



And it just hangs exactly as before, any ideas?
 
I am going to give 6.06 a go and upgrade, quickly using up my download allowance. If this fails I will try a BIOS failsafe cheers.
 
Una said:
Does it fully lockup, or can you get a console? (Using ctrl-alt-f1 etc..)

Even if xorg fails to run it shouldn't freeze up totally.

With some error logs should be able to tell you what the problem is if not hardlocking up.
Click to expand...

It was a complete lockup. But I have managed to install 6.06 but now I have more problems :mad:

It installed fine but when it rebooted the grub bootloader doesn't work it comes up with options for:
- Ubuntu
- Ubuntu safe graphics
- Memtest
- Windows XP

All the options seem to refer to invalid partitions. Is there any way to replace the bootloader which automatically detects the available options?

Is it me :rolleyes: :p
 
I am not going to let Ubuntu beat me. I have got it installed but while booting I still get the problem with the graphics as displayed in the picture above. Is there a way of displaying the loading progress behind that loading screen to try and track where it is going wrong?
 
BillytheImpaler said:
It gave you that error when you went to start X?

If so try running
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm

and see if that does anything.

EDIT: You might also try updating your system. From the command line run
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

You'd then try to startx again.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help Billy but I have come to the assumption that my graphics card might be knackered because most of the live CDs don't work and crash on loading screens.
 
Thanks Una this appears to have worked. But why do I have to use this driver is there a problem with the ATI one? It seems very chuggy.
 
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