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After a while I had a hang of the system and I couldn't use the keyboard and mouse and had to hard reset the machine. Immediately after that I had an error message that said I was working in low graphics mode, I tried fixing it with the xorg.conf file but no luck.
I had uninstalled Cinnamon, and reinstalled my ATI driver but now I'm on Unity with the computer seeing only one screen of two and in the resolution of the second one (since they are duplicated).
I also disabled the screensaver, but still the screen goes blank after about 10 min. I tried to remove the cinnamon packages I see with dpkg but I get a message that they are not installed and nothing to remove.
I booted the computer to recovery mode and ran the dpkg entry in order to try and fix any broken packages, no luck.
How can I fix my computer? I would like not to reinstall but to fix the problem.
If I have to reinstall the system, what configuration files should I save other than fstab, smb.conf and mdadm.conf?
I have installed Ubuntu 12.04 with Cinnamon.
I had uninstalled Cinnamon, and reinstalled my ATI driver but now I'm on Unity with the computer seeing only one screen of two and in the resolution of the second one (since they are duplicated).
I also disabled the screensaver, but still the screen goes blank after about 10 min. I tried to remove the cinnamon packages I see with dpkg but I get a message that they are not installed and nothing to remove.
I booted the computer to recovery mode and ran the dpkg entry in order to try and fix any broken packages, no luck.
How can I fix my computer? I would like not to reinstall but to fix the problem.
Sorry but there is not quite enough information there... Perhaps you could dump the contents of:
Can you run Mate, Unity or any other Gnome-based DE's without these issues??
Quote:
Originally Posted by kitt_i
If I have to reinstall the system, what configuration files should I save other than fstab, smb.conf and mdadm.conf?
If you have a seperate /home partition - then keep this (just say no to the format button!!) This will preserve your user settings. If don't have a seperate /home then I would recommend having one!!
If you have any PPA's installed then backup your /etc/apt folder.
Thank you for your reply,
Here is the data you've asked for:
Code:
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RS880 [Radeon HD 4250] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Device d000
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at ee00 [size=256]
Memory at fdfe0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Memory at fde00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [a0] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
Kernel modules: fglrx, radeon
You can't use the radeon (FOSS kernel AMD GPU built-in driver) and fglrx drivers (AMD Catalyst proprietary driver) at the same time!! That ain't going to happen.
Your xorg.conf file is a pile of poo I'm afraid It's not usually needed if you use the radeon driver with kernel dri modesetting enabled.
If you really want to use fglrx (why? you aren't going to game on that card - and this driver is rubbish and now only provides legacy support for the Radeon HD 4xxx series now) then you need to configure your xorg.conf using this driver...AMD Catalyst Driver installation/configuration (Ubuntu Wiki)
I think it would help a bit if you slowed down and read around the problems you are experiencing... I'm a bit concerned that you didn't post all the information I asked for in "Pastebin" style links. It's a lot easier than dumping all your console output straight in the thread... If you treat a Linux Desktop install (even Ubuntu or Mint) like Windows you are in for a world of hurt (well a lot of computing inconvenience anyway!!) The Ubuntu Wiki is a bit of mixed bag these days (the tumbleweed is blowing across the community) - but worth checking first...
If you want I can maybe suggest some ppa's that would "spruce" up your radeon experience with power management support and (possibly) VDPAU video decode support for (at least) mplayer-based video players and probably XBMC. You need a need a 3.11 kernel and a newer build of Mesa (the graphics stack that sits in userspace - effectively on top of the radeon kernel driver). It's a lot easier to setup on Saucy though (this ships with the 3.11 kernel by default)... New is good for radeon - but the opposite is the case for fglrx - which is best supported on Precise still.
Hi Mr Gates,
Thank you for your time.
The fglrx driver as far as I know is not installed on the system ( I have uninstalled it).
The display adapter is a builtin ATI 1200 and the system is not used for games.
I don't have a clue what pastebin is, hence I didn't use it.
the xorg.conf is not in /etc/X11 but in my home directory, I built it with X -configure but didn't put it in place yet.
My whole X system is a mess. I'm trying to ave the system without reinstalling it because of the RAID and samba on it.
How can I install kernel 3.11 on Ubuntu 12.04 without compiling it?
Againg, thank you for your help.
Hi Mr Gates,
Thank you for your time.
The fglrx driver as far as I know is not installed on the system ( I have uninstalled it).
The display adapter is a builtin ATI 1200 and the system is not used for games.
I don't have a clue what pastebin is, hence I didn't use it.
the xorg.conf is not in /etc/X11 but in my home directory, I built it with X -configure but didn't put it in place yet.
My whole X system is a mess. I'm trying to ave the system without reinstalling it because of the RAID and samba on it.
How can I install kernel 3.11 on Ubuntu 12.04 without compiling it?
Againg, thank you for your help.
Code:
aptitude:
Package fglrx:
p 2:8.960-0ubuntu1 precise 500
i 2:8.960-0ubuntu1.1 precise-updates 500
Package fglrx-amdcccle:
p A 2:8.960-0ubuntu1 precise 500
i A 2:8.960-0ubuntu1.1 precise-updates 500
This tells us that you have the Catalyst driver updates installed and the corresponding Catalyst Control Centre (amdcccle is the romantic name this goes under).
The link I gave to pastie.org is "grandma" (not to be ageist) and "noob" safe . You just post you console output (e.g. from the commands I asked you to run) in the box and press the Create Paste button. Pastie gives you a weblink to your new pasted code that you can put in a forum thread as a URL (using the button with a picture of the earth icon with chain on it - when on Linux Questions)... Saves things getting cluttered up with tonnes of console dumps!!
To stay with Catalyst - simply make sure that you have:
Code:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nomodeset"
in /etc/default/grub. Then update grub...
Code:
update-grub2
This is "belt 'n' braces" will ensure that the kernel-based radeon driver doesn't try to take over the GPU hardware early in the boot process.
Then follow the wiki guide. Hopefully...
Code:
sudo aticonfig --initial
will be enough to get you a working xorg.conf file
(for a single head configuration).
Hopefully that will work... Otherwise you might need to do some more fiddling in the modprobe configuration files...
Should you do an in-place 12.04 LTS-14.04 LTS upgrade next year (or whenever) - I would remove all the fglrx/Catalyst packages first. Make sure you really remove them all though
In the wiki they are talking about installing the fglrx, I thought you said not to install it...
I'm confused. I'm going to try the grub instructions, and I'll be back to report of the results.
Hi,
I've edited the /etc/default/grub and update-grub2 and rebooted the system.
No change.
If I'm going to format and reinstall the system how do I save my samba, raid and mounts of external shares? is saving fstab, mdadm.conf and smb.conf enough?
Hi,
I've edited the /etc/default/grub and update-grub2 and rebooted the system.
No change.
If I'm going to format and reinstall the system how do I save my samba, raid and mounts of external shares? is saving fstab, mdadm.conf and smb.conf enough?
If you're talking Linux software raid - I don't use it - so can't comment on that. If you're aren't using autofs or anything fancy for your network mounts then backing up the fstab and smb.conf files will be enough for covering mounts of external shares and Samba...
I thought I was extremely clear what I was saying but to reiterate....
If you are willing to upgrade to Saucy - then it's a no-brainer to use the radeon FOSS driver. You need the 3.11 kernel and newer Mesa versions to get radeon fully up and running (power management and VDPAU video decode support). This would be my recommended course of action...
If you are determined to stick to Precise (for whatever reason e.g. longer support cycle) then stick with fglrx-legacy.
For Ubuntu releases after Precise - the hassle of installing fglrx-legacy (PPA required for XOrg Server, need to use an older kernel) - means that you should dump it in favour of the radeon driver.
AMD has put the Radeon HD 4xxx series and earlier cards on a virtual driver "lifesupport" only mode. Their support for these cards in the Proprietary driver was always a bit sh*t anyway... Now it's diabolical...
Mr Gates...
Last edited by Bill Gates 666; 11-18-2013 at 01:45 PM.
Back when I ran ubuntu, the only GPU love I could find was by deleting the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and letting ubuntu do it's own thing. If you need to override a setting, create a xong.conf with just that section and the value that needs to be changed. IIRC, my xorg.conf at that time only had Section "Driver" and Section "DRI" in it.
Also note that the ATI driver and the NON-ATI drivers have different libGL.so files. dpkg-divert can help clarify what and where those are in your case. If glxinfo shows Mesa, for the vender string, then you're not using the ATI driver. If glxinfo shows ATI, then you are. And direct rendering from glxinfo needs to be YES for any 3D and accellerated graphics support. Switching between the two in more than just uninstalling one, as you will likely need to re-install the other as well. To be using the right libGL.so version.
For ati-legacy cards and kernels > 3.4.x you should be using the radeon driver. Which implies also using the libGL from mesa-glx packages. For 3.4.x or older kernels you can choose either the fglrx or the radeon driver. And various other quirks.
Thank you for both of you.
Yes I run Linux software RAID.
I will not stay with Ubuntu if I'll reinstall, but I was thinking about moving to Mint with Mate.
Thank you for both of you.
Yes I run Linux software RAID.
I will not stay with Ubuntu if I'll reinstall, but I was thinking about moving to Mint with Mate.
I personally can't see the whole point of resurrecting Gnome 2. Sure Gnome 3 is a bit of disaster in terms of resource usage, etc. - but surely Xfce is a good enough alternative? I used to love Gnome 2 - but that was 5 years ago!! Now I will only use KDE or Xfce (including if I am installing for someone else). I am sure I will try out one of the fancy tiling window managers at some point... Oh dear the endless Desktop wars rage on!!
I personally can't see the whole point of resurrecting Gnome 2...
There's use cases where employers setup and trained a staff on gnome 2. And sticking with gnome 2 or variants of it that keep the tradition is preferred over retraining the staff.
I always seem to be heading away from where many window managers tend to head. Kde to Gnome to Xfce to IceWM to cwm. But I've done all that on basically the same hardware for nearly a decade now. So I have kind of had to in order to reclaim the bloat that makes my old stuff feel old.
Although it seems the OP is suffering from driver issues. Mix matched video components, or the version of X, missing components that weren't grabbed as dependencies. I still surprise myself when I can install or build a window manager for an X environment and it doesn't grab X as a dependency. Or it could be something more hit and miss like conflicting IRQs. If you install the acpi event stuff, when your keyboard and mouse lock up, the power button on the machine can be used to trigger a safe reboot without having to hold the button down for five seconds for a hard reboot. Or kicking the power strip.
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