Ubuntu

upgrade 6.06.2 -> 8.04: Failed to start the Xserver

Asked by Mark Stemmler

I tried to upgraded ubuntu 6.06.2 LTS to 8.04 LTS as described in http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/upgrading .

Everything went well until I rebooted. I got the following message: (longer quotes in >>...<<)

>>
Failed to start the Xserver (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you like to view the Xserver output to diagnose the problem?
<<
-> Yes ->
>>
X Window System Version 7.0.0
Release Date: 21 December 2005
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 7.0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.15-7 i686
Current Operating System: Linux <pc-name> 2.6.15-51-386 #1 PREEMPT Tue Feb 12 16:52:52 UTC 2008 i686
Build Date: 16 March 2006
   Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log",
Time Sat: Apr 26 19:08:53 2008
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
<<
-> OK ->
>>
Would you like to view the detailed X server output as well?
<<
-> Yes ->
[same text as above]
->
>>
The X Server is now disabled. Restart GDM when it is configured correctly.
<<
-> OK
>>
Ubuntu 6.06.2 LTS <pc name> tty1
<<
-> login

At this point I can only use my ubuntu via the command line interface. My system still seems to be ubuntu 6.06.2 instead of 8.04!

I am a non-technical user using the following hardware:

PC:
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SCENIC W620 (i915G)

graphics card:
Intel (R) 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family

TFT display:
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
SCENICVIEW P17-2
(1280x1024, 64kHz/60Hz, Digital)

CPU:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz

Thanks very much for your help!

Mark

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marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#1

Please try to press CTRL+ALT+"+" and/or CTRL+ALT+"-" to dynamically change video frequency
or press CTRL+ALT+BKSPACE to restart graphics layer.

Reconfiguring your xserver-xorg may help you.

A) ---- If you can view graphics Gnome desktop

Please open a Terminal from the menu Applications->Accessories->Terminal
and jump to step C

B) ---- If you cannot view graphics Gnome desktop

Please press CTRL+ALT+F2 and make login with your user and password
and go on to step C

C) ----------------------------------------------------------------------

To make a backup copy of your actual /etc/X11/xorg.conf type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak

give your user password when requested, you don't see nothing when you type it, then press enter.

Then try to reconfigure your xserver-xorg

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

answer to the simply questions, then restart the pc.

If something goes wrong you can restore the saved copy of your old configuration, open a terminal or login to a virtual terminal by pressing ctrl+alt+F2 and type:

cd /etc/X11
sudo cp xorg.conf.bak xorg.conf

and restart the pc, type:

sudo reboot

Hope this helps

Revision history for this message
Mark Stemmler (mdstemmler-launchpad) said : 		#2

Hello marcobra,

unfortunately I could not manage to solve the problem by configuring xserver-xorg. Having succeeded this would have solved my problem only partially, as I was still running ubuntu 6.06.2 after having upgraded to 8.04.

So I decided to install ubuntu 8.04 from CD which worked well but led to the loss of my configurations.

Thanks for your answer!

Mark