Hardware test fails at "video test running"

Asked by RayArdia

New Acer Aspire 5735 laptop 4Gb RAM 250Gb HDD, running Ubuntu 8.04.2.
Harware test OK up to the start of "video test running" then blank screen, system locks need a hard boot to restart.
Graphics;-Mobile Intel GM40/GM45 Express Chipset.

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actionparsnip
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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#1

Does a restart of the X server using alt+sysrq+k not o it. Hard reboots are not advised.

Are you fully updated?

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

can you also provide the output of:

uname -a

You may benefit from the -30 kernel (experimental) as this has been shown to benefit intel video chips. You can always boot to the current kernel if its bad and uninstall it.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#2

Doing the update and upgrade as I write this.
Re:- "Does a restart of the X server using alt+sysrq+k not o it. Hard reboots
are not advised". I have a Spanish keyboard - what key is sysrq please?
BTW the upgrade says it has 1hr 55 mins to go! Presume that's because this computer, my desktop, has a direct LAN connection whilst the Acer laptop is running wireless.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#3

same as print screen, you can re-abled ctrl + alt + backspace with

http://lifehacker.com/5259425/re+enable-ctrl+alt+backspace-for-ubuntu-904

then you can use ctrl + alt + backspace to restart x instead of hard rebooting.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#4

Thankyou. Alt+syrq (impr pant Pet Sis on my keyboard)+k does cause a restart from (eg) desktop, but NOT from the black screen following failure of video test.
As I'm using Hardy not Jaunty 9.04 I read the lifehacker link but didn't apply it.

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Vihar (vmankov) said :
#5

It seems you are not fully upgraded (as actionparsnip asked) if the Update Manager have to download for approx. 2 hours. It's good for you to wait for all upgrades to be done.

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#6

well yeah. If your system isnt fully updated then the updates may fix what you are experiencing.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#7

I'm sure the upgrade ran completely.
On restarting /var/log says "inspecting /boot/System.map 2.6 24-24 generic, then starts OK. Running Hardware test produces same result as before. Using Alt+sysrq+k does nothing, Ctrl+Alt+Backspace doesn't work either. Have left the laptop with a black screen and await your further help, if you'd be so kind.
Ray

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#8

did you follow the guide to re-enable ctrl+alt+backspace?

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#9

Have just tried to but when I entered "sudo dontzap --disable" I got a bash "command not found" so tried "sudo apt-get dontzap" , got "E: invalid operation". Tried "libgnome2-perl" command not found.
Where to next please?
Ray

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#10

sudo apt-get install libgnome2-perl

will install it for you.

andy@fileserver:~$ apt-cache search libgnome2-perl
libgnome2-perl - Perl interface to the GNOME libraries

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#11

Installed libgnome2, then 'sudo apt-get install dontzap', got 'reading package lists...done'. 'Building dependency tree', 'Reading state information...Done', 'Couldn't find package dontzap'
Ray

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#12

Sorry, last line should be; 'E: Couldn't find package dontzap'

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actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#13

To re-enable the Ctrl+Alt+Backspace combination that restarts your X server, you can install the "dontzap" package and use the command « sudo dontzap --disable ». The combination Alt+SysRq+K can also be used to obtain a similar effect.

dontzap (source: dontzap): Command line tool to set the DontZap option in xorg.conf. In component main, is optional. Version 0.1.2 (jaunty), package size 6 kB, installed size 124 kB

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#14

It appears that 'Ctrl+Alt+Backspace' now works - but ONLY from an open, normal screen. It doesn't work in the 'black screen situation when 'testing video' fails, neither does Alt+Sysrq+k. Only a hard boot reboots.
I'm sure this lengthy exchange is a p... in the a... for one and all, but I still have a problem.
Ray

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#15

I have an .iso CD of Jaunty. I did try to use Jaunty earlier but ran into problems in trying to install it alongside Vista, so decided to revert to Hardy as I've been using it on my PC for a long time. Perhaps you may suggest using that, and starting again?

I suspect that it is the remnants of Vista that are causing all the problems. I really do wish I'd bought a laptop preloaded with Ubuntu, for I only really need XP to run the one Windows program that I still use; it is Cadvance, an old CAD program. QCad appears to do everything (and more) that Cadvance did but I found that in my seventies the learning curve was a bit steep to change from Cadvance to QCad. Also have quite a library of Joinery etc drawings in Cadvance format.

Maybe if I could wipe the disk of everything pertaining to Vista, leaving only the Acer partition and its drivers ...but how?
Ray

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Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said :
#16

You can boot to the live CD and remove all partitions that are not your recovery partition then you can install as you wish. You can see the partitions in the output of:

sudo fdisk -l

and you can use gparted via

gksudo gparted to delete them. TREAD VERY VERY CAREFULLY when deleting the partitions. I suggest you backup the data before you start playinig (if you can) but if you are careful then you should be ok

Remember that extended partitions contain logical partitions so if you delete the extended partition it will wipe all the logical partitions on it too.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#17

OK did all that the ran Update and Upgrade. output from 'uname -a' is

'Linux RayLaptop 2.6.28-11-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Fri Apr 17 01:57:59 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux'

Haven't the foggiest what that means, but I'm sure you do.

Re video:- since there doesn't seem to be a Hardware Test listed under System Admin I inserted a DVD to check it. Movie Player chosen, error plugin not available, searched with resul 'No packages with the requested plugins found. The requested plugins are: DVD Source.' Same result when trying to play video from BBC.

I don't seem to be out of the wood yet!

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#18

Sorry! Found the hardware test - System Test of course, and the video test produces coloured bars and static correctly.
When some DVDs are loaded Movie Player opens, but greyed out. when I try to close it it says 'Not responding'. Force quit to close.
Other DVDs play OK but volume, even at 100%, is almost inaudible.
Yet other proprietory DVDs bring up 'Could not open location, you might not have permission to open the file?.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#19

Ref: 'Other DVDs play OK but volume, even at 100%, is almost inaudible.' in my last post; Now sorted out thanks to VastOne on Beginner Talk Ubuntu Forums. Still have some niggling problems with some DVDs but will end this rather long session here.
Many thanks to all for your patience; special thanks to actionparsnip.

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RayArdia (theallinsons) said :
#20

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.