Ubuntu

ubuntu install problem on amd64/Sapphire ATI

Asked by roger

I have a new motherboard Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe with a dual core CPU Athlon64 X2 4400+, and I am trying to install Ubuntu 7.04 for AMD64. The live CD is not able to boot, first I thought that it was the APIC related problem that many people encountered and that is solved with the kernel commands "noapic nolapic pci=noacpi acpi=off..." and so on (enable_8???_timer..., nomce..) I've tried all these options always with the same result. Now I think that this is not the problem.

The last messages that I see in the screen when system is booting is:
Loading ACPI modules...
Starting ACPI services...
Starting system log daemon...
Doing Wacom setup...
Starting kernel log...
Starting system message bus dbus...
Starting hardware abstraction layer hald...
Starting DHCP D-bus daemon dhcdbd...
Starting network connection manager NetworkManager...
Starting Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Daemon: avahi-daemon...
Starting network events dispatcher NetworkManagerDispatcher...
Starting system tools backends system-tools-backends...
Starting Gnome display manager...
Starting common UNIX printing system: cupsd...
-> after that screen goes to black and system hangs.
The boot process don't hangs at the very begining, I have omitted all the messages previous to these last ones.

I have tried several bios versions for my mobo, always the same result.
I have cheched my ubuntu cd with md5 and it is ok, no doubt about it.
I have checked my RAM with memtest, it is ok.
I tried to change RAM to another slot, and tried the same with VGA.

Now I have installed the i386 ubuntu version and everything went ok, but I would like to install the AMD64 version!

My hardware:
Mobo: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe, with bios 0903 (the last one released by asus)
CPU: Athlon64 X2 4400+ dual core
RAM: DDR2 1Gb 64 bit single channel Extreme Memory
HD: maxtor 250MB
VGA: ATI radeon X550

If someone can help me that would be great, I really don't know what else to try. Maybe someone encountered the same problem?
Thank you all,

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
roger
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto) said : 		#1

Try deleting splash from the kernel command line.

Revision history for this message
roger (roger73) said : 		#2

Hi,
for reporting the lines above I already deleted the "splash", to see what was going on..... why you suggested that?

Revision history for this message
Cesare Tirabassi (norsetto) said : 		#3

Because splash on AMD64 and Radeon cards (at least the R420/R423) will hung your PC:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/usplash/+bug/86666

Revision history for this message
roger (roger73) said : 		#4

ok, I read the 86666 bug. My system hangs the same with or without splash option. I will chech about the caps lock blinking or not and will try to use an old vga that I have. Will say something.
Grazie cesare, ti dico qualcosa!

Revision history for this message
roger (roger73) said : 		#5

Hi community!

None of the following worked:
- try install in safe graphics mode
- F4 & select 640x480 when live cd menu appears
- VGA=792 on kernel line (I saw on forums that someone solved a similar problem with that)

The caps lock key does nothing when the pc hangs (some people reported a similar problem to mine and explained that caps lock was blinking at the moment of hang)

But there was a significant progress, a bit of light over the theme: I used an old vga that i have (S3 trio 64V+, memory 1MB: very very old!) instead of the ati radeon x550 and the amd64 ubuntu live cd was able to boot. I was not able to see the gnome desktop but I think it was a problem with the so old card. I was able to work with the console (alt+F1) in text mode, and shut down the system properly. I even heard the music that announces entering/leaving gnome.

Then I think that it is a compatibility problem with the Sapphire ATI radeon X550 XTX. I have not still solved the problem but maybe it is the cause. I will change it for an nvidia one and see what happens... I will tell something

Thanks to all following my adventures!

Revision history for this message
Justin Payne (neolithium82) said : 		#6

On some of the more problematic cards such as ATI or the newer NVIDIA cards, it almost works out best to use the alternate install CD, and then you can personalize the xorg.conf file as you install, also being able to install the OS and then check out the proper drivers through one of the tutorials listed somewhere such as http://www.psychocats.net/ or http://www.ubuntuguide.org

It's not exactly the most idea scenario to deal with, but it might offer the easiest way to install,
Regards,
Justin

Revision history for this message
Best roger (roger73) said : 		#7

Thanks neolithium for your advice.
At the end the problem disappeared installing an nvidia geforce video card instead of ati radeon... after it was a little difficult to get the resolution of 1400x1050 on that new card, but that's another issue.
Thanks all