Ubuntu
grub package

ubuntu freezes with graphic problems but not in recovery mode

Asked by jens

During boot, the login screen comes up and shows some graphic problems (several thin horizontal lines, making the monitor look like scratched. Choosing the user and login to Gnome work OK. The desktop shows graphic problems, too. After some seconds, Ubuntu will freeze. Only the mouse is still moving (sometimes with difficulties), but you cannot use it anymore (no click recognized), no key combinations seem to be recognized either. Neither memory nor CPU usage seem to be too high (looking at system monitor). System clock is not updated anymore, the freeze will not go away after some time. In the end, I have to switch off the computer to reboot.
This is a dual boot system, and the problem does not occur under "the other major operating system".

Workaround:
When I start Ubuntu into recovery mode and choose "drop to root shell with network", followed by gdm start, I can use Gnome normally, the screen looks nice and fresh, no freeze will happen.

So I wonder what I could do to make it work as normal again? There must be an important difference between normal mode and recovery mode + Gnome?

System: Dual boot Windows / Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic)
 ATI RV380 Radeon X600 (0x350) using radeon driver

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jens (jkrdaxiang-test) said : 		#1

So there is nobody here to be able to explain the precise difference between normal mode and recovery mode? Because everything works OK in recovery mode + gdm start, but not in normal mode, even in the so-called "failsafe gnome", which seems to be a misnomer in my case.

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jens (jkrdaxiang-test) said : 		#2

To narrow down the problem, I installed KDM.
Normal login: problems.
Recovery mode, drop to root shell, kdm start: no problems.

So GDM or KDM are not at the origin of the problem, the bug occurs before.

Actually, you can sometimes see some graphic distorsion on the splash screen already.

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jens (jkrdaxiang-test) said : 		#3

The problems go away when I switch off usplash in grub's configuration file menu.lst by changing quiet splash to noquiet nosplash. For me, this question can be considered as answered.

See bug report at

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/479339