Ubuntu
xorg package

Xubuntu 9.04 blank screen on normal boot

Asked by Everett Lethe

On Dell Dimension 2350, Intel Celeron Northwoods 2.2 Ghz, 1GB RAM, Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics controller:

Normal cold boot leads to blank screen (no cursor)

Recovery boot, choose "xfix try to autofix graphics problem" then boot and Xubuntu desktop loads fine with "Display" (under Settings) showing Screen 1 with resolution "1024x768" with 75Hz refresh rate.

Display continues to operate normally on Restart. HOWEVER after shut down and cold boot, same problem all over again.

If it is not obvious from this message, this is the first time I have installed a Linux-based OS.

Thank you for any advice about this problem.

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FactTech
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This question was originally filed as bug #360025.

Revision history for this message
Best FactTech (launchpad-facttechnologies) said : 		#1

I am experiencing a similar issue with the same graphics card. I have found that the boot works reliably if the "splash" option is disabled in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Steps to implement this workaround:

1) in terminal, enter command: 'cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.bak', this creates a backup of the file
2) in terminal, enter command: 'gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst'
3) scroll down to the boot menu items section and look for the line starting with "kernel"... go to the end of the line and remove the word "splash", near "quiet" and "ro" -- this only has to be done to the first menu entry.
4) save changes
5) reboot

Make a note here if this works for you.

Revision history for this message
Everett Lethe (everettlethe) said : 		#2

Hi FactTech,

Thanks! Your workaround solved my "cold boot" problem with the Intel graphics card. I made only one modification to your script. In line 2 the command, 'gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst' had no response on my system. I changed this line to 'sudo nano /boot/grub/menu.lst' and was able to edit the menu.lst file.

Thanks again.

Revision history for this message
FactTech (launchpad-facttechnologies) said : 		#3

Sorry, Everett -- I didn't note that you were using Xubuntu instead of Ubuntu, and gedit is not available by default on Xubuntu.

Nano works fine. You could also use mousepad if you wanted a graphical text editor instead of a terminal one.

Glad it helped!

Revision history for this message
Trimline (sborsen) said : 		#4

Thanks for the tip. This was driving me absolutely crazy. You fix worked like a charm!

Revision history for this message
Trimline (sborsen) said : 		#5

Thanks for the tip. This was driving me absolutely crazy. Your fix worked like a charm!

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Kiran (kgollapudi) said : 		#6

this didn't help.. Am still getting a blank screen.. BTW,. I couldn't get either gedit or nano work. It was giving me error about not having graphical display.. edited the file using VI..

Revision history for this message
blegs38552 (neiljkatz) said : 		#7

Removing splash worked for me.

I have been having this problem since I installed Ubuntu 9.04 as a clean install. Sometimes, the boot would proceed fine with the splash screen displayed. More often than not, after the progress bar moved back and forth for a while, I would be dumped into a text environment with a message to the effect that a dev... could not be found. Accidentally, I found that typing exit allowed the boot process to complete normally.

By editing the menu.lst file and deleting "splash", I found that my system boots into Ubuntu without a problem every time I start up.

I am running Ubuntu on a dual boot machine alongside of Windows 7 RTM (this is the default).

Revision history for this message
txbbq (txbbqdude) said : 		#8

I have an old Panasonic CF47 laptop with a P3 processor and 128M of RAM. I read in several places that Xubuntu would be the best choice with such a little bit of RAM. I wiped the hard drive clean, then installed Xunbuntu. Got the initial spash and selected install on hard drive. After several minutes I got a screen informing me that 3 different components were installed and [ok] in brackets on the far right of screen. But that's it! I get no desktop, and it seems no operating system. Can someone help me with this issue please? Am I supposed to push a key or combo of keys to get a desktop? What is the deal with this system? Or is it my PC?