Comment 48 for bug 560306

Experiencing this issue and then some.

Attempted install of Ubuntu 10.04.1 64-bit via ubuntu-minimal ISO image on CD-R.
Selected "SSH Server" and "Ubuntu Desktop"

Hardware:
AMD Phenom II 710 (x3)
8GB DDR3
GIGABYTE GA-MA770T-UD3 (AMD 770 Chipset)
2x XFX HD5770 -> 2x Monitors connected via DVI
80GB SSD (/dev/sda, /)
2TB WD HDD (/dev/sdb, /home)

When I attempt this, the system locks up as soon as it starts downloading libc6. Network interface does not respond to any attempt to ping or connect. Getting dmesg is impossible. HDD light is dead. The lights are on but no one's home.

When I attempt to use the Ubuntu Desktop image (Lucid, 64-bit), the Ubuntu logo comes up, then black screen. Can not ping computer or connect from another machine. Keyboard freezes so cannot get dmesg. HDD light flickers about every second. Sadly, rebooting is my only option and that means I lose those logs it is so vigorously writing.

The ONLY way I've been able to get my setup to work is to:
1) Install Ubuntu server 10.04 64-bit.
2) apt-get update && apt-get -y upgrade
3) apt-get install ubuntu-desktop (do NOT reboot)
4) install fglrx from repo (installing ATI drivers from AMD/ATI breaks everything at this stage)
5) Shutdown and remove 1 5770 (attempting the other installs with only 1 monitor and one 5770 has no affect)
6) Boot system (hooray we can log in!) but have that stupid "unsupported hardware" watermark there
7) remove fgrlx and install drivers from ATI
8) Shutdown, reinstall 2nd 5770, reconnect second monitor.
9) Screen is a bit screwy and the mouse randomly teleports, screen has dead areas where mouse disappears; Still use catalyst to configure monitors;
        a.) tar /etc/ati to somewhere safe (I use ~/ati_config.tar)
        b.) remove ATI drivers
        c.) install fgrlx
       d.) untar archived /etc/ati back to /etc/ati (simply extracting the contents from the ATI driver with fgrlx doens't fix any of the previous issues...i'm guessing the ATI drivers don't cleanly install and leave something useful behind that fgrlx dosn't overwrite)
A) Reboot
B) Do a complete backup, wipe the sweat off your brow, and enjoy Ubuntu.

I guess you could say I'm insanely dedicated to AMD and Ubuntu, and this is a very painful relationship.