Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-ati package

new installation - Ubuntu is running low-graphics mode

Asked by Jonathan Hamelin

I'm a Ubuntu newbie and I decided that I wanted to run my old laptop with Linux.

I downloaded the 386 32 bit version and ran a live test with the CD and it appeared to work fine.

Since I'm new to all this, I didn't want to give up my old Windows XP OS, so I ran a dual boot system.

The installation seemed to go fine, but I think there were some error messages. They went by so quickly, I was unable to read them and I'm not sure how to get to the log files.

Anyway, upon boot up I get the message that Ubuntu is running in low graphics mode and when I press okay, I get the option to run it in low graphics mode reconfigure or troubleshoot the error.

Well, I tried reconfiguring, but nothing happens. I just get the same screen when I click it.

When I select "run it in low graphics mode this time only, I get a blank screen with a blinking cursor at the top left. I can type, but nothing seems to happen otherwise. I was able to switch to another window tty1 and login to a command prompt, but I'm unable to do much there. I then see another error (as follows)

The following error was encountered. You may need to update your configuration to solve this.

(EE) Preinit returned NULL for ""PS/2 Mouse"
(EE) Preinit returned NULL for ""AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint""
(EE) Preinit returned NULL for ""Macintosh mouse button emulation""

One message appears

Your CPU appears to be lacking expected security protections. Please check your BIOS settings, or for more information, run: /usr/bin/check-bios-nx --verbose

After running that command, the following information comes up.
This CPU is family 15, model 4, and has NX capabilities but is unable to use these protective features because the BIOS is configured to disable the capability. Please enable this in your BIOS. For more details, see: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Security/CPUFeatures

I checked out the site but I'm unable to change anything like that in my BIOS. There simply is no NX entry.

Anyway, here is my laptop specifications:
Toshiba Satellite P30
Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 538 supporting Hyper-Threading technology 3.20 GHz, 533MHz PSB
L1 Cache 12KB/8KB (instruction/data), L2 Cache 1MB
 Operating System

ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON™ 9700 with 128MB DDR video memory.

As I said before, I'm a newbie to Linux, but I'm comfortable around computers, etc.

PS: I searched the forums, but I was unable to find a solution to this problem.

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Ubuntu xserver-xorg-video-ati Edit question
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Jonathan Hamelin
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Revision history for this message
GREG T. (ubuntuer) said : 		#1

this page has a lot of info about ati drivers . the second haft has a how to .
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/linux_8.24.8.html

Revision history for this message
Jonathan Hamelin (jonobugs) said : 		#2

Thanks, I'll take a look at that URL.

Revision history for this message
GREG T. (ubuntuer) said : 		#3

http://www.downloadatoz.com/driver/articles/installation-instructions-for-the-ati-proprietary-linux-driver.html
this page should help. it is a long page with a lot of info .

Revision history for this message
Jonathan Hamelin (jonobugs) said : 		#4

Okay, I have to be honest and say that I was a bit lost on what to do since I had no idea on how to even add the drivers in when the OS wouldn't boot up.

I decided to just try and re-install Ubuntu once more and see if I could figure out what went wrong.

So, while installing, I noticed when it finished that it had a whole screen full of errors, but I re-started anyway and this time I was able to actually log into Ubuntu. Apparently, I still need to fix some driver issues, but at least I have somewhere to begin and not just a blank screen.

While I'm not sure if my problems are over, at least I can log in now.

Thanks for the help anyway, Greg. I appreciate that you answered!

Jonathan

Revision history for this message
Tom (tom6) said : 		#5

Hi :)

have you been able to get all the updates for your Ubuntu system now? I tend to find the best way to get updates is to go up to the top taskbar and click on

System - Administration - Synaptic

and in there click on "Mark all updates" and then on the "Apply button" Also on a new system it is well worth trying to work through the Medibuntu worksheet
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu
Annoyingly the Medibuntu site has been experiencing technical difficulties for a few days but keep trying every few days and when it works the worksheet should sort almost all the multimedia issues in one easy session.

I hope this helps!
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

Revision history for this message
Jonathan Hamelin (jonobugs) said : 		#6

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the inquiry! Actually, I lost this page site because I couldn't bookmark my page as I was using the LIVECD to use the internet at the time.

To answer your question, no I was never able to fix the problem. However, the problem was NOT just a graphics problem, but probably something else as I was never able to get into Ubuntu. I believe there was something wrong with the GRUB, but I'll never know since I realized at one point it was easier and faster to try a re-install than to troubleshoot the problem. I was also using an old hard drive while trying to install Ubuntu on a new hard drive and even though I set Ubuntu on the new drive I think it was trying to use the old drive (which had Windows on it) to set a GRUB menu there too.

Anyway, I was able to install Ubuntu by using only the new drive and completely detaching the old drive. I've had a few problems after that, but I'm up and running now.

That said, I also upgraded to a newer system and now my Windows partition doesn't boot. I don't really care that much as I don't want to use Windows, but unfortunately I need to use it for a few programs that won't run even with Wine. (iTunes, for one).

Although my original question was never really solved, I'm marking this as solved since I did find a work around.

Cheers!

Revision history for this message
Tom (tom6) said : 		#7

Hi :)

That question about getting the boot-loader to boot into Windows, or at least offer it as a choice should be solvable. Please ask a new question about that in Launchpad

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+addquestion

It will depend which grub you are using. On Ubuntu 10.04 and some 9.10's it is just a case of getting to the command-line and entering

sudo update-grub

If you are still using grub (legacy now) then it might be easy to edit the menu.lst to write in a choice for Windows.

To see which grub you are using please get to a command-line and try

cd /boot/grub
dir

and if there is a menu.lst then you are using the older grub which people still feel more comfortable with and can give you guidance. If you have the newer grub2 which no-one seems to understand yet then try the "sudo update-grub" trick.

Thanks and regards from
Tom :)