Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-ati package

Ubuntu 11.04 will not boot on Thinkpad T500

Asked by Katherine Putnam

I've been using 10.10 since its release with no issues. I was offered the option of upgrading to 11.04 and I took it. Once it upgraded, however, it would not boot normally. I would start the computer and it would act as though it was booting, then just go to a black (but backlit) screen and stay there. Then, if I did a forced shut-down, it would offer me the option of 'starting from a previous version of Ubuntu,' which I took, and then I could get it to boot into a GUI that looked like 11.04 and identified itself as 11.04.

Obviously I would like an OS that works automatically on start-up, so I went to the IRC channel and asked what they thought. It was strongly suggested I make an image cd and do a clean install, so I did that. The image cd refused to work; I check the iso file and it was good. I downloaded it again, to be sure, and also tried installing with a usb stick. I would receive a message, in my BIOS font, that read "udevd - work (84): '/sbin/modprobe -bv pci:v0001002d00009591sv000017AAsd00002116bc03sc00i00' unexpected exit with status 0x0009" and then the image cd would stop spinning.

I tried a clean install of 10.10 with an image cd that I made at the same time, which worked perfectly, and then upgraded again in the hopes that having a clean OS would make it work. It did not and I had to reinstall 10.10. I'm using 10.10 now but I would really like to upgrade to 11.04 because I like some of the new features.

One of the people I was talking to on IRC suggested it was a graphics problem, and I was able to get the image cd to run by pressing F6 and disabling the graphics, but once 11.04 was installed, it again refused to boot unless I started it, waited for it to blackscreen, then crashed it.

Please help.

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Alan Chambers
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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#1

'starting from a previous version of Ubuntu,' : is not it previous kernel ?
Did you checked second line of boot menu: "recovery" and then after "sanFailSafeX" ?
What do you mean by "disabling the graphics" ? Did you report this option in file /etc/default/grub.d ?
"un contrôleur graphique Intel Media Accelerator X4500"

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Katherine Putnam (kaoine-to-fly) said : 		#2

1. No, it said, 'previous version.' Once I got it to install, it still asked me if I wanted to do that, and when I picked yes, it only showed the one option and a recovery mode. And it ran 11.04 after that, but still wouldn't boot right away.

2. I wasn't given that option.

3. I don't really know what I mean. The image cd gives you a menu and I pressed F6 and just checked all the options there.

4. Uh... I don't know.

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#3

If you succeed to boot from CD with one of the option of F6, you should be able to boot from hard disk using the same option. To get this special boot menu, press <SPACE> as soon as system boot. After, you will have to set this option in /etc/default/grub.d and rebuild boot configuration file (sudo update-grub).
What is the model of graphic card ?
When you will have retrieved which option you used, we could set it in grub configuration file (tomorrow, as I stop this evening).

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Alan Chambers (alan-chambers) said : 		#4

No solution from me I'm afraid but I do I have what sounds like the same problem, also with a T500.

Fortunately, I didn't upgrade in situ but created a bootable USB flash drive. When I boot from that, I get the exact same symptoms described above. This machine has run Karmic, Lucid and Maverick without any problems. Also, the USB stick boots OK in another machine I have so I think it's OK.

I'm so wanting to try out Natty, but I can't risk upgrading till I know it won't make my machine unusable.

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Katherine Putnam (kaoine-to-fly) said : 		#5

I'm not near my computer today, but according to the specs I found online for T500s, it has "ATI Mobility Radeon 3650 w/ 256MB or Intel X4500 integrated (hybrid switching)."

Mine has also run Karmic, Lucid, and Maverick. It's currently on Maverick.

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Best Alan Chambers (alan-chambers) said : 		#6

Well, I also appended to a thread on the ubuntuforumsorg site here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10777532#post10777532, where someone has posted a solution that only takes few moments to implement and works for me.

All you have to do is go into the BIOS settings for "Display" and turn off the "Switchable Graphics" option. I changed it to "Discreet Graphics" and now my USB stick boots nicely in 11.04.

Hope it helps you and others with this problem.

Alan

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Katherine Putnam (kaoine-to-fly) said : 		#7

Thanks Alan Chambers, that solved my question.

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Nathan Muyinda (muyinda) said : 		#8

please help, am having a similar problem!!! After upgrading from 10.10 to 11.04, the system does not start normally. It just goes to a black screen with things I don't understand. But if I select "previous versions of ubuntu" It starts!!! my laptop is a Toshiba satellite L500

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#9

Did you tried solution used by Alan ?

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Fritz Otto W. (fritzottow) said : 		#10

I've same problem. The Solution from Alan works, but now I get for a short time shadows on the screen, when I open a new Window or move a window on the screen.
But it's o.k. ist works.