Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-video-intel package

Installation of ubuntu 10.4 on an oldish laptop hangs on X startup

Asked by ZioNemo

I am having big problems installing latest Ubuntu 10.4 on an oldish laptop (Gericom Blockbuster Excellent 5000).

This was originally linux (RH) based, later converted to WinXP and now I want to revert it to Linux.

There is limited RAM: 256M

Live CD will hang when trying to start X.

Alternate completes installation, but boot just shows the initial splash (ubunu with the moving dots), then some garbage (colored characters) flash on screen, finally the screen goes blank (black) and notjing moves anymore (alt-f# di not work).
I have to power it off via power switch.

I tried with the following boot options, but it doesn't seem to change anything:
  fb= false vga=ask acpi=off noapic nolapic mem=256M

One more data point: when booting from HD the GRUB menu is not shown.

I installed using the alternate and I have now the full log of installation, if useful.

Can some kind soul tell me just where should I bang my head?

Regards
ZioNemo

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Ubuntu xserver-xorg-video-intel Edit question
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Solved by:
marcobra (Marco Braida)
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Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

DId you MD5 test the ISO?
Did you check the CD for defects.

If you want a light Ubuntu based OS then Lubuntu is a lot lighter than XUbuntu

Revision history for this message
ZioNemo (zionemo) said : 		#2

Yes, I checked.
I tried (in this order):

ubuntu-10.04-netbook-i386.iso
ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso
ubuntu-10.04-alternate-i386.iso

They all work in console mode.
as soon as X starts everything hangs.

I also tried an old ubuntu-8.10 with same results.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#3

Can you give the output of:

lspci | grep -i vga

Thanks

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subzero (subzero9) said : 		#4

Dear friend,

   How old is the laptop??? Try to update the BIOS (if you can find it..) with the latest version.! It might fix your problem...!!!
GOOD LUCK.!

Revision history for this message
ZioNemo (zionemo) said : 		#5

from the installation logs:

lspci -knn: 00:00.1 System peripheral [0880]: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller [8086:3584] (rev 02)
lspci -knn: 00:00.3 System peripheral [0880]: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller [8086:3585] (rev 02)
lspci -knn: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device [8086:3582] (rev 02)
lspci -knn: 00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device [8086:3582] (rev 02)

@subzero: Gericom seems out of business :(

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Best marcobra (Marco Braida) (marcobra) said : 		#6

please try this: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes

Here relevant infos:

From an installation:
1) Hold down Shift while booting to enter the GRUB menu.

2) Press 'e' to edit.

3) Add "i915.modeset=1" after "quiet splash".

4) Ctrl+x to boot.

If adding "i915.modeset=1" to your boot parameters allows you to boot successfully, you then need to enter the command above into a terminal to make the changes permanent.

If it works you need to update your grub2 kernel settings to have this boot parameter be permanent

-------

So after install Ubuntu you need:

Referring to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2 and to this page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2#grub (/etc/default/grub)

You need to change the file /etc/default/grub from Applicationa→accessorie→Terminal type:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Change the row:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash i915.modeset=1"

Then save and close then still using terminal type:

sudo update-grub2

Then reboot your pc.

Hth

Hth

Revision history for this message
ZioNemo (zionemo) said : 		#7

Thanks marcobra (Marco Braida), that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#8

Don't worry dude, I've seen this a LOT too. Seems very common.