Ubuntu Issues

[phalthallus]

This isn't in relation to NWN, but knowing that we have so many Linux people here, I thought I'd post it.

So, I get to the login screen for Ubuntu, and everything's cool. I log in, and the screen wigs out. I have horizontal bars everywhere. And everytime I boot up, I get a "Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode. Nothing can be detected, fix it yourself". So I go through those options (let them fix it, run in low graphics mode, try to fix it myself, etc), and nothing works. I've tried the dpgk-reconfigure xserver-xorg, and dpkg -reconfigre -phigh xserver-xorg, neither of which helps.

Yesterday my xorg.conf had literally next-to-nothing in it. It had my monitor, vid card, and screen, but no settings whatsoever (no drivers, resolutions, etc). And it ran fine.

Today it looks the same, but I still have problems.
I tried xorg-configure, on bhao's recommendation, and that generated what looked to be a great file. It actually recognized my card, my monitor (their brands), etc. Made that new file my xorg.conf, and still the same problem.

Any suggestions? Trying desperately to avoid reinstalling, and wasting another day on this. But if that's the best/easiest approach, that's what I'll do. It just seems like there ought to be something rather easy to fix it.

Oh, I also tried the ubuntu option to "Try to fix x server", to no avail.

Another small tidbit: when I look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log, it says it's using config file: /etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe but I'm not sure why it's not using the normal xorg/conf....

Thanks in advance!

[phalthallus]

If this means anything, I found this in my Xorg.0.log file:

(II) RADEON(0): initializing int10
(WW) RADEON(0): Bad V_BIOS checksum
(II) RADEON(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) RADEON(0): Legacy BIOS detected
drmOpenDevice: node name is /dev/dri/card0
drmOpenDevice: open result is -1, (No such device or address)
drmOpenDevice: open result is -1, (No such device or address)
drmOpenDevice: Open failed

Backtrace:
0: /usr/X11R6/bin/X(xf96SigHander+0x79) [0x80c3009]
1: [0xb804e400]
2: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//radeon_drv.so [0xb7accb07]
3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//radeon_drv.so [0xb7a9a55a]
4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers//radeon_drv.so [0xb7a9d4fc]
5. /usr/X11R6/bin/X(InitOutput+0x96f) [0x80aac9f]
6. /usr/X11R6/bin/X(main+0x279) [0x8071b19]
7: /lib/tls/i686/cmov/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe5) [0xb7c57685]
8: /usr/X11R6/bin/X [0x8071101]
Saw signal 11. Server aborting.

This is at the end of the file. And this time it used my xorg.conf (not the .failsafe one), which seems good. But it still gives me the "low graphics mode" dialog, and I can't seem to get past it.

This is an ATI 9200 vid card, and I tried following these instructions just now, but still get the "Ubuntu is in low-graphics mode" dialog.

[hughpeeble]

Phal,
I'm at a loss, however I did notice a separate link on the instructions page you referenced above that makes further reference to issues that you might experience with an ATI 9200 card. I don't know if this is the issue or not that you are experiencing however help.ubuntu.com/community/Radeon_9200/9250_(RV280)_and_DVI makes reference to a bug in the xorg drivers.
I'll keep looking to see if I see anything obvious but the code you included from your log seems to point to something along these lines in my opinion.

[phalthallus]

I saw that too Hugh, but I'm not using the DVI on that card. So I don't think it applies.

[hackenslay]

do you have another video card you can try in it? The video bios checksum is bad, which may mean a problem in the video card itself, or it could be the bug in the xorg drivers. Also, what version of ubuntu are you running? 8.10 is much different than Dapper Drake, might make a difference if you are running an older version. Have you tried the radeonhd driver?

[TJ]

okay so i got this from a friend and i am not sure if you have tried it yet but i told him about your issue and he said it sounded like you did not have the correct driver set. he told me that to do so you go to System->Administration->Hardware Drivers and choose the correct driver there. not sure if you have tried this or not but i hope it helps

[phalthallus]

hackenslay - the vid card is fine, because it worked yesterday, and in fact, when I run the Ubuntu install, it looks fine too. So fortunately (or unfortunately) that's not the problem. And yes, this is 8.10 that I'm running.

I've not tried the radeonhd driver. How would I do this via the command prompt?

TJ - Unfortunately that's not an option, at least via the GUI, because I can't use the GUI at all.

[hackenslay]

i think this is it, but i have nvidia, so you'll have to let me know if it works...

sudo dpkg -i xserver-xorg-video-radeonhd

www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=843&num=1

this has a complete installation guide on installing and compiling the driver too

[phalthallus]

Thanks hackenslay. Will definitely give that a go tonight.

[hackenslay]

All right, from this post on the Ubuntu BB, it should work with one more step that I missed

" 8.10 should work with the radeonhd driver in the 8.10 repository. The installer defaults to the radeon driver, which produces a black screen.

I just installed 8.10 from the liveCD. Let it run until drive activity stops, wait a bit longer, then open a text terminal (<ctrl><alt><F3>) and from there you can use nano (as sudo) to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Add the line

Driver "radeonhd"

to the device section of the xorg.conf file, save and restart X and all should be well."

[phalthallus]

Got through all that, to no avail still. Ended up just reinstalling. Downloading the 1.3 gigs for NWN as we speak.

Thanks to everyone for the help. Some just weird issue apparently. I only just installed Ubuntu yesterday, so it's not like I'm losing a ton of time or information. It was easier to just do this than to spend days trying to figure it out.

Thanks again to everyone for their assistance!

[elnar shadowfox]

fwiw, I think I have had this problem every time I installed ubuntu (and some other linux flavors). In each case, the video card isn't 'broken' but the conf file is not quite right. Eventually I figure it out and it all works but by then I am so frustrated and confused I don't know exactly how I fixed it. I'm pretty sure it several times involved reinstalling everything.

Sounds like that's what you did and all is well. From my experience trying to figure out what was actually wrong will just drive you crazy and worse -- cut into your gaming time ;D

[phalthallus]

Yeah, decided it wasn't worth the headache and killing myself, so I just reinstalled, and all is well. Next comes installing/running NWN, to see if it causes this again.

[phalthallus]

Here's my latest problem. Any thoughts???

[TJ]

which OS? if windows, i would say your video card is effed up... (excuse my french). if Ubuntu, i would say give up on it until you get a new card because it seems like NWN corrupts your driver or something. speaking of, how did you get NWN onto Ubuntu (if thats what this is on)? last chance i would say e-mail Ubuntu support and try to get them to send you a specific driver for your card or admit it is a bug that hasnt been fixed. Ubuntu works fine on my machine, but i cant get anything to run on it since it doesnt use .exe that i have found. i gave up and bought another copy of windows which works perfectly (i dual boot on a MBP). this is both a question and an answer i guess.