Hi Hal
On Monday 03 December 2007 09:04:20 Hal Davis wrote:
James,
Thanks for taking the time.
I tried to be careful to tell it to set up the new partition to 50% (moved
the slider almost all the way to the left). However, after it was done, I
think it reported that there was now only 8mb of free space on the Windows
partition.
I'm guessing that was 8 gb not 8 mb
When I boot with the Ubuntu installation CD out, I don't get an initial
menu.
Strange. Would expect a menu with a choice between Ubuntu and Windows at this
point. Will work this part out after we get your screen back
When I boot with the Ubuntu installation CD in, the menu is includes Start
Ubuntu, start in video safe mode, etc. I can change the video selections,
but they apparently don't get saved and doesn't change what happens when I
reboot without the CD in.
When you boot with the cd in you're essentially running Ubuntu directly off
the cd, not your hd. It's a live cd so you can run/try it without installing
first.
After the splash Ubuntu screen, I see about four of the login screen
horizontally, and it goes down about 80% of the screen, with gibberish
underneath that. The screen has "untuubuntuubuntuubuntuub" going across,
with 4 logos, and a half username box, 3 username boxes, and another half
username box.
Ok, sounds like the driver have been switched to either the wrong one or wrong
mode.
Use CTRL-ALT-F1 to get a console. You'll have to login there. Don't worry that
it wont echo the password, that's normal
next type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" without the quotes. You'll be asked
for your password again. Scroll down to where you see the graphic card
idintified. You should see something resembling the following
Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
Driver "nv"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "AddARGBVisuals" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection
What does yours list there? Take note more so of the driver here.
Below that will be the monitor and default screnn areas. Might help to report
back what they say as well
At the very worst, where mine says "nv" can be replaced with "vesa" just to
get a working screen. For nvidia cards it's usually "nvidia" for 3d support
or "nv" for 2d acceleration
When making a change use CTRL-O to write back to disk. CTRL-X will exit back
to the prompt at which you can type "sudo reboot" to reboot the system for
changes to take effect for now
Do you recall exactly what you did before things went awry?
Laptop is a HP Pavilion zd7000. HP's site says the video card is nvidia
geforce 4. Don't know the exact model of the screen to put into the ubuntu
settings, but it's widescreen and 17".
So, how do I boot in video safe mode, change video settings, and then get
them to stick when I reboot without the CD? And, any idea which video
settings I should pick from the menu?
That would be recovery mode but you're not getting a grub menu to select that
so not sure how to without that
Thanks so much.
Hal Davis
Hope I can be of help. Someonelse will likely chime in soon enough
James
James Takac wrote:
On Monday 03 December 2007 07:10:44 Hal Davis wrote:
I grew up in DOS and Windows, but just getting started in Linux.
Installed Ubuntu 7.10, and had it set up a partition on my Windows laptop.
First, I don't know how to interrupt the boot process to tell it to load
Windows instead of Unix.
Second, the Linux install didn't work until it reloaded using Video Safe
Mode (or something like that). Then, noticed that the bottom of my
screen wasn't being displayed, so if I moved the toolbar to the bottom,
I couldn't see it (but I was able to move the mouse down all the way,
right click, and access properties to move it somewhere else). Then,
like a genius, I thought I'd change the video selection to solve the
problem. I guess I was expecting the Windows-like temporary
installation, that requires me to tell it that it works before it's
really switched. But now, I can't read ANYTHING on the screen after the
initial Ubuntu logo.
Tried to figure out how to change the video (went online and looked at
help), and it gave me some scripts to run. Problem is, I don't know how
to run the scripts. The only DOS-like prompt I've been able to reach is
GRUB> and it doesn't like the text I input. I'm guessing that if I knew
how to get to the correct prompt the scripts would work fine.
Can someone tell me how to get my Linux system out of the ditch?
Thanks,
Hal Davis
Hi Hal
Your system should have a menu when you first boot unless you told it to
use the entire drive at which point windows would be gone. Assuming you
resized the partion windows was on via the install you should see a boot
menu. Just use the up and down arrows on the keyboard to navigate and enter
to select
As for the rest we need more info. What are the system specs, e.g. graphic
card, etc. Even if we know the laptop in question we might be able to look
up the specs online
Can you get to a terminal via CTRL-ALT-F1
You can think of that as a DOS prompt when you get there. It will ask you
to log in at that prompt first time you enter it
You also mention you can't read anything on the screen anymore. Fonts too
small? Blury,............ You don't give any detail
You mentioned changing video selection so I'm guessing you either changed
the default graphic card or you changed the resolution or refresh rate
James
