Linux Format forums

prich1948 · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:26 am Post subject: Video display problem 11.10

Hi,

My apologies in advance if this already exists on the forum.

I have several machines which I have progressively updated to 11.10 - starting with the least important etc.

The last machine is a Xeon on Asus motherboard with nVidia PCI video card. When I install 11.10 the result is unuseable. The top status line is visible and its drop menus are visible. The body of the desktop is white the icon column at the left is black. The icons are 'there' but invisible - help text appears as the mouse is moved up and down the side of the screen. When menu items (like shutdown) are selected the relevant window is apparently there but not visible (knowing that shutdown is the default - pressing [Enter] shuts down the machine).

11.04 works on this machine without any video problems (classic mode).

I do not know whether Gnome will work on this machine but thought about starting with Xubuntu (or Lubuntu) and adding Gnome (Gubuntu would be nice - I do not like Unity).

Thanks in advance.
_________________
Peter Rich - Ubuntu user

heiowge · Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 10:37 am Post subject:

Try MGSE - Mint Gnome Shell Extensions. aka Linux Mint 12. It's basically Ubuntu with Gnome Shell on top instead of Unity. Or Mint 11 if you'd prefer Gnome 2.xx
_________________
AMD PHENOM II X6, 14 GB DDR3, 500 GB hd, 1GB nVidia card, running Linux Mint 14 KDE / Win 7. Damn thing keeps breaking.

eeepc 1015PX, 1.66 Ghz Intel atom processor, 2 GB DDR3, 320 GB hd running Mint 14 MATE. Running great.

prich1948 · Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:18 am Post subject: Video display problem 11.10

Hi,

Thanks for your response Heiowge. I gave your idea a try but had similar problems. The top centimetre of the screen was filled with static and the menu bar at the bottom was the same.

regards
_________________
Peter Rich - Ubuntu user

lbbond · Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:12 am Posts: 2

I have the same problem when booting LXF xubuntu 11.10 on my PC. Knowing that my PC was already running an installed version of Ubuntu 10.10. without problems.
Did anyone find a solution to this problem?
__________________________________
Motherboard: MSI 865 Neo2 v.1 - 6728
CPU: P4 2.4GHz
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 256kb

wyliecoyoteuk · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:35 am Post subject:

Looks like a video driver problem, have you tried installing the nvidia drivers? (I would go for the older ones offered, not the current ones).
Driver support for some of the older cards is not too good with the newer opensource or unified versions.
_________________
The sig between the asterisks is so cool that only REALLY COOL people can even see it!

*************** ************

prich1948 · Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:02 pm Post subject: Video display problem 11.10

Hi,

Wyliecoyoteuk, I agree - my problem is I do not have the knowledge or expertise to install the old drivers. I assume that this must be done somewhere part way through the install or before the initial boot up.

regards
_________________
Peter Rich - Ubuntu user

lbbond · Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 10:12 am Posts: 2

I was able to boot up the Xubuntu 11.10 LiveCD by adding kernel command line option. here's a quick how to:

1- press [TAB] on the boot menu of the LiveCD
2- add the parameter "nouveau.noaccel=1" at the end of the boot command and press [enter] to continue.

prich1948 · Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2012 10:09 am Post subject: Video problem with 11.10

Hi All,

Thanks for suggestions. Solved problem by changing to Xubuntu - it automatically installs driver and a few hours fiddling has got all the functionality I need to replace Ubuntu.

regards
_________________
Peter Rich - Ubuntu user