screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

[likes2skate]

I have a IBM Thinkpad T30, with an ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 display adapter.

kubuntu 8.04 works no problem.

I installed 10.04 (on a different hard drive, I still have the 8.04 install on its hard drive).

Actually, the 10.04 is a triple boot system, with kubuntu, ubuntu and xubuntu, each on its own partition, and /home on a shared partition.

I can get into ubuntu and xubuntu no problem.

kubuntu is a no go. After I type my password on the login screen, the monitor goes blank, and I have to reboot to get the laptop back.

I would appreciate any help to get kubuntu working (like ubuntu and xubuntu).

Thanks,

[claydoh]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

I have 2 laptops with this gpu, and do not have this problem. One thing to try is to see if you can get to a terminal vi the alt-f1 keys. and log in from there.

from there, first stop KDM:

sudo service kdm stop

next, try to start X, your video sub-system, by entering the following:

startx

this will give you various bits of info, including any error messages related to xorg.

This is a little odd as all the *buntus are using the same xorg, assuming they are all the same version, though Kubuntu uses KDM to log in, and the others use GDM. Are you using the same user name for the triple boots? While this should be OK, perhaps the different OS's are using different file ownerships between them, so that Kubuntu cannot read the needed files.

[likes2skate]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

claydoh,

> Are you using the same user name for the triple boots?

Yes. (And only /home is shared between the 3 systems.)

I could stop kdm then startx as you suggested, and that got me to the KDE desktop.

This is what displayed in the console:

begin

X.Org X Server 1.7.6
Release Date: 2010-03-17
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-25-server i686 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux linux-laptop 2.6.32-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 28 13:27:30 UTC 2010 i686
Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic root=UUID=d192a5cd-b553-4756-b172-3ee7853a74ee ro quiet splash
Build Date: 23 April 2010 05:11:50PM
xorg-server 2:1.7.6-2ubuntu7 (Bryce Harrington <bryce@ubuntu.com>)
Current version of pixman: 0.16.4
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Tue Jun 15 17:12:32 2010
(==) Using config directory: "/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(II) [KMS] Kernel modesetting enabled.

end

I set up a triple boot on a desktop, and I am having exactly the same problem there. I did notice that the first time I give my user name and password to kdm, it flashes back to a blank password. Then when I put in the password again, the screen goes blank, and I cannot get a screen by doing Alt-F1 or any of the others -- the screen is blank until after I reboot.

After flashing back to a blank password the first time, I did tail on messages, but I did not see anyting. Is there somewhere else I should look?

This triple boot think worked in 8.04 no problem. It is definitely not working in 10.04.

When I installed the 3 systems, I set up the partitions during the 1st install, xubuntu, and xubuntu went on the 3rd partition, with /home on the 4th (swap was 5th at the end). Then I installed ubuntu on the 2nd partition. Finally, I installed kubuntu on the 1st partition. This put grub in control of all 3 on the 1st partition.

I think this problem needs a new subject.

Any suggestions? I will need to abandon the triple boot idea to get a working kubuntu any time soon.

Thanks,

[miKeyBabid]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

I think your problems are possibly related to permissions and sharing /home between multiple distros with the same user names.

Have a look at this thread which discusses the different options when sharing /home. Also this second thread might be useful.

Mike

[claydoh]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

I agree, each different OS is giving it's own ownership ID (not by name) to your /home/<username> - you really should use different names, or be prepared to re-chown your /home/<username> each time you log in with each OS

There seem to be no error with xorg

[zlow]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

I have a IBM Thinkpad T30, with an ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 display adapter.

kubuntu 8.04 works no problem.

I installed 10.04 (on a different hard drive, I still have the 8.04 install on its hard drive).

Actually, the 10.04 is a triple boot system, with kubuntu, ubuntu and xubuntu, each on its own partition, and /home on a shared partition.

I can get into ubuntu and xubuntu no problem.

kubuntu is a no go. After I type my password on the login screen, the monitor goes blank, and I have to reboot to get the laptop back.

I would appreciate any help to get kubuntu working (like ubuntu and xubuntu).

Thanks,

Did it work right after you installed and then stop or has it been like this since you installed?

[likes2skate]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

I found a simple solution: install kubuntu first.

It is working on my desktop.

I will try to redo grub so the kubuntu partition controls booting.

Sharing /home between wildly different distrubutions should be of a higher challenge level than sharing /home between *buntus.

Thanks for the tips.

[miKeyBabid]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

Sharing /home between wildly different distrubutions should be of a higher challenge level than sharing /home between *buntus.

Athough I've never done this, as far as I'm aware, you could just install the xubuntu / kubuntu / lubuntu desktops on top of your oringinal Ubuntu installation, and then choose which one you want to use at log-in (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here).

Personally, I can't see any significant reason to multi-boot several *buntu distros (unless you're looking to have a back-up installation, of course).

Mike

[claydoh]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

well, having ONE *buntu install with all the various desktop environments installed IS safe as there will be no conflicts with user ID's in /home.

But adding in other versions can lead to this problem.

[zlow]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

well, having ONE *buntu install with all the various desktop environments installed IS safe as there will be no conflicts with user ID's in /home.

But adding in other versions can lead to this problem.

Trivial, just make sure the IDs for your username and group in /etc/passwd, and /etc/group are the same across all of your installations and you'll be fine sharing /home.

[claydoh]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

trivial for some, but not necessarily for everyone

[zlow]

Re: screen goes blank after login with ati radeon 7500

trivial for some, but not necessarily for everyone

True enough.