Got through the installation, now I can't boot the X server

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sat May 05, 2007 5:24 pm

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with dual-boot using Vista and the latest Ubuntu.

I have Vista on my laptop right now, and I really want to install Ubuntu and have it on the same machine. But I haven't tried dual boot with Vista before. Does anyone know if there will be any problems I should expect when installing Ubuntu 7.04 64bit ?

Post by **freak** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:03 pm

I am running Vista, Win2K, Suse and Ubuntu (an older version though) here.

The thing to watch out for is that Vista cannot be directly booted from the
linux bootloaders. It has to have its own bootloader on some partition
which the linux one can jump to with the "chainloader" command.

If you have just vista installed yet, its bootloader will probably be in the MBR,
where the one from linux will overwrite it. What you need to do is also install
the bootloader on the partition where Vista itself is.
The Vista DVD comes with a tool "bcdedit.exe" which can do that. There are also freeware gui tools available iirc.
Just search on the web, there is much info on the vista bootloader available.

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sat May 05, 2007 6:15 pm

Uuu now you scared me hehehe
So I have to run bcdedit from the Vista CD? Is it easy to use?
I running the Ubuntu Live cd now. And I am so happy that everything works here without any work from me. Even my sound and Wifi works perfectly.
But I really don't wanna mess with my Vista installation.

Do you think you could give me a hand with that boot thing?

Post by **freak** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:14 pm

I can tell you exactly what i did tomorrow night when i am back at home.

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:38 pm

I found a pretty well explained install help file here
http://apcmag.com/5046/how_to_dual_boot ... lled_first

I'm gonna try that

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sat May 05, 2007 10:18 pm

I managed to get both Vista and Ubuntu to run together, but I can't start Ubuntu. I get an error saying it cannot start the X server. I read the error log and it said something about drivers it couldn't find.

When I run the Live CD everything works perfectly.
Now I cannot load the graphical version of Ubuntu, I only get the command screen, where I am lost for what to do.
Could someone please give me a hand?

LuCiFeR[SD] · Post by **LuCiFeR[SD]** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:15 pm

Now, does X fail (as in it tells you Xorg is broken etc?).... or do you just end up at a command prompt? but it never tries to load Xorg or GDM/KDM?

Quick Edit here: Also, what is your graphics hardware???

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:16 am

I see the graphic boot loading screen, you know, the animated Ubuntu logo. And then the screen flickers abit, and I see a bunch of lines of text flying past, to fast to read and I end up and the command prompt where I have to login by typing my name and pass.

I'm using my laptop, it has an ATI Radeon X1100 graphics card, 1 GB of RAM and a 2 GHz CPU.

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Sun May 06, 2007 12:37 am

I just tried again, and made some notes.

Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.20-15

This is the first error I see: Failed to start the X server. It is likely that it is not setup correctly.

Failed to load module "fglrx" (module does not exist). No drivers available.

Fatal server error: No screens found.

The X server is now disabled. Restart GDM when it is configured correctly.

When I try to start in recovery mode, I get this error when I get the command prompt: No screens found.

Strange, since the LiveCD worked fine, but not the installed version

LuCiFeR[SD] · Post by **LuCiFeR[SD]** » Sun May 06, 2007 2:07 pm

Right, lets try and do a quick fix here.....

first of all, get yourself to the command prompt.

get yourself logged in and type

Code: Select all

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

(this will prompt you for a password which is your usernames password)

this will kill the current Gnome Display Manager session

now we have a couple of options for fixing this. you could either use a text editor like "vi" from the command line (which can be a bit of a whore to use) or we could boot into your liveCD and copy/edit the xorg.conf file from that enviroment to your hard disk.

heres how we tackle it using method 1

type

Code: Select all

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

you can scroll down the screen using your arrow keys.

look for

Code: Select all

Section "Module"

press the "i" key and that puts you into insert mode.
comment out

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Load "glx"

you do that by putting a "#" at the front of that line.

hit escape once your edit is complet and the grey word insert will vanish

next look for

Code: Select all

Section "Device"

and look for the line marked Driver. it probably has "ati" in there

so, as before press the "i" key
change it (between the quotes) to vesa or vga

his escape and then save it.

This is done by pressing shift and the ":" and typing

Code: Select all

save /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then to exit vi, do the shift ":" thing again and type q

if all went well you'll be back at the command prompt

and to test our changes type

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sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

now, your machine will hopefully boot into a GFX enviroment, although it will be pretty crap

but from this point you have at least a fighting chance to fix it, by making sure all needed packages are installed etc. Plus, editing using gedit or similar is a lot easier than with the command line

Sorry I'm not much help here, but I am just about to pop out with my son. Let me know if it got you into the gnome enviroment and if it did, we'll see if we can get you properly ati'd up

walker · Post by **walker** » Mon May 07, 2007 12:01 pm

a second method (and much easier) is to use the envy script...
it should be installed by default on Ubuntu (if I remember right).

when logged in on your console, simply type sudo envy. then you're promted for you password... type it and press return...
This script can install ati and nvidia drivers automatically and is menu-driven... and prevents you from using vi (i prefer nano on the console... it is much easier to use than vi)

the script alters the /etc/X11/xorg.conf properly. After finishing the install, simply type startx... done

LuCiFeR[SD] · Post by **LuCiFeR[SD]** » Mon May 07, 2007 1:12 pm

Bugger me! I forgot all about that LOL. Nice one walker

edit: Nope, Envy isn't on ubuntu.

walker · Post by **walker** » Mon May 07, 2007 10:56 pm

..I thought it was... I'm using LinuxMint (which is based on Ubuntu) and there the scrtipt is installed by default... but you'll find it in the repositories... simply do a sudo apt-get install envy and then you can install the appropriate drivers with envy...

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Tue May 08, 2007 2:34 am

LuCiFeR[SD], I have just tried your way and got the same result.
When I start the gdm again, the screen flashed about 3 or 4 times and I get the error screen about Xserver not correctly setup.
I see there is a log created. Would that log help any?

Walker, I' gonna give your tip a shot now

Really strange, I just compared the xorg.conf file from the installation and from the LiveCD when I run that and they look exactly the same.

GeoTrail · Post by **GeoTrail** » Tue May 08, 2007 2:49 am

I tried sudo apt-get install envy and I get a message saying it couldn't find package envy