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So, I'm kind of new to Ubuntu and Linux in general, I installed the latest (Ubuntu 14.04) and everything went fine, except for the resolution so I thought that it was a driver problem because I have a AMD HD 7750 and maybe it required additional proprietary drivers so I installed AMD Catalyst (Latest version), and then rebooted.

And now my monitor says Can't Display and I can't see the GUI.

I can go to terminal (Pressing Ctrl + Alt + F1, F2, F3 etc) but Not the UI.

Boris
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Darthkpo
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2 Answers2

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There's a good link for getting past this problem on this question:
My computer boots to a black screen, what options do I have to fix it?.

What you need to do, is at the Grub boot screen, choose Ubuntu boot options, and start the recovery mode. This opens in a text based display.

  1. Choose network - this takes some time to complete
  2. Choose root - this drops you into a terminal window

  3. Enter these commands:

    sudo apt-get remove --purge xorg-driver-fglrx fglrx*
sudo apt-get install --reinstall libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri fglrx-modaliases
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
sudo apt-get install --reinstall xserver-xorg-core`

This removes the proprietary driver, and ensures the open source drivers are loaded.
Then type:

sudo reboot
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Charles Green
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  • @CharlesGreen Why do you have to get into GRUB to uninstall the AMD drivers? You can just use sudo aticonfig --uninstall from a tty as far as i know. – Venkatesh Jun 10 '14 at 15:04
  • Hi @Venki - not into grub and editing the bootloader, but an option at boot time that allows you to drop into a tty and perform these commands. I may not be precise enough in my terminology, but I am trying! The 'network' choice mounts the disks in rw mode, and connects to the internet should you need to add drivers and programs, and of course the 'root' choice then takes you to a tty where various commands can be executed. The link in the answer 'My computer...' has a series of pretty pictures which makes it very clear. – Charles Green Jun 10 '14 at 15:24
  • Ok. I get it. But you can drop into a tty with Ctrl+Alt+F1 ! Anyways you are right. But then, its not a blank screen error here! Its a Can't Display error(i.e not a blank screen. There is text on the screen!) So I gave my own answer above. Anyways I like your answer! Since it easily allows one to connect to the internet from a command line and install other drivers. Deserves an upvote! – Venkatesh Jun 10 '14 at 15:35
  • Yeah, but that generally only works if you can get past the boot screens - he indicated he couldn't get to the point of to GUI starting. I think he's updated the question since, or at least I didn't notice that he was able to get to the tty. – Charles Green Jun 10 '14 at 21:32
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I am guessing that when you installed the proprietary driver, Unity selected a resolution beyond your monitor's maximum resolution. That is why your monitor says Can't Display. Therefore all you gotta do is just change your resolution!

For this:

  • When you are in that Can't Display screen check if you can hear the login sound.
    This would tell us if you are in your login screen.
  • Then type in your password and press Enter.

  • Now we will assume we are in the desktop screen. Now try opening a terminal(with Ctrl+Alt+t).
    Then type the following command:

    xrandr -s 1024x768

    I am assuming 1024x768 is a supported resolution in your monitor. If its not supported then type some other supported resolution. This should show your desktop.

If this doesn't work then I suppose you can just delete your proprietary driver. Since you say that your purpose for installing the driver is just to get your maximum screen resolution detected you can just delete it and get your maximum screen resolution detected by following the steps in the answers whose links are as follows(The first link is better):

  1. How to make my maximum screen resolution to be detected by Ubuntu?

  2. How can I get my monitor's maximum resolution without the proprietary AMD graphic driver installed?

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Venkatesh
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  • I am assuming that I need not give context for my links as both the links are AU answers. Yet if its required I give context please feel free to comment! – Venkatesh Jun 10 '14 at 15:40
  • Great! And after trying please get back to me and tell if it doesn't work. If it works you can just press the accept icon(a tick mark) and accept the answer(which will tell the community that this issue was solved by this answer). – Venkatesh Jun 10 '14 at 16:51