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Installed the latest Ubuntu (ubuntu-14.04.2-desktop-amd64) on my ol' HP using LinuxLive USB Creator and a pendrive. Set the boot options as usual in BIOS to read that first. Install went beautifully. Asked me to restart, so pressed del or f9 at the appropriate time to prevent from reinstalling. Then the splash screen began flickering for a relatively long time. ESC'd twice and that seemed to get it moving along.

It does this flickering at every start/restart of the laptop. Please see video:

https://vimeo.com/125369593

Otherwise, as far as I can tell, the OS runs great: internet connection, video playback, etc.

I clean installed over Vista.

My first guess is a non-compatible driver. (But why would it cause that problem only at boot?) Going about getting a driver will be tricky for me. Help appreciated! (for example, how in Linux to find out the type of graphics card on the machine; where to find the appropriate driver, etc.)

Eliah Kagan
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AndJM
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2 Answers2

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This is what I did to solve my issue. There is still a bit of flicker at the start, but nothing like what was happening previously. The solution came from here.

As root, edit the file /etc/default/grub by running:

sudo vi /etc/default/grub

Find the line that looks like this 

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

Remember you're using the vi editor. Move the cursor down to it by pressing j until you reach that line. Move the cursor to the final " by pressing l (a lower-case L) and then press i. Now you are in insert mode.

Add the nomodeset option there (after a space and before the final " quote) so it looks like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nomodeset"

and save. To save and exit you press Esc, then type :wq and press Enter.

Finally, update the GRUB config file:

sudo update-grub

Reboot:

sudo shutdown -r now
Eliah Kagan
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AndJM
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  • Were there no negative side effects of using nomodeset in your case? – Zanna Sep 03 '17 at 12:00
  • Didn't use the laptop long enough to find out! What happened is I eventually discovered that the keyboard was damaged by an earlier spill. So after replacing it, I decided on reinstalling, this time, 16.04.3 LTS and the flicker ceased. So I can't say for sure what the problem was. – AndJM Sep 08 '17 at 20:36
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Sometimes new installation can use some tweaks such as going into recovery mode → enable networking → check all file systems and/or repair broken packages.

The above common tasks are described here:

  1. RecoveryMode - Ubuntu Wiki

  2. How to Fix an Ubuntu System When It Won’t Boot - How-To Geek

If that did not fix it try install Boot-repair and run the recommended repair.

You can also refer to How do I install additional drivers?

Kulfy
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user176105
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  • Thank you, but none of these suggestions worked. I am providing my solution as an answer. – AndJM Nov 06 '15 at 08:15