Screen distorted on a Great Wall A081 netbook

Question

I am new here. Please make it easy for me to understand.

Recently I installed Ubuntu 10.04 netbook edition inside windows using Wubi with ultra ISO and magic iso virtual manager in my GREAT WALL A081 netbook....The problem is that when I start Ubuntu the screen gets distorted and blurred. I have tried the debugging mode using failsafeX. In failsafeX Ubuntu starts with an error that "SCREEN, GRAPHIC CARD AND INPUT DEVICES ARE NOT DETECTED, YOU HAVE TO DEBUG THEM"

Please Help Me!

My netbook specification is given below :

Processor: Mobile VIA C7-M 1600MHz  
Cache: 128KB L2  
Chipset: VIA CN896NB  
RAM: 512MB  
Graphics Card: Integrated VIA S3G UniChrome Pro, 64MB  
Screen: 10.2 inches TFT WXGA (1024 × 600)  
Hard Drive: 120G  
Wireless: VIA Networking Technologies  
Networking: Realtek RTL8139 Family  
Battery: 2200mAh  
Dimensions: 249mm (L) x 178mm (W) x 38.5mm (H)  
Weight: 1221.5g (default)  
Operating system: WinXP

i tried the following

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
    Driver      "openchrome"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Default Screen"
    Monitor     "Configured Monitor"
    Device      "Default configured Device"
EndSection

(The screen became unstable as b4)

my Xrandr -q

Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1280 x 720, maximum 1280 x 720
default connected 1280x720+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1280x720        0.0* 
   1024x600        0.0  
   800x600        61.0  
   720x576         0.0  
   720x540         0.0  
   720x480         0.0  
   640x480        60.0

My cvt for 1024x600

# 1024x600 59.85 Hz (CVT) hsync: 37.35 kHz; pclk: 49.00 MHz
Modeline "1024x600_60.00"   49.00  1024 1072 1168 1312  600 603 613 624 -hsync +vsync

i tried with nomodeset at the grub and openchrome at the xorg.conf but same old result - distorted and hundreeds of lines in the screen.

My xrandr is

Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 1280 x 720, maximum 1280 x 720
default connected 1280x720+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1280x720        0.0* 
   1024x600        0.0  
   800x600        61.0  
   720x576         0.0  
   720x540         0.0  
   720x480         0.0  
   640x480        60.0  
   1024x600_60.00   59.9  
   1024x600_6O.OO   59.9

commands are :

 xrandr --newmode  "1024x600_60.00"   49.00  1024 1072 1168 1312  600 603 613 624 -hsync +vsync

xrandr --addmode default 1024x600_60.00

xrandr --output default --mode 1024x600_60.00

When i press enter after typing the xrandr --output...... it gives error "crct 0 failed"

Have you tried Ubuntu 11.04 or Ubuntu 10.10 since maybe 10.10 or 11.04 have fixed the issue. — Luis Alvarado, Oct 05 '11 at 17:15
@fossfreedom There are several resolution in the system>preference>monitors but when i select resolution other than 1280x720 the screen get blurred again.only the 1280x720 resolution work but it is way too big for my 10.2 inch netbook. i have also followed the solution described in the link. i tried for 1024x600,1024x700,1180x700 but in every case when i gave the output command it give error - " CRTC 0 failed" — Eshan Ahmed, Oct 05 '11 at 19:55

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 08 '11 at 21:02

At last by working 3 ni8s....i think we have done it.....thanksssss guys..specially fossfreedom....

The solution of the problem is found by experimenting it....huh big relief Thanks again for your help

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier  "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier  "Default Screen"
        Monitor     "Configured Monitor"
        Device      "configured Video Device"
        SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 1024 600
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Configured Video Device"
        Driver      "vesa"
EndSection

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:24

It is very likely that your graphics issues are due to the VIA graphics chipset which are not very well supported in linux.

Two possible suggestions:

Boot with one or more "grub boot options" - nomodeset & xforcevesa
Use a custom xorg.conf file with device names such as fbdev, vesa

I've recently answered a similar question below - can I suggest you have a look at this and try out some of the possible solutions described there.

Once you've found the correct "device" to get stable graphics the next task is to define the resolution most appropriate to your laptop.

Firstly I would check that a resolution most appropriate is not already available - from your menu choose "system - preferences - monitors".

See if a resolution is available that you can use.

If not you will need to define a resolution most appropriate to your laptop.

Fortunately there are many similar questions on this site - I've picked one that you should try below.

The principle behind the answer is the same -

run xrandr -q to see the default resolutions.
run cvt with an appropriate resolution (e.g. cvt 800 540 )
run xrandr to test this resolution - check in the Monitors applet in your
preferences menu.
add a successful resolution to .xprofile

There are several resolution in the system>preference>monitors but when i select resolution other than 1280x720 the screen get blurred again.only the 1280x720 resolution work but it is way too big for my 10.2 inch netbook. i have also followed the solution described in the link. i tried for 1024x600,1024x700,1180x700 but in every case when i gave the output command it give error - " CRTC 0 failed" – — Eshan Ahmed, Oct 05 '11 at 20:00
i did with "openchrome" instead of "vesa" but after rebooting it bacame same shaky,blurred and distorted as b4.i had added the output info for xrandr -q and cvt 1024 600...please check — Eshan Ahmed, Oct 06 '11 at 12:41

Screen distorted on a Great Wall A081 netbook

2 Answers2