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Alright so about a couple of years ago I built a PC and loaded a version of Ubuntu onto it in order to learn more about it. Got frustrated and kind of forgot about it. Fast forward to a couple of years later and now I'm back trying to get it to work again.

Here are the specs

  • CPU: intel core i5
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK
  • GPU: Radeon XFX R9 290
  • RAM: 8GB Gskill Ripjaws DDR3 (1)
  • Ubuntu Version: unknown

Alright so the first problem that I am currently tackling is getting the thing to even boot up. The splash screen for Ubuntu comes up with the dots, the dots load up and then the monitor loses signal. Here is a link to a video that made which shows exactly what is going on. Any help is greatly appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OJfr_yD6A

Mostafa Ahangarha
  • 4,408
zicameau
  • 23

3 Answers3

1

What fixed it for me:

  1. Find out what driver you have:

    lspci -nnk |grep -iA3 vga

    In my case it was Kernel modules: gma500_gfx

  2. Blacklist that driver in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf by adding

    blacklist gma500_gfx

  3. Run this command to take it into effect:

    sudo update-initramfs -u

Pylinux
  • 371
1

Most likely it's either a wrong display mode which the monitor cannot handle, or Ubuntu, for some reason, switches from the graphics adapter you use to another one.

Since you have an i5 CPU with integrated graphics and a motherboard with DVI/HDMI, etc connectors, the easiest thing to try first is swapping your display cable from your graphics card and plug it into the motherboard connector (I would try this before boot). If you're already using the motherboard connector, try this reversed - naturally.

Now if this doesn't help, you'll have to get to a terminal prompt and reconfigure the GUI display settings.

Most likely you can get to a terminal by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1. Then login and follow one of the several answers here about re-configuring or resetting the GUI, for example:

How to reset monitor settings to default through terminal?

Now... if this really is a old "testing machine" with a old Ubuntu installation - the easiest way to solve all your problems is probably going to be a full installation of a newer version of Ubuntu. Just a thought.

At least do a full upgrade before attempting a fix; there might be never drivers in the new kernel, more up to date settings in X configs, etc.

Community
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DocWeird
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1

Too less information.

Blank screen means that there is problem with video output, but not to system itself.

Possible causes:

  • monitor video mode out of range (resolution/frequency)
  • after splash screen switched to onboard intel/radeon video card

Try:

  • after boot (on black screen), try to press Ctrl+Alt+F1 (F1 to F8 consoles, F8 - default graphical console, others ar terminal consoles), if this works, then You will be able to login in terminal and read log files

  • after boot (on blank screen) try to connect video cable to onboard intel/radeon

  • if nothing works, try to remove radeon card and then start ubuntu (should work with intel integrated video card)

try to get ubuntu version, Xorg log for errors. You can boot your computer from cdrom/usb flash with ubuntu install media to access version (/etc/lsb_release or /etc/os-release), get logs: /var/log/Xorg.0.log /var/log/messages /var/log/syslog and dmesg, check for errors related to video.

Mostafa Ahangarha
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Zero
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