Ubuntu Refusing to boot on T61 laptop

[wifi4lyfe]

So I just installed Ubuntu 7.1 (from ultimate edition 1.7 DVD). I installed from the LiveCD, and everything went fine. I must note that I had to boot LiveCD from safemode in order to get my graphics working (Nvidia NVS 140M). Now, whne I boot after installing, I just get a blank screen with nothing happening. What do I do now?? I've tried everything, nothing works, not even recovery mode. I can get into the console but not sure what to do.

thanks so much for any help!

 

[aceO07]

Try the latest version 8.04. Maybe that'll resolve your issues.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Xorg might've still given your card the nvidia driver after you installed. You can try to edit the xorg.conf and make sure that the vesa driver is set. I would first recommend you grab the latest release like aceO07 said.

Otherwise, you need to do some editing. Get into the console. Type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" to open your xorg.conf file. Scroll down until you see xorg mention your graphics card. You should see an entry that looks like:

Driver "nv"

Make sure that says:

Driver "vesa"

Hit Ctrl+X, type y, and hit enter. Hopefully this is the problem. If you type "sudo reboot" then the computer will restart.

 

[wifi4lyfe]

Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
Xorg might've still given your card the nvidia driver after you installed. You can try to edit the xorg.conf and make sure that the vesa driver is set. I would first recommend you grab the latest release like aceO07 said.

Otherwise, you need to do some editing. Get into the console. Type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" to open your xorg.conf file. Scroll down until you see xorg mention your graphics card. You should see an entry that looks like:

Driver "nv"

Make sure that says:

Driver "vesa"

Hit Ctrl+X, type y, and hit enter. Hopefully this is the problem. If you type "sudo reboot" then the computer will restart.

THANK YOU worked perfectly. Any idea why it didn't work to begin with? I thought it was working perfectly for other t61 users with this graphics card? Ubuntu installed drivers perfectly for wireless and everything right off the bat, oh well.

thanks again, appreciate it

M

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: wifi4lyfe

Originally posted by: SleepWalkerX
Xorg might've still given your card the nvidia driver after you installed. You can try to edit the xorg.conf and make sure that the vesa driver is set. I would first recommend you grab the latest release like aceO07 said.

Otherwise, you need to do some editing. Get into the console. Type "sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf" to open your xorg.conf file. Scroll down until you see xorg mention your graphics card. You should see an entry that looks like:

Driver "nv"

Make sure that says:

Driver "vesa"

Hit Ctrl+X, type y, and hit enter. Hopefully this is the problem. If you type "sudo reboot" then the computer will restart.

THANK YOU worked perfectly. Any idea why it didn't work to begin with? I thought it was working perfectly for other t61 users with this graphics card? Ubuntu installed drivers perfectly for wireless and everything right off the bat, oh well.

thanks again, appreciate it

M

The open-source nvidia driver packaged in the kernel has been written without help from nvidia. Thus, its not going to support the latest nvidia cards as it has to be updated for them. The vesa driver is a basic 2d driver that basically any graphics card is capable of running. The open-source community is currently writing nouveau which aims to replace the need for the basic nv driver, the proprietary nvidia driver, and provide full 3d support for nvidia cards in linux, but its still a ways off in terms of completion.

Just make sure to run the Hardware Drivers tool (under System -> Administration) to install the proprietary nvidia drivers and have full 3d support for your card. Oh and if you want to help the cause try e-mailing nvidia letting them know how you feel about the issue.

 

[Nothinman]

The open-source nvidia driver packaged in the kernel has been written without help from nvidia.

The nv driver is part of Xorg, not the kernel, and is worked on by people at nVidia. The main problem is that they also obfuscate their code so it's hard to figure out what's really going on so it's difficult for non-nVidia developers to work on it.