[SOLVED] Fresh install video problems

[zeke]

I just reinstalled on a Zotac Nano AD10
The video is:
AMD Radeon HD 6310
I wiped the entire HDD, so no old settings in /home
I installed and let the system upgrade. Rebooted and the first splash screen comes up with options boot, boot safe, boot with the old kernel. No matter what I select, video is garbled. If I let it boot normally, it auto logs in the only user acct, and displays a pixellated cursor which moves, but does nothing, and there are pixellated bars where a panel would be on the top and bottom. If I drop out of x11 to console, or if I try to boot safe mode, the screen changes but freezes.

If I use the rescue mode of the installation media, I can mount to /mnt and access xorg.conf. I tried to change the driver from 'ati' to 'vesa' but that just caused a boot failure.

It was working....before I had this drive in an NVIDIA system, them I dropped it into this system when that MB died and got the same thing on boot, but was able to ctrl-alt-del back to the login screen somehow I got a proprietary driver (mayne XFDrak from console after I logged out.

Not sure what to do...

[doktor5000]

Don't edit xorg.conf manually, use drakx11 for that, which can also be used from a text login.
You can try either vesa or fbdev. But in general i think you'd need the radeon-firmware package
from nonfree media and then run

Code: Select all

bootloader-config --action rebuild-initrds

as root
to get the ATI graphics working. If it's supported.

[zeke]

OK, but I can't even get to a text login. Dropping from X I get a frozen screen - I get the same frozen console screen booting in safe mode.

Can't load and start ssh which may be how I did it before (ssh was already loaded and set to run at startup on the previous machine.

I tried to re-install but not update and still have the same problem.

The last messge I can see before the video fails is something like:

conflicting fb radeonfglrm? conflicts with VESA vga removing generic fb

UPDATE: I got in - I reinstalled, and at the Summary screen manually changed the driver from Radeon 2000 to vesa.

This did the trick...It automatically logged in using the fallback resolution!

Thanks!

[doktor5000]

Above instructions still apply if you want to use the free driver for your graphics chip.

[zeke]

AAARGH!!!

not solved anymore.

I let it go all night upgrading to Cauldron, then rebooted. Went to MCC and said I would like to use the proprietary driver. Everything installed ok, but when I rebooted, I got the error that the headers were not installed (not sure why that pretty critical dependency was not included?!). Now I have the same problem I originally posted. No way to get to a text screen.

Any way to prevent X from starting from the bootsplash?

[doktor5000]

Why install 1 and then upgrade to cauldron, any specific reason for that?
You could always try to boot into failsafe mode, maybe use the boot option "nokmsboot".

[zeke]

Good question....I guess I never looked for a Cauldron iso, but I had a Mageia1 DVD already burned.

I was able to recover using the Mageia1 DVD in recovery mode. Just changed back to the vesa driver once it got back to the summary page. Then I went to the ATI web site and downloaded their driver.

All is well now. Have proper resolution and sound over HDMI

Not sure why the Radeon HD6310 give the installation script such fits though....hopefully that will be worked out by the time MGA2 is released!

I installed Mint 12 while I was in between Mageia installs, and it was able to display at full resolution by default, though it was unable to apply the repo proprietary driver for full functionality. So it may be that fglrx is just not yet integrating the 6310 specs?

In any case, the installer wants to assign the Radeon 2xxx driver which is quite clearly a bad choice!

Thanks for all your help, as always Herr Doktor!