Linux Mint 10 DVD hangs at logo screen

[starguy]

I have a 7 year old eMachines M5312 laptop with a widescreen display and built-in display adapter described (via WinXP) as:
Display/adapter: RADEON IGP 320M
Adapter type: Mobility Radeon 9200 AGP (0x4336), ATI Technologies, Inc.
RAM: 64MB
Resolution: 1280x800x60Hz, 32 Bits/Pixel
to which I have decided to install Linux Mint 10 into its own partition from the "Live DVD" (32 bit). (I already have a few fedora installs along with WinXP, all in their own partitions.) The iso I downloaded passed the MD5 test, and the DVD passed the integrity test (and works just fine on a newer computer).

When I booted from the DVD it hung at the logo screen (the one the the black background with the logo and "Linux Mint" in the center and 5 dots underneath) before it could get to the desktop where you can install from. I then tried rebooting and tried "compatibility mode". This led to a command prompt, where I typed "startx", but this resulted in a "no screens found" error. I didn't explore this path anymore because I saw a suggestion in the forum about adding "nomodeset" to the kernel options. So I tried booting that way (standard boot, not compatibility) and it proceeded all the way to the desktop.

However this desktop had a black background, and some of the programs would appear as a border surrounding a black interior (e.g. Firefox). Why? But the install program displayed normally, and I proceeded to install LM10.

In my first boot after install it proceeded to the login screen, I entered my ID and PW, and then it hung at the logo screen, albeit a different one from above. (It was the one with the logo on a gray background filled with 101010...) I then tried booting in "recovery mode", then selected "Run in failsafe graphic mode", then clicked OK at "Linux Mint is running in low-graphics mode", then clicked OK at run for just the session, then logged in and it proceeded to the desktop where everything appeared normal. I finally had a working system, though it was a convoluted path to get there.

Not wanting to select "recovery mode" every time I boot, I started snooping around and discovered that the /etc/X11 directory had a xorg.conf.failsafe file, but not a xorg.conf file. So I copied xorg.conf.failsafe to xorg.conf, rebooted the standard way (not "recovery") and I get a normal working desktop, though before it gets there it shows the following error:
(process:254): GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (0)
and later at the desktop the icons flash a few times before everything settles down.

Everything works, though I doubt I have the best drivers for my hardware, but since I don't use it for games it's a workable system. But I would like to know if there is a better path, avoiding all the trials and tribulations I went through.

Here is what is in xorg.conf:

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

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

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

Are there better display drivers? How do I install them? How should I have introduced them during the install?

Or should I just count myself as fortunate to have installed fresh Linux onto hardware better suited for a museum?

Perhaps this story might help others installing on old hardware.

"starguy"

[Doruletz]

I have a 7 year old eMachines M5312 laptop with a widescreen display and built-in display adapter described (via WinXP) as:
Display/adapter: RADEON IGP 320M
Adapter type: Mobility Radeon 9200 AGP (0x4336), ATI Technologies, Inc.
RAM: 64MB
Resolution: 1280x800x60Hz, 32 Bits/Pixel
to which I have decided to install Linux Mint 10 into its own partition from the "Live DVD" (32 bit). (I already have a few fedora installs along with WinXP, all in their own partitions.) The iso I downloaded passed the MD5 test, and the DVD passed the integrity test (and works just fine on a newer computer).

When I booted from the DVD it hung at the logo screen (the one the the black background with the logo and "Linux Mint" in the center and 5 dots underneath) before it could get to the desktop where you can install from. I then tried rebooting and tried "compatibility mode". This led to a command prompt, where I typed "startx", but this resulted in a "no screens found" error. I didn't explore this path anymore because I saw a suggestion in the forum about adding "nomodeset" to the kernel options. So I tried booting that way (standard boot, not compatibility) and it proceeded all the way to the desktop.

However this desktop had a black background, and some of the programs would appear as a border surrounding a black interior (e.g. Firefox). Why? But the install program displayed normally, and I proceeded to install LM10.

In my first boot after install it proceeded to the login screen, I entered my ID and PW, and then it hung at the logo screen, albeit a different one from above. (It was the one with the logo on a gray background filled with 101010...) I then tried booting in "recovery mode", then selected "Run in failsafe graphic mode", then clicked OK at "Linux Mint is running in low-graphics mode", then clicked OK at run for just the session, then logged in and it proceeded to the desktop where everything appeared normal. I finally had a working system, though it was a convoluted path to get there.

Not wanting to select "recovery mode" every time I boot, I started snooping around and discovered that the /etc/X11 directory had a xorg.conf.failsafe file, but not a xorg.conf file. So I copied xorg.conf.failsafe to xorg.conf, rebooted the standard way (not "recovery") and I get a normal working desktop, though before it gets there it shows the following error:
(process:254): GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (0)
and later at the desktop the icons flash a few times before everything settles down.

Everything works, though I doubt I have the best drivers for my hardware, but since I don't use it for games it's a workable system. But I would like to know if there is a better path, avoiding all the trials and tribulations I went through.

Here is what is in xorg.conf:

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

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

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

Are there better display drivers? How do I install them? How should I have introduced them during the install?

Or should I just count myself as fortunate to have installed fresh Linux onto hardware better suited for a museum?

Perhaps this story might help others installing on old hardware.

"starguy"

Hi!
I have the same eMachines M5312 laptop, and the only Linux Mint version I was able to install and run was Mint 9 Isadora LXDE (on an empty HDD, cause I quit using Window$$ a while ago).
Laptop will not boot from any Mint Live CD/DVD, so I had to take the HDD out, atach to a newer PC and install Mint LXDE than mount back into eMachines M5312 laptop.
I tried to do the same for the main Mint Gnome and also for Mint KDE version, but it won't boot into it, it hangs up like you described above, even if installed onto HDD on a different PC.
Mint 9 Isadora LXDE runs ok, except for the ATI RADEON IGP 320M graphics driver (without the graphics driver, it will crash any web browser if I try to view YouTube video in fullscreen mode, but plays DVD or .avi videos in fullscreen just fine)
Also, were you able to succesfully install and use any kind of ATI driver for graphics in Fedora or any other distro, cause from what I've seen on Google you cannot install ATI RADEON IGP 320M onto any Ubuntu based distro??
Please reply. Thanks.

[SimonTS]

Hi there,

I'm not sure about the drivers - will try to have a poke around later, but I'm not at home right now.

As for the warning message;-
GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (0)

Ignore it. It's down to something in the Plymouth (boot-up) stuff from what I understand. As the created users start at 1000, it refers to a non-existent user. It's my understanding that everyone gets this message. One day you'll get an update and it will just disappear, I've no doubt.

As for the graphics card, please run the following commands from the terminal;-
$ sudo lspci
$ sudo lshw
and post the text outputs back here.

[Doruletz]

Hi there,

I'm not sure about the drivers - will try to have a poke around later, but I'm not at home right now.
,...........................................................................,,,
As for the graphics card, please run the following commands from the terminal;-
$ sudo lspci
$ sudo lshw
and post the text outputs back here.

Hi there

What I kinda hate is that when I wanna watch YouTube videos in fullscreen the web browser crashes (happens with Firefox, Midori, Epiphany and Google Chrome, they all crash). DVD and .avi video works fine in full screen.
Also I cannot add any 3D eye candy (Cairo Dock, 3D cube, fire, water, etc), since the needed driver is not installed.
Other than that it works fine...

Here are my specs:
eMachines M5312 Laptop - Linux Mint 9 Isadora LXDE

and here it is:

sudo lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc AGP Bridge [IGP 320M] (rev 13)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc PCI Bridge [IGP 320M] (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+]
00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 02)
00:09.0 Modem: ALi Corporation M5457 AC'97 Modem Controller
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 02)
00:0a.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI4410 FireWire Controller (rev 02)
00:0c.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
00:0d.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0d.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0d.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04)
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401 100Base-T (rev 01)
00:10.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c4)
00:11.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility U1

and also:

sudo lshw
emachines
description: Notebook
product: M5300 Series.
vendor: eMachines. Inc.
version: 0010
serial: N703X50017245
width: 32 bits
capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
configuration: boot=oem-specific chassis=notebook uuid=80528A1F-1A64-0010-B024-12151217D8DF
*-core
description: Motherboard
product: W720K7
vendor: Arima
physical id: 0
version: KBC Revision: 1913
serial: None
*-firmware
description: BIOS
vendor: Phoenix
physical id: 0
version: 0010 (09/07/2003)
size: 104KiB
capacity: 448KiB
capabilities: isa pci pcmcia pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom acpi usb agp smartbattery biosbootspecification netboot
*-cpu
description: CPU
product: Mobile AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2400+
vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
physical id: 4
bus info: cpu@0
version: 6.10.0
slot: U23
size: 1788MHz
capacity: 1800MHz
width: 32 bits
clock: 133MHz
capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mp mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up cpufreq
*-cache:0
description: L1 cache
physical id: 5
slot: L1 Cache
size: 128KiB
capacity: 128KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back
*-cache:1
description: L2 cache
physical id: 6
slot: L2 Cache
size: 512KiB
capacity: 512KiB
capabilities: synchronous internal write-back
*-memory:0 UNCLAIMED
description: Flash Memory
physical id: 7
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 512KiB
*-bank UNCLAIMED
description: Chip FLASH Non-volatile 8 MHz (125.0 ns)
physical id: 0
slot: System Board
size: 512KiB
width: 16 bits
clock: 8MHz (125.0ns)
*-memory:1
description: System Memory
physical id: 8
slot: System board or motherboard
capacity: 1GiB
*-bank:0
description: DIMM DRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
physical id: 0
slot: U5
size: 512MiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
*-bank:1
description: DIMM DRAM Synchronous 266 MHz (3.8 ns)
physical id: 1
slot: U6
size: 512MiB
width: 64 bits
clock: 266MHz (3.8ns)
*-memory:2 UNCLAIMED
physical id: 1
*-memory:3 UNCLAIMED
physical id: 2
*-pci
description: Host bridge
product: AGP Bridge [IGP 320M]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 100
bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
version: 13
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
configuration: driver=agpgart-ati latency=64
resources: irq:0 memory:d4000000-d7ffffff(prefetchable) memory:d0400000-d0400fff(prefetchable) ioport:8090(size=4)
*-pci
description: PCI bridge
product: PCI Bridge [IGP 320M]
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pci bus_master
resources: ioport:9000(size=4096) memory:d0100000-d01fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff(prefetchable)
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Radeon Mobility U1
vendor: ATI Technologies Inc
physical id: 5
bus info: pci@0000:01:05.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: agp agp-2.0 pm bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=radeon latency=66 mingnt=8
resources: irq:10 memory:e0000000-efffffff(prefetchable) ioport:9000(size=256) memory:d0100000-d010ffff memory:d0120000-d013ffff(prefetchable)
*-isa
description: ISA bridge
product: M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+]
vendor: ALi Corporation
physical id: 7
bus info: pci@0000:00:07.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: isa pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
*-multimedia
description: Multimedia audio controller
product: M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device
vendor: ALi Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ALI 5451 latency=64 maxlatency=24 mingnt=2
resources: irq:11 ioport:8400(size=256) memory:d0008000-d0008fff
*-communication UNCLAIMED
description: Modem
product: M5457 AC'97 Modem Controller
vendor: ALi Corporation
physical id: 9
bus info: pci@0000:00:09.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm cap_list
configuration: latency=64
resources: memory:d0009000-d0009fff ioport:8800(size=256)
*-pcmcia
description: CardBus bridge
product: PCI4410 PC card Cardbus Controller
vendor: Texas Instruments
physical id: a
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pcmcia bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=yenta_cardbus latency=176 maxlatency=5 mingnt=192
resources: irq:10 memory:ffbfe000-ffbfefff ioport:1000(size=256) ioport:1400(size=256) memory:3c000000-3fffffff(prefetchable) memory:40000000-43ffffff
*-firewire
description: FireWire (IEEE 1394)
product: PCI4410 FireWire Controller
vendor: Texas Instruments
physical id: a.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.1
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci1394 latency=64 maxlatency=4 mingnt=3
resources: irq:10 memory:d000c000-d000c7ff memory:d0000000-d0003fff
*-network:0
description: Network controller
product: BCM4306 802.11b/g Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: c
bus info: pci@0000:00:0c.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64
resources: irq:10 memory:d0004000-d0005fff
*-usb:0
description: USB Controller
product: USB
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: d
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.0
version: 43
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64 maxlatency=42 mingnt=1
resources: irq:11 memory:d000a000-d000afff
*-usb:1
description: USB Controller
product: USB
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: d.1
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.1
version: 43
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ohci_hcd latency=64 maxlatency=42 mingnt=1
resources: irq:11 memory:d000b000-d000bfff
*-usb:2
description: USB Controller
product: USB 2.0
vendor: NEC Corporation
physical id: d.2
bus info: pci@0000:00:0d.2
version: 04
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=132 maxlatency=34 mingnt=16
resources: irq:11 memory:d000c800-d000c8ff
*-network:1
description: Ethernet interface
product: BCM4401 100Base-T
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: e
bus info: pci@0000:00:0e.0
logical name: eth1
version: 01
serial: 00:03:25:08:e8:44
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=half latency=64 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=10MB/s
resources: irq:11 memory:d0006000-d0007fff memory:44000000-4401ffff(prefetchable)
*-ide
description: IDE interface
product: M5229 IDE
vendor: ALi Corporation
physical id: 10
bus info: pci@0000:00:10.0
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi1
version: c4
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: ide pm bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=pata_ali latency=64 maxlatency=4 mingnt=2
resources: irq:0 ioport:1f0(size=8) ioport:3f6 ioport:170(size=8) ioport:376 ioport:8080(size=16)
*-disk
description: ATA Disk
product: HITACHI_DK23FB-6
vendor: Hitachi
physical id: 0
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sda
version: 00M0
serial: 192507
size: 55GiB (60GB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=00023728
*-volume:0
description: Linux swap volume
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
logical name: /dev/sda1
version: 1
serial: cecf5f4d-d767-4027-b3f8-486d39fb2639
size: 2244MiB
capacity: 2244MiB
capabilities: primary nofs swap initialized
configuration: filesystem=swap pagesize=4096
*-volume:1
description: EXT4 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 2
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
logical name: /dev/sda2
logical name: /
version: 1.0
serial: af09275f-e443-45a6-954b-ac850becbcb4
size: 12GiB
capacity: 12GiB
capabilities: primary bootable journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2011-04-02 04:12:54 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/C.Հ������g����������u^ �U/�����~!��N���N�����������������a modified=2011-04-04 00:28:10 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,errors=remount-ro,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2011-04-04 20:23:25 state=mounted
*-volume:2
description: EXT4 volume
vendor: Linux
physical id: 3
bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3
logical name: /dev/sda3
logical name: /home
version: 1.0
serial: 32a01812-78c7-4f4a-b488-815f8287837f
size: 41GiB
capacity: 41GiB
capabilities: primary journaled extended_attributes large_files huge_files dir_nlink recover extents ext4 ext2 initialized
configuration: created=2011-04-02 04:13:07 filesystem=ext4 lastmountpoint=/home�;Ӌ�������������������u^ �����������b�`���`���������� modified=2011-04-04 20:23:25 mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,barrier=1,data=ordered mounted=2011-04-04 20:23:25 state=mounted
*-cdrom
description: DVD reader
product: COMBO LSC-24082K
vendor: Slimtype
physical id: 1
bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/cdrom
logical name: /dev/cdrw
logical name: /dev/dvd
logical name: /dev/scd0
logical name: /dev/sr0
version: JK0N
capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd
configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
*-bridge
description: Bridge
product: M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
vendor: ALi Corporation
physical id: 11
bus info: pci@0000:00:11.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bridge
configuration: driver=ali1535_smbus latency=0
resources: irq:0
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:90:96:5b:ec:7c
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes ip=192.168.2.6 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

[SimonTS]

I can't seem to find anything specific that may resolve this for you.

On the 'Launchpad' bug website - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... bug/190857 - they seem to indicate that a known problem was resolved in driver "xserver-xorg-driver-ati"

Possibly;-

install openGL Form package manger

Other than that, I'm out - sorry.

[mads]

@Doruletz

What I kinda hate is that when I wanna watch YouTube videos in fullscreen the web browser crashes (happens with Firefox, Midori, Epiphany and Google Chrome, they all crash). DVD and .avi video works fine in full screen.

I have seen this post in Mint Blog. I just thought it might be useful.
(SOURCE: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=958#comment-9695)

There’s an issue where Firefox crashes when you click to make a Youtube video or other Flash video go fullscreen.

Fix is here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7487421

Basically, you go into /usr/lib/firefox-3.5/firefox.sh, and put this line close to the top, after the shebang, and before anything else in the file:

export LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libGL.so.1