Desktops malfunction - ATI 760G [Radeon 3000]

[xenopeek]

I am having difficulty at the very start, since I can't quite understand how to start a new thread in the appropriate place. I hope this is correct.

My problem is that I have installed Linux Mint 13 on a computer (put together in a local computer shop) that is less than a year old. I found that no desktop would work except Gnome classic (no effects). I tried Mate, other gnome versions and cinnamon, and the screen went bonkers with all of them; script was illegible, some letters were left out, wording went diagonally across the screen and colours were very odd. When I experimented, I found that only the one (gnome classic) would work. I then went back to Linux Mint 12 and found the same thing. I would like to use mate or cinnamon, since they seem to be the future in Mint, but I can't. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

Many thanks in advance for advice.

[kc1di]

Hi sorry your having problems.
does your machine have Nvidia Graphics card by any chance.

If you not sure please open a terminal and type the following and list the output here:

Code: Select all

lspci

that a small L not # 1.

[beacon]

Sorry for the delay in thanking you. I failed to ask for notification of any reply and consequently just discovered yours. I have typed in the command and get the following:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (int gfx)
00:0a.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] RS780/RS880 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 5)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3c)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 10h Processor Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 760G [Radeon 3000]
01:05.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc RS780 Azalia controller
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

[xenopeek]

Moved here by moderator

[AlbertP]

Please run inxi -Gx in terminal and post the output. That will display some graphics data.

[beacon]

Thank you. The output is as follows:

$ inxi -Gx
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS780L [Radeon HD 3000] bus-ID: 01:05.0
X.Org: 1.11.3 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@59.8hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RS780 GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Direct Rendering: Yes

[AlbertP]

Please install the graphics driver from System Settings > Additional Drivers if you are on Mint 13.

On Mint 12 the one in Additional Drivers is too old to run Cinnamon well, but 12.1 to 12.4 versions should work. The download on AMD website is now 12.6 which does not support the 2000/3000/4000 hardware anymore but 12.4 is still available here: http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/amd-d ... x86_64.run.

[beacon]

Nogmaals bedankt. When I first tried in Mint 13 to install the additional driver, I got the message 'installation failed'. I restarted and tried again; the first option (post-release updates) wouldn't install, but the second did. I then tried to download cinnamon, but got the message in big letters that many of the required items were 'not authenticated'. I was afraid to proceed.

With respect to Mint 12, I tried to download from the site you gave and once again got the message: installation failed.

I appreciate your patience and helpfulness.

[AlbertP]

You can just proceed, usually when it can't authenticate the packages, you can still install it. This somehow happens at times. It means that the downloaded data can't be verified, but usually everything is just downloaded well. It's like checking the md5sum when burning a Mint DVD.