How to fix video display xorg.conf & get a GUI, Mint 13

[uncle]

I spent a couple of confused hours trying to get a Compaq HP6910p to display a GUI at all after installing Mint 13. Choosing Mint 13 as I need to use this for working more than playing as it has support to 2017. Computer would do a GUI from a live USB or DVD, but not post-install. I would get a command prompt only and the xorg error as described in <SOLVED> Failed to Start the X server. With 2 other recycled laptops the fix worked as suggested.

With this Compaq HP6910p the fix would not work. Also, the display was the wrong size resolution, with 2 cm wide black strips on each side when using a live USB or live DVD. As noted I would never get the GUI with boot after installation. I tried both Mate and XFCE versions with no difference. I discussed this on http://www.linuxinternationals.org , as I wasn't getting anywhere. The suggestion there was to simply get rid of xorg.conf. I copied it over just in case

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~$ mv //etc/X11/xorg.conf //ect/X11/xorg.conf.notusing 

On restart, the GUI worked and even display was full size on the screen with nothing required to get a sharp and full size display. So I reinstalled, deleting the unnecessary window$ which I allowed it to retain just in case it would never work. Thankfully I have wiped the slate clean and have helped the computer be reborn.

Additional link for fixing screen resolution (which I did not need to resort to is Add new screen resolution in Linux Mint

Maybe this will help someone else. I suspect the same nonsense may be experienced with other HP / Compaq notebook or laptop computers.


For reference here is the hardware on this computer:

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~ $ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (primary) (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (secondary) (rev 0c)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M-E) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03)
02:06.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b9)
02:06.1 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b9)
02:06.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 03)
02:06.3 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 20)
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)

[catweazel]

Maybe this will help someone else.

For Mint 13, yes, possibly. Not for Mint 14 though; xorg.conf isn't used by default.

Good post, too. Cheers.