Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Questions about Grub, UEFI,the liveCD and the installer
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Old_Man_Paul

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Old_Man_Paul »

Thank you very much!

As a brand new Linux user, I was flummoxed by this problem. Install Disk/Demo worked fine after I switched to the nvidia-304 drivers, but once I installed LM15, I couldn't get to a desktop! Moreover, using the Install Disk/Demo doesn't make changes to the actual installed version, so it was a catch 22: can 't into the installed version to fix it.

There are a LOT of threads on these fora regarding problems like this. I hope that those folks find this thread!

Thanks again!
paulmw

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by paulmw »

After weeks of trying to sort out the drivers (hopefully the proprietary ones - but no luck :evil: ) for my fanless/"cheapy" ATI 5450 card, I just gave up and got an (also fanless but with 2GB ram) NVidia GT610 card instead - NVidia cards are just so much more "linux-friendly".
Which isn't to say that it didn't have the odd "glitch" too: after a linuxBSODequivalent on reboot, I had to run

Code: Select all

sudo nvidia-xconfig
from a terminal in "recovery" mode to get it to write the driver file for nvidia cards.

And, AAMOI,

Code: Select all

 inxi -Gx
is the useful command for seeing what graphics hardware/software is running.
In this case to confirm that the nvidia driver was being used - which it now was.
bootfailure

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by bootfailure »

I seemed to have installed the Nvidia drivers fine (before my boot failure) but I keep getting a blank screen on boot so can't see the prompt to enter my passphrase. Otherwise seems fine.

Can I edit the boot time parameters permanently? I haven't tried ths solution yet but would be nice to see a boot screen again.
rustbasher

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by rustbasher »

Recently purchased a budget Zoostorm PC tower from Ebuyer with no operating system installed. Like several other purchasers, I couldn't get Linux to boot. Zoostorm and Ebuyer will not offer support for anything other than Windows! No surprise there. Thanks to you excellent support, the workaround to get Mint (Maya 64bit) installed, and the susequent modifying of grub in a terminal window gets round the AMD display driver problem on booting. Works like a dream. Thanks guys.

One question. I havn't gone ahead and installed the recommended AMD driver via "Additional drivers" as unsure whether this may screw up my PC again. Any comments would be appreciated.
DerekP

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by DerekP »

I have dual monitors, different size, resolutions to each other. I have an Nvidia 670. Using a live USB, i found i could only boot Mint 13 with the fallback mode graphics, 15 wouldn't work at all (either compatibility or normal). My solution seemed to have been:
- Create Live USB Mint with persistent storage (i used Universal-USB-Installer from within Windows)
- Unplug secondary monitor from PC
- Boot into Live Mint (compatability mode? i don't remember)
- Install nVidia drivers via terminal
- Reboot (it got lots of CPU lock errors shutting down or something i don't remember - i eventually hardware rebooted it and it came up fine, i didn't get the errors again *shrug*)
- For my set up, i had to go [menu] [nvidia] to flip the monitors around as my secondary monitor is on the left.

I think that was it. I could see both monitors after those steps. I'm very proud of myself for having figured that much out :)

Then i installed Mint and repeated the process. Note that if you selected a username/password required for login, that you may have to enter that blind (i had to) because for Olivia at least, even on one monitor i didn't get a login screen.
Trapper
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Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Trapper »

Is there something other than nvidia proprietary drivers to use when confronted with the known nvidia issues in LM15? I ask because I want to use LM15 in a portable situation and the last thing I care to do is limit myself to boot on nvidia based machine because I've install nvidia's driver. On the other end of that I do need to be able to boot nvidia based machines occasionally. If I boot on a non-nvidia machine will the correct video driver be automagically used if I've previously installed nvidia drivers???? Whatever happened to the nouveau driver that used to work just fine? At least it did for me through LM13.
BoscoBearbank
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Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by BoscoBearbank »

Alternatives to the nvidia driver:
1. nouveau (should work with any nvidia card, but doesn't always)
2. vesa (should work with any video card)
Trapper
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Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Trapper »

BoscoBearbank wrote:Alternatives to the nvidia driver:
1. nouveau (should work with any nvidia card, but doesn't always)
Yup .... it 'did' work for me .... up through Mint 13 but it doesn't with 15. I get diagonal lines. Same goes for LM 14. I find it difficult to swallow that we're forced to use a propitiatory driver or put up with something as limiting as vesa now.
telegott

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by telegott »

I'm using a Radeon HD 4500. Installation works fine, after that Mint 15 boots into a artifact screen.
I used every imaginable combination of nomodeset, xforcevesa and radeon.modeset=0, but it just produces a blank screen after the Mint logo.
Do you have any suggestions? :D
mf-linux

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by mf-linux »

Similar problem here with MInt KDE 15; "nomodeset xforcevesa" has no effect. My problems began when I replaced open source graphic drivers by proprietary ones (fglrx or something like that). Now I can't enter in graphic mode: after initial logo, an error message reporting problems with X configuration appears. I can get only prompt login and password, but I can't enter the password because the default keyboard is american and I need letter "Ç" for that (I've tried alt+1-3-5 combination with no result). Any idea? How can I go back to open source drivers? Could it be possible to change graphic card drivers configuration from a LiveDVD?
Thanks!
DaddySmash

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by DaddySmash »

I had a terrible time trying to install Linux Mint Debian Edition on my computer, because the live session will not boot. I believe it has something to do with an incompatibility between my Geforce GT240 hardware and the open source video card drivers. I had no problems installing Debian wheezy, other than having to install the nvidia drivers manually in recovery mode.

So, here is the fix if you cannot boot the installation disk. Hover the selection over the "Start in Compatibility Mode" and press tab. At the end of the command, add a space and the "nomodeset xforcevesa" option, and then hit enter to boot. This should use the "nomodeset" option for booting the live CD. Why the developers don't have this as a selectable option is beyond me. Even better would be a text based installation option which does not rely on graphics hardware at all.
Convince Me

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Convince Me »

Thank you VERY much! This solution worked QUITE well!

Admin - make this a sticky, PLEASE!
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xenopeek
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Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by xenopeek »

Glad it helped. It's already a sticky :wink:
Image
DaddySmash

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by DaddySmash »

To be honest, there are not very many people who will put up with a 16 hour installation ordeal, like I did, just to get one of the most newbie friendly distributions to work. For my hardware, I have to have power user skills (I have a GT240.) when I don't exactly have to. Debian Wheezy (the original distribution that always seems to be at least a year or year and a half out of date) installed graphically immediately, and their command line instructions for installing the nvidia drivers in recovery mode worked flawlessly (except I had to learn vi to edit configuration files :( ).

I wonder how to get a hold of the developers? I'd like to tell them that for installation, Debian Wheezy was way more user friendly than Mint was for me. I'm tring to switch to Mint just because I shouldn't be forced to manually configure a desktop computer. I should be able to select my hardware from a list and have it work. So now I'm off to the hardware forums to figure out how to properly install the nvidia drivers, because there are no open source drivers that work correctly on my rare video hardware, and the driver manager breaks my computer when I tell it to install the nvidia drivers.

Let's make this a sticky!

Edit: The Driver Manager breaks my computer, even though it correctly identifies the drivers I need for my system. So I used Synaptic to install the Nvidia Current package, and now my computer works. (Note, for Linux Mint Debian Edition, it is necessary to install several different packages: nvidia-glx, nvidia-kernel-dkms, nvidia-xconfig, and nvidia-settings, and run sudo nvidia-xconfig. I found those directions at this link, and they worked for me http://www.fandigital.com/2012/05/install-nvidia-in-linux-mint-debian.html)

Linux Mint 15 (Olivia)
Cinnamon
AMD 1035T
Nvidia GT240 (DDR5)
8 GB RAM
DaddySmash

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by DaddySmash »

Actually, the Driver Manager might have worked. I needed to go back into grub and delete the "nomodeset xforcevesa" option after I installed the Nvidia drivers.

I'll get the hang of this yet!
NM5TF

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by NM5TF »

catweazel wrote:
kiwi wrote:which probably isn't necessary
None of that is necessary, A stock standard:

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install nvidia-current-updates
does the kernel nomodeset and all the required blacklisting.
thanx catweazel ...

updated to kernel 3.5.0-42 & my display resolution reverted back to low
graphics mode for some reason... :cry:
most likely problem with nouveau... :roll:
ran the above code & now back to 1440 x 900 like it shudd be... 8)

Tommy
karzz

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by karzz »

Started with Linux first 3 days ago. I'm running into problems that seem to fall along the line of this thread. I wanna attempt to work my way around them myself first but just have something to maybe share with Laptop users who are experiencing this.

My Laptop
Link : http://support.toshiba.com/support/staticContentDetail?contentId=3516921&isFromTOCLink=false
Filename : satellite_P845T-S4310

In picture 2 at the top of this thread: if you rather select "Start Linux Mint" and you're getting the black screen: try plugging in a desktop monitor to your laptop. I had a feeling that the installation process was still there just that I couldn't see it and that was correct. I was able to get a full installation without the Cinnamon Software Rendering Mode Enabled message. Unplugging or switching monitors via the function key made things act up. Gotta run to work but I figured I'd provide a prospective that I haven't seen anywhere via searching for solutions on this.
Judicael

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Judicael »

This helped me a lot but is there a way to save nomodeset xforcevesa so that i dont have to type it in everytime i boot?
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xenopeek
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Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by xenopeek »

If you need those two settings to boot successfully, you probably need to load a different graphics card driver. See the last item in my first post here, "5. After successfully booting", which describes how to do that.
Image
Judicael

Re: Solve boot problems with AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards

Post by Judicael »

Ok thank you but before i do that... I just realized when booting with this command my computer slows down :x , the videos bug a lot, just the graphics not the sound...
What do i do to stop this?

Thanks
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