DarkSerge Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 Hello everyone. You might remember me from such topics as "Abnormal Bootup" about my old aging system. I plan to replace it in the next few months, but it couldn't hurt how to deal with issues so that if I encounter them again I have an idea what to do since in future I can't just say "well it's an old system" and everyone has been just so helpful I figured maybe I'd try to tackle another issue. I've been making notes in a Google Doc file of all the fixes I've learned from working on this old system for future reference. The system won't start up on anything above "Linux 3.19.0-25-generic" when I select "Advanced options" on the boot menu. If I select anything above it, like "3.19.0-28-generic" I'm met with a blank screen with no activity. I've had no major issues since my last round in "Abnormal Bootup" and as long as I select 3.19.0-25-generic everything works just fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted October 7, 2015 Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) That is a graphics issue. You can edit the GRUB boot to remove the "quiet splash" option (--no splash?) to see what's going on behind that curtain. EDIT: If I remember correctly, you're using Ubuntu, although I don't think it matters as long as you boot with GRUB. Here's how to do it 1x, or "as needed": https://ubuntuincident.wordpress.com/2015/03/12/disable-quiet-splash-during-boot/ If you want to disable the quiet splash EVERY TIME, we need to do some editing. But no use in editing unless/until you identify what needs to be edited! BTW, if it was just a newer kernel, I'd speculate that it's a kernel bug and to bump up to the next newest kernel; but if all newer kernels appear to have that same bug/regression that the older kernel did not have, I'm going to guess that an older driver was deprecated in the newer kernel. If that's the case, the solution is to only boot with the 3.19.0-25 kernel. That's why we keep old kernels that work perfectly fine, even though a newer one is available. Edited October 7, 2015 by Hedon James 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 I have 3.19.0-26 and 28 above 25. There is a new one available, but I haven't been allowing the updates to install it since it seems only 25 works. I've had graphic issues in the past so it wouldn't surprise me. I don't have a problem sticking with 25, I figure if there's a way to solve it, I'd like to learn how. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 What is your graphic card/chipset? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted October 10, 2015 Share Posted October 10, 2015 What is your graphic card/chipset? And what driver are you using? This can happen if driver (usually proprietary nonfree one) doesn't build for the kernel. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 (edited) The graphic card is an ATI Radeon series, I'm not sure of the exact model at this moment. The system tells me there are no proprietary drivers in use. It's an older card too, maybe as old at the computer. Edited October 11, 2015 by DarkSerge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 type this in terminal lspci the terminal will list all connected hardware, which you can copy/paste here. Or look for the line "VGA compatible controller", which will list your graphics card. For instance, here is mine: 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Caicos [Radeon HD 6450/7450/8450 / R5 230 OEM] If it's an older card, that would seem to be another indicator towards a deprecated driver in the kernel. With more information, maybe we can verify that for certain. And if that's the case, there are worse things in Linux land than being stuck on kernel 3.19.0-25! Let's see what you got Serge! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunrat Posted October 11, 2015 Share Posted October 11, 2015 You can type lspci -v and it will show you the driver in use as well. Post the result (just the graphics section). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV100 [Radeon 7000 / Radeon VE] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Tul Corporation / PowerColor Device 2072 Flags: bus master, stepping, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16 Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) I/O ports at a800 Memory at ff8f0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) Expansion ROM at ff8c0000 [disabled] Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: radeon That's the video card. The system does have onboard Intel graphics. Edited October 15, 2015 by DarkSerge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 (edited) Just to see what happens, I took out the video card and booted up with the onboard video and it's working just fine with version 3.19.0-30-generic. However the video isn't perfect. On startup the desktop wallpaper is really garbled but if I change it everything is fine. Plus scrolling websites isn't very smooth. So I guess it's a matter of running on the old version or using buggy video. Hmmm... Update. Scrolling works better in Firefox, so that's just a browser thing. Edited October 15, 2015 by DarkSerge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 15, 2015 Share Posted October 15, 2015 Well have you tried reinstalling the graphics driver after you update the kernel? The reason I ask is because you usually have to rebuild the driver after a new kernel is installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 I do not know anything about rebuilding drivers, nor have I ever done it after a kernel upgrade. How would I do that? Probably should learn how to so I can reduce problems once I get a new system built. The good thing about this old system is a chance to learn how to do this stuff before I get a new system up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon James Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 SB, I think he said he was running the FOSS driver supplied by Ubuntu? And if he WAS running the proprietary driver, his card is no longer supported: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2260298 According to this, the FOSS driver supports his card, but is too old to run Unity with satisfactory performance: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RadeonDriver towards the bottom of that page, there are some terminal commands you can explore Serge, which may provide some clues in the logs. But everything I have seen from your info seems to point to an unsupported or deprecated driver issue. Not just some things...but EVERYTHING! FWIW... If it was me, I'd put the ATI card back in, use the FOSS driver, and just keep booting the last known good kernel. Nothing bad will happen by "freezing" your system to this config. The ATI card has a GPU that will "offload" most of the graphics processing that your onboard GPU is currently drawing away from your CPU. Hence, the garbled display, stuttering, and/or lag. Put the ATI back in and allow the Radeon 7000 to handle GPU stuff, and allow your processor to handle CPU stuff. Also, use the FOSS driver that Ubuntu provides (do NOT install a proprietary driver), and keep booting that last known good kernel. It's okay...you don't need the latest kernel. For instance, I have Ubuntu 12.04 LTS running on a media server and it's using the 3.5.0-49-generic kernel, which was upgraded from the 3.2.xxx kernel series in my attempt to "sync" kernels across my network. However, since then, I have upgraded a laptop from Ubuntu 12.04 LTS to 14.04 LTS, and it's using the 3.16.0-28-generic kernel. I liked Ubuntu 14.04 enough to upgrade my desktop and fresh installed 14.04, and that device is running the 3.16.0-34-generic kernel. However, before the upgrade 12.04 was running the 3.2.xx series kernel, which was the series at time of install in 2012. The upshot of all this is that ALL of my systems run Ubuntu just fine, with no discernible differences from machine to machine (other than the visual differences of 12.04 vs. 14.04, i.e. Local Menus vs. Global Menus, etc...). Newer kernels are supposed to introduce new features, stability, or security. I'm sure they do, but I'm not a "power user" and I can't see any difference across my machines. Some folks like the latest and greatest...the cutting edge; but I come from the secure and stable school. I just want whatever works, without crashing..."set it and forget it." But that's just me. You're not going to get the latest and greatest from that old ATI card, nor from your onboard APU chip, so I would recommend secure and stable for that machine. JMO... If you want to try something different for your learning experience, referencing the first link, perhaps you might want to consider installing a lighter weight desktop environment (assuming your using Unity). Something with less intensive GPU processing (I love Unity, but will readily admit that it's a resource hot) should help your machine perform better. Perhaps consider XFCE, LXDE, or a naked OpenBox desktop: http://askubuntu.com/questions/65083/what-kinds-of-desktop-environments-and-shells-are-available Your machine, your choice, your decision! Good luck brotha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted October 16, 2015 Share Posted October 16, 2015 You can easily reinstall the open source driver as well: sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-ati 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkSerge Posted October 16, 2015 Author Share Posted October 16, 2015 (edited) I am currently not using any proprietary drivers, everything in use is from Ubuntu/Xubuntu. When I do get a new system built, I plan to run Kubuntu. The only differences I've noticed between running different versions of the kernel are only in the video issues I've described. Other than that, the system seems to run mostly well since I fixed those problems I had earlier in the summer. I prefer the ATI card because it runs a bit smoother and it has DVI output which is gives me a sharper image than the onboard video. This computer has maybe 4 - 5 months left before I begin a new system. After that if I keep this one around, it'll just be for casual internet browsing and it's regular usages will greatly decrease where I'll probably stay with the onboard video since I'll be putting an older monitor on it. Update. I ran the command suggested by securitybreach and it just returned the message "xserver-xorg-video-ati is already the newest version." I put the ATI card back in and am running on 25 again. Unless everyone advises I stay with the newest kernel, I'm content running this version and sticking with my ATI video card as long as it boots and runs. I accept I won't get the latest and greatest on this old machine, I'll worry about that stuff when I get a new system. Edited October 16, 2015 by DarkSerge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.