Cannot finish boot from DVD - md5sum is good

Cannot finish boot from DVD - md5sum is good
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 04:55
Hello:

Pinguy looks really cool and I would love to try it!

I downloaded Pinguy_OS_10.04.1.2_x86-64.iso with Azurius, burned the DVD, and the md5sum matches the web site. I have tried to boot several times, first with the default menu choice, then with VGAsafe or somesuch, then with splash off. I get the same result with every option I've tried. First I see the "boot:" prompt, I hit <ENTER> and boot seems to proceed normally. The color menu screen appears, I make a choice, a row or two of text is displayed, then quickly the monitor goes to sleep. I cannot get a display back no matter which keys I press. The DVD drive continues to read for a long time, I eventually hear some sounds playing, so it appears to be loading without a display. Eventually the drive stops and I must hold the power button in to reboot. I tried the same DVD in my son's Dell laptop and it boots just fine.

I have an HP Pavilion a1632x desktop PC, about five years old. It has an Athlon 64 X2 processor, and NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE graphics chip on the motherboard.

Do I need to download the 32 bit version?

Thanks!
John

#1 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 05:12
A couple more things;

I have Ubuntu 8.04 loaded on the hard drive and it runs fine.

Ubuntu is using the proprietary NVIDIA drivers.

Any help appreciated, thanks!

#2 Reply
Posted by Pinguy on 16 Sep, 2010 05:54
It seems like it's using a screen resolution higher then what your monitor can handle. At the boot screen choose "xforcevesa"
If that doesn't work, hit TAB and add this to it
Code: [Select]
xres=1024x768

#3 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 06:32
Tried all the combinations of this I could think of.

xforcevsea does not work.

I tried appending xres=1024x768 to the end and that did not work. I first tried appending it by just adding it to the end, then tried again by backspacing the double dash "--" and replacing it with the xres statement, no dice. I tried the debug option, a bunch of statements flash by the screen, then the monitor goes to sleep never to return, like its not getting a signal. I even selected the install option once with the same result.

To repeat, I see

the "boot:" prompt <RETURN>
the menu
the Loading casper/vmlinuz then dots....
the casper/initrd.gz.............more dots............
then "ready". Then the monitor goes to sleep.

Any help appreciated.
John

Thanks for your help.

#4 Reply
Posted by Pinguy on 16 Sep, 2010 06:46
Try adding
Code: [Select]
vga=773 to the end.

Some more help about live booting: http://tinyurl.com/29rhzab
VESA video mode numbers: http://tinyurl.com/2wqqhn

#5 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 07:19
Sorry, vga=773 didn't work either.

I think we're barking up the wrong tree. I don't think it is a screen resolution problem. I can't even get it to boot to a command prompt. Could this be a kernel problem? Should I be using an earlier release?

John

#6 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 07:39
I just burned an Ubuntu 10.4.1. AMD 64 CD with a similar result.

#7 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 16 Sep, 2010 19:00
I looked on the Ubuntu Forums and others have had this problem with Lucid.

I have a potential solution, described here:
http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup-workaround/

I will try it tonight using the "nomodeset" option.

John

#8 Reply
Posted by JA_Morrow on 17 Sep, 2010 02:48
All:

Using the "nomodeset" option did it! Pinguy OS boots up from DVD with no problems. The following post by "pakguru" to the ubuntu-tutorials site (link below) describes the procedure. His post refers to Lucid proper, but the procedure is similar for any Ubuntu-based OS.

http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup-workaround/comment-page-1/#comments

June 3rd, 2010 at 06:22 | #20
Reply | Quote

My recent efforts at successfully resolving a ?blank screen? issue after 10.04 upgrade may be useful.
I upgraded on line from 9.10 to 10.04 on my HP Compaq Presario laptop (- with inbuilt Intel graphics chip) and then pressed to restart?and ended up with a blank screen. Out of frustration, I eventually re-installed my CD copy of 9.10.

My efforts to try and resolve the update problem led me to a Ubuntu ?Workaround ? page http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04

I then downloaded Ubuntu 10.04 on my other desktop computer and burnt it to CD, and tried installation from this CD.

1.Tap the Shift key down a few times during the booting sequence, if you?re lucky you will get into the install screen ? giving you the installation options. ? select your language and press Enter.

2.Tap the Down key to select ?Install Ubuntu?, then press F6 ? a small window opens in the right-hand corner, with half a dozen options ? you don?t need these ? click Escape to remove the box. You are left with one line ending in ?quiet splash? ? press backspace to remove the two trailing dashes, leave a space, and then type ?i915.modeset=1′ ( ? or your particular graphics code) then press Enter. 10.04 should then complete booting, and start to install.

3.When installation is complete, go to Places ? Computer ? File System. Open folders: etc ? default ? grub, and look at the text of the grub file, there should be a line ending in ?quiet splash?, leave a space and type ?i915.modeset=1′ ?. try to save the change?you can?t !!?a notice tells you that the file is ?read only?.
To disable the ?read only? status you need to go to terminal?.Accessories ? Terminal. At the prompt, type ?gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub? (-omit quote marks)- the file will open with the ?Save? tab enabled. After ?quiet splash?, type ?i915.modeset=1′?. and Save the file.
To maintain this change to the grub file, go back to Terminal and type ?sudo update-grub?, then press Enter. Hopefully the changed grub file will be stored and enable a smooth reboot.

4.At the next restart, press Shift after the boot sequence starts and you should get in to the ?grub? menu, which has four lines. Select the top line, containing ?Ubuntu generic..there are instructions (press ?e? ) on how to edit this. Add ?i915.modeset=1′ to ?quiet splash? and Save and exit.

5. After these changes my laptop boots successfully every time into 10.04..hope it does for you!