Ubuntu 9.10 Upgrade – Fix Xorg Fails to Start

Ubuntuubuntu-9.10upgrade

I upgraded Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10. After a restart this is all I get:

usplash: setting mode 1280x1024 failed-40b0-8f4d-c4afe4ee4001
usplash: Setting mode 1152x865 failed
usplash: Using mode 1024x768

Ubuntu 9.10 nate-desktop-ubuntu tty1

nate:desktop-ubuntu login:

Update: After running sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf, changing the resolution to 800x600, running sudo update-initramfs -u, and finally restarting, this is all I get:

Boot from (hd0,5) ext    1f60f2b0-6a61-40b0-8f4d-c4afe4ee4001
Ubuntu 9.10 nate-desktop-ubuntu tty1

nate-desktop-ubuntu login:

I can login but all I get is this terminal. How can I get to my desktop, files, icons, or apps?

Update 2: Someone suggested it not a usplash problem but an NVidia problem. Any help?

Best Answer

This seems to be a common error particularly for nVidia users at 1440x900: bug 67826.

Try changing the resolution in usplash.conf (sudo nano /etc/usplash.conf then sudo update-initramfs -u) to something simpler, eg. 1024x768.

Or just apt-get remove usplash completely; it's not exactly an essential part of Ubuntu. (The ubuntu-desktop metapackage relies on it, but there's little harm in removing that.) Since xsplash comes up so quickly now for me in 9.10 I dropped usplash and don't really see any disadvantage. It'll probably be gone in 10.04 anyway.

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Setting VESA display mode > 800×600 in Ubuntu 9.04

Finally I got it. Its now working fine on 1280x1024.

I don't have to use the kernel boot parameter at all
xorg.conf is still in use, and the 'new' file monitors.xml seems to be neither written nor read by the system

The problem was a misconfiguration of my monitor. Without explicitly giving it a HorizSync the X.org estimated a valid range of 28-33kHz and thus only allowed the lower modes. The logfile /var/log/Xorg.0.log told me:

(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using hsync range of 31.50-37.90 kHz
(II) VESA(0): Configured Monitor: Using vrefresh range of 50.00-70.00 Hz
(WW) VESA(0): Unable to estimate virtual size
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1280x1024" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "1024x768" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "640x400" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x400" (hsync out of range)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x240" (illegal horizontal timings)
(II) VESA(0): Not using built-in mode "320x200" (illegal horizontal timings)

With a setting of 28-73kHz, I can now chose modes up to 1280x1024.

...
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
        HorizSync       28-73
EndSection
...

My screen should support even higher modes, and because I only estimated the number 73 I might have to set it even higher. However, currently I know that this is not the reason for the restriction, because modes highter than 1280x1024 are not checked at all. I think I will be able to configure those as well, and I will come back and report the solution as soon as I have it.

Ubuntu – No GUI after upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 (boots to command line)

From Ubuntu forums , You may need to reconfigure your xconf by using the following command,

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

PS: Added additional Solutions

1) try to fix xserver in the recovery options. 2) check your xorg.conf for device section

Section "Device" 
    Identifier "Configured Video Device" 
    Driver "radeon" ## or make it "ati"
EndSection

Best Answer

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Ubuntu – Setting VESA display mode > 800×600 in Ubuntu 9.04

Ubuntu – No GUI after upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 (boots to command line)

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