1 Topic by cipher_nemo

  • cipher_nemo
  • New member
  • Offline
  • From: State College, PA
  • Registered: 2008-02-11
  • Posts: 4

Topic: [SOLVED]Video problems

I recently downloaded the latest GParted LiveCD iso and burned it to a CD. I booted to it on one of my PCs only to be greeted with a distorted image when X loads (pixel garbage).

I tried the auto configuration, the force VESA mode (as recommended in other threads), and even the other force modes. Nothing works.

Hardware on the PC where GParted LiveCD doesn't work:

2x BFG NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT OC video cards (using only 1st card -- default -- for this)
EVGA 680i A1 mobo
Q6600 (testing while not overclocked)
2GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800

I have no problems with this system in Linux distros, including Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian in the past. It currently runs WinXP Pro and Ubuntu dual-boot.

It seems video problems are common with GParted on some systems. However, this one is pretty straightforward, since no funky on-board video crud. On a PC running MythTV, I used the LiveCD on a an NVIDIA 5500 card without these issues. I also used it on the same configuration (680i board) on my gaming rig with two 8800GTX cards without any issues.

Any idea why I'm seeing issues with a simple 7600GT? It's a pretty common card.

Thanks.

Ubuntu 7.10 User

cipher_nemo's Website

2 Reply by class413

  • class413
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2007-05-25
  • Posts: 2,376

Re: [SOLVED]Video problems

Distorted image when X loads means perhaps a bad synchronization  or resolution/frequency. 7600GT isn't any exotic card. I don't know if the 2nd card on the board could cause this problem.

You could try to press control+alt+backspace to kill X. Then you must be in a text full screen terminal. You give the command "Forcevideo" (case sensitive! ), then you choose the video driver (I think nv is good) and the resolution (1024x768 is usually a good choice). I hope this will help.

If you want to work on any partition not mounted by Ubuntu, you could even use the Gparted 0.3.3 included in it.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

3 Reply by cipher_nemo (edited by cipher_nemo 2008-02-11 22:02:41)

  • cipher_nemo
  • New member
  • Offline
  • From: State College, PA
  • Registered: 2008-02-11
  • Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED]Video problems

Thanks, I'll give it a shot soon and post my results here. Also, in other distros, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace would restart the X session, but I guess with GParted and/or Gentoo it kills it?

Ubuntu 7.10 User

cipher_nemo's Website

4 Reply by class413

  • class413
  • Moderator
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2007-05-25
  • Posts: 2,376

Re: [SOLVED]Video problems

That's right: these keystrokes aren't the same for any distro.

*** It is highly recommended to backup any important files before doing resize/move operations. ***

5 Reply by cipher_nemo

  • cipher_nemo
  • New member
  • Offline
  • From: State College, PA
  • Registered: 2008-02-11
  • Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED]Video problems

Very odd. I haven't done anything different this time, and now it works after selecting VESA mode. I was going to boot to it and try the x session kill and Forcevideo, but this time it works. The last time I tried VESA, I had pixel garbage. Oh well.

Thanks for the tips, as it will help me in the future when troubleshooting. smile

Ubuntu 7.10 User

cipher_nemo's Website

6 Reply by cipher_nemo (edited by cipher_nemo 2008-02-13 04:01:58)

  • cipher_nemo
  • New member
  • Offline
  • From: State College, PA
  • Registered: 2008-02-11
  • Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED]Video problems

BTW, it was nice to use gparted today. I resized a flash drive partition, shrinked an NTFS partition to copy to another drive for backup, and then grew it once it was done to get back to normal. It worked perfectly.

Ubuntu 7.10 User

cipher_nemo's Website