Ubuntu blank screen at startup
There have been a number of reports regarding blank screens at startup pre and post installation on the new Ubuntu 10.04 “Lucid” release. It seems there are some incompatibilities with some video drivers, particularly (not surprising) some ATI and nVidia. Also in the mix are some older Intel cards. This post outlines a workaround you can try in order to get your video working properly again.
Booting from CD
This section outlines how to workaround the video issue while booting from the CD. Your mileage may vary, depending on your video card, but hopefully this steers you in the right direction:
- At the install screen press ‘F6‘ and insert one of the options below, depending on your hardware.
- On first boot after install, press e to edit the GRUB menu.
- Using the arrow keys to navigate, delete quiet and splash and again insert one of the options below.
- Press Ctrl and X to boot.
The suggested options that I have found are hardware specific. Here is a list:
- Older Intel video card: i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0
- nVidia: nomodeset
- Generic: xforcevesa
Hopefully one of these options will get you up and running. Keep reading now to make these changes persistent!
GRUB
You’ll want to change these settings in GRUB so they’ll automatically be applied on each reboot. To do so, follow the steps below:
- Edit the /etc/default/grub file. You will need Admin privileges to do so (sudo)
- Find this line: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”
- Replace with: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash <option>”
For example, if I had an older Intel model, my GRUB configuration would read:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
Save your changes and you should get proper graphics on each reboot.
UPDATE: Based on a lot of user feedback I am reminded that you need to run ‘update-grub’ after you make changes.
Feeback
If you have any additional suggestions, please leave them as comments here. Different hardware often needs different options, and it would be nice to cover as many as needed in a central place. Good luck!
Excellent! From what I read on the issue to get my thinkpad G40 up to speed on Ubuntu 10.04, this is spot on!
Thanks so much! This fixed my problem on an Acer Extensa 3000 laptop with Intel graphics.
The line for me in grub is:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
The article didn’t mention running “sudo update-grub” to apply the changes.
Thanks for the solution. On my old Presario the file is /boot/grub/menu.lst and the i915.modeset=1 added to the line after splash quiet did the trick.
It was only the latest .22 version that gave me problems. I could booy OK in the .20 version
Thanks again
sudo update-grub after you saved grub file
Any work around for VIA VX800 ie. openchrome drivers? This chipset is used in Samsung NC20 laptop which fails toboot after kernel upgrade to 2.6.32.22.23. Removing quiet and splash did not work here.
Thank you for your solution but I had to run sudo update-grub too or the changes were not visible on re-start
so
* Order Intel video card: i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0
* nVidia: nomodeset
* Generic: xforcevesa
What do i use with ATI??? I tried radeon.modeset=0 but it didn’t work…is there some other opetion for ati except xforcevesa????
I got a laptop hp compaq 615 with ATI Radeon™ HD 3200!!
Thanks in advance!
Hello, i also have the HP compaq 615 laptop, and i can confirm that non of the solutions you posted work on this configuration :(((
However, i found a way to boot my system every time, and that is to
delete “quite splash” from the grub line, and instead of that write “acpi=off radeon.modeset=0”.
It gets me inside every time…Maybe you should include this in your article for people with HP laptops, and if not…well i hope somebody will read it anyways down here :).
I have an old Gateway tablet and adding:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
to grub fixed my hang on boot problem.
Hey Christer!
I found your blog when I was getting some info before upgrading my Karmic to Lucid. I had actually read a lot of positive comments on upgrade installations working well….and normally I just save my home directory to my MyBook and do a clean install…but I was intrigued so I tried the upgrade installation.
It went very well and everything worked afterwards…the only strange behaviour I have noticed since is that occasionally Aptitude will ask me to put the upgrade CD back in the drive when installing or updating packages.
Hope you are doing well since PxxxNet days….
Paul
This problem troubled me a couple of days.Now I boot my Ubuntu successfully!
Thank You Very Much!
Motherboard: A8N-E
Graphics card:Geforce GE 6600 (nVidia card)
i have an acer aspire one with intel 945GME, i’ve fixed grub but i still have black screen when i reboot my netbook. Thanks.
@mindjuju
Hello Mindjuju
I also have a IBM G40, I am having trouble to get 10.04 to work. I get the “black” screen when installing via Live CD.
I have tried the above suggestions and find that if I insert “i915.modeset=1” after “quiet splash I can access the Live CD.
Where I am having problems is changing the permanent configuration. If I press “e” (escape??) nothing happens, it just tries to boot and still gets “black” screen.
Can you advise the steps you actually took please
I am beginner with Linux commands.
regards
Paul
thanks. This really helps
@Paul G
Perhaps don’t appear the grub menu for you because only one system installed.
Try hold down the shift key for grub menu at boot!
The grub menu contain circa 4 lines: two linux and two memtest.
At this point press the “e” key for edit like mentioned above.
regards
soky
Thanks a lot! It’s works perfectly.
My problem was the same on my old acer travelmate 2300 laptop.
The winer option is: i915.modeset=1
soky
Is there a reference somewhere that you can use to lookup what the modset values should be for specific machines or video cards?
I have an older Toshiba tablet that was working with 9.10. I tried updating to 10.04 and have the problems you appear to have solved. My problem is I can’t find a GRUB file in /etc/default. I see in the boot/grub/menu.lst a reference to defoptions =bga=791 resume=/dev/hda5. I must be missing something. When I “lshw” I see that my Generic and Display are unclaimed. I am able to book the computer in recovery mode and go to failsafe graphics and the system appears to work just fine. The graphics seem to be the same as with 9.10. My display card is an Intel 82852/855GM integrated graphics device. If I have to I will simple extend my boot time with the recovery mode.
Regards,
Peter
I have an Acer One 751h and have done everything. But still gets the black white screen with a mouse. Any help?
thanks a lot.
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!
Following instructions in this article (same as those by pakguru) makes my problem go away in the boot from Live USB. I dont want to install Ubuntu 10.04 yet though. If I try to edit grub as instructed, the file does get saved but on trying to update grub I get an error “/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for / (is /dev mounted?).”. I am guessing this is because I havent installed Ubuntu and there is not grub.cfg file. How and what changes do I make to my live USB to have the i915.modeset=1 as a persistent setting?
thanks.
You can’t make changes to the LiveCD itself. You need to temporarily make the changes to the LiveCD to allow it to boot properly, install your machine, temporarily make the change again on first-boot and then make your persistent changes.
Just wanted to say for others to find later that ‘i915.modeset=1’ was what I needed to get a Gateway 4025GZ working with Lucid. Thanks for the tip.
eres un genio con esto se resuelve el pantallaso en negro de ubuntu 10.04 gracias.
you are a genius, with this i cant solve the black screen on ubuntu 10.04 THANKS!!!!!
Generic: xforcevesa
I have a 7-years old Compaq Presario 2550EA notebook, using a ATI Radeon IGP 345M video card.
I fixed the blank screen problem using this parameter:
acpi=off
I also tried the LiveCD of the previous version of Ubuntu (9.10), and the display worked perfectly.
I read on a magazine that in 10.04 they changed the default video drivers for ATI and Nvidia cards, using open drivers instead of the proprietary drivers. This is probably the cause of our issues.
I suppose that we can change the drivers, using the proprietary ones.
Thanks for your support.
Thank you from Spain. I was going to surrender until I saw your solution.
Thank you for all.
Very helpful topic.
And thanks Roddy, I also have an old Presario and your tip works perfectly.
Ubuntu 10.04 Should not have been released. The fact that this problem is so prevalent and spans multiple video card types from nVida to Intel and now ATI? Do they bother to test anything anymore? Or is it they just care only about release dates? This is a fiasco. we have 24 Intel based systems and 7 nVidia and all exibiting the same problem. All are fresh installs and the fix mentioned here helped to reduce the problem but not iliminate it for me. It still happens randomly and unpredictably. This is totally ridiculous and Mark Shuttleworth should be ashamed of this terrible release. Especially since its an LTS release.
I thought i’m the only one having this problem. Good to see some solutions.
@Andydead
I heard that Fedora 13 also contains this same problem
Thanks for the insturction. it works but now I can not watch film in my ubuntu 10.04. every time I start a filem with vlc or other player it hangs and screen turn black. Is there any solusion for this prolbem.
thanks again.
Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode
The following error was encountered. You may need to update your configuration to solve this.
(EE) intel(0): [drm] failed to set drm interface version.
(EE) intel(0): Failed to become DRM master.
(EE) intel(0): failed to get resources: Bad file descriptor
(EE) intel(0): Kernel modesetting setup failed
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration.
This is the error(s) I get when I start up.
I’m new to all things linux and I’ve tried getting grub to let me edit that file you all keep talking about, but I can’t even get that point. Can anyone explain what I need to do? I’ve pressed shift and had it load grub for a second, but mostly I’m just dealing with command line stuff. Tips?
Hi all,
unfortunately not quite working out for me (doing on a Medion desktop with an ATI Radeon 9800XXL).
The option xforcevesa won’t do the trick at all, so only workaround so far is to remove splash and replace with nomodeset – that manages to lead into a low-res warning, then choose restart X-window and there I go with correct 1280×1024@60.
That makes it, but it’s kinda’ dirty way to enter a brand-new OS, isn’t it…
Hey Everyone,
This is great!!! Thanks so much for this. Had the issue after installing Ubuntu Server 10.04 where the monitor was black… It seemed the keyboard was not recognized either.
I found with my Intel Motherboard D865GLC that the integrated Graphics needed the option: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
After setting this in Grub and running sudo update-grub booted without any problems.
@ toyotafosgate
Sorry meant to say GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=0″
Thank’s, it’s helpul, but I think the right now try Fedora… My Radeon don’t work with Ubuntu Lucid…
I tried changing the /etc/default/grub file and updating grub, but after the reboot and startup, nothing changed. I checked to see that the file hadn’t changed from boot to boot and everything had saved correctly, but still I’m given errors from my above post. I’ve tried settings on both:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=0
and
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1
None of the settings worked for me.
Hi,
I have a problem, ubuntu 10.04 is crashing with graphics problem, they say it is due to old intel chipset is not supported, I dont have any graphics card, and i have applied the procedure that you said, still not working,
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)
This is my inbuilt graphics chipset, can u please help me to solve the hanging problem
I have a Toshiba A10 and upgraded to 10.04. I had to modify /boot/grub/menu.lst and add i915.modeset=1 and it worked just fine.
Thanks!
@ Miklos
I have a problem like you too… My Laptop compaq 515 with ATI Radeon HD 3200 can’t boot for Lucyd fine… It’s always BLANK Screen whatever you choose at GRUB option except other OS,,, So, i typed acpi=off in editing GRUB. and i can boot better.. but it didn’t work fine… Now, i get a problem about Power management and modem broadband connection… My power icon can’t show how much energy save in my laptop’s battery and Suspend was gone…
I don’t knoe what should i do now…. T.T anyone can help me?????
For machines using Intel HD graphics (Arrandale/Ironlake), this kernel patch resolves the “blank screen on boot” problem and lets you run with full video feature support (e.g., compiz):
http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2010-June/007232.html
I didn’t find the grub file as specified in the post, but I was able to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst with “i915.modeset=1” to get my system back up and running.
@ Jeremy
Hi Jeremy, I couldn’t find it either, did that work for you, I typed i915.modeset=1 and I think because it changed the text from 4 lines to 5 it couldn’t find the file. You mind walking me through exactly what you did?
I got hung up this problem for a few days. I agree that the 10.04 release was very premature. Testing? You gotta be kidding.
I moved on and Fedora 13 works great for me (Radeon HD 5570).
I’ll be back to try these solutions when I get the time. Thanks, all.
I have done it!That worked!
But I have a new problem!
After boot,using for a little time(10~20minutes)…my screen come back to commandline…with a flashing dot but I can’t do anything…From there…Ctrl-Alt-F1,I came to a commandline login screen…I logged in…turn back to GUI screen…It still blank(with a flashing dot,and somelines from the boot log)…
PS:I have another workaround:
1/Using windows,run up LiveCD,choose First Option at Wubi screen(Demo),then choose “help boot from CD”,after that,reinsert the LiveCD.Reboot computer…
2/Now we are in boot screen,choose Ubuntu…then choose Safe Graphic Mode(When I look for the commandline,It’s using xforcevesa – But when I try on Fresh install(or running a new ubuntu 10.04,It said XSERVER error and must run under failsafe mode in order to run Ubuntu…)…then you are in the installation…keep going…
3/From now…You can run Ubuntu 10.04 whenever you want…(But you can not reinstall or install other Distribution of Ubuntu(Xubuntu,Lubuntu,Kubuntu,Mythbuntu,…) 10.04 unless you install xubuntu-desktop,kubuntu-desktop,lubuntu-desktop,… or have a Windows as alternative)…(Note:Your monitors(and your graphic cards) didn’t work as well…aka unknow monitors and can not use compiz as well although some hardware informations show up the drivers is corrected)
In this solution,my Ubuntu didn’t come to a commandline screen(booting screen) with flashing dot like the other solution…
@Crister,
You’re da man 🙂
It worked for my old dell 700m. i915 did the trick.
Thank you,
/Anatoly
this worked on my gateway M320 laptop as well.
Thanks it worked for me… after months of painstaking reading and searching of answers
Adding “nomodeset” fixed the “low resolution” error for my inlaw’s Intel 82945G on an HP Pavilion a1606n.
I used “xforcevesa” to fix the blank screen on the live cd so I could install it.
Thanks.
Novice helping with friends Ubuntu* Black screen is product of update of the OS to 10.04
Trying to do workaround, but not familiar with where these changes should be. I’ve entered the GRUB menu and changed the 4th option by pressing ‘e’ and typing the selection I think appropriate for what I think is an older intel card. Still boots to blank screen. After restart and reentry to GRUB menu I find the change I made is not saved. If this method does not work, where to I enter the command /etc/default/grub so that I may use GRUB_CMDLINE_…….?
Please respond quickly 🙂
All assistance is greatly appreciated.
Tried all the above but this appears an issue w/ the Intel 855x video card on my old Panasonic CF-T2:
This article resolved my issue:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Bugs/Lucidi8xxFreezes
(1) Install the updated -intel driver:
https://launchpad.net/~glasen/+archive/intel-driver
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glasen/intel-driver
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgr
(2) Then …
Workaround A: Re-enable KMS
For release we made the decision to blacklist KMS for 8xx hardware. If you had found that beta1 and earlier Ubuntu had been working fine, this may be an effective workaround for you.
To turn KMS back on, run this command in a Terminal window and reboot:
echo options i915 modeset=1 | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/i915-kms.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u
(3) Which requires the:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
As much as I like Linux…this reminds me that the average user would be heavily fustrated by it when it runs into problems…
This solution helped me in solving the booting problem I’m experiencing.
But I have another problem I don’t know if this is caused by the change of GRUB settings, before I changed the settings Playing music and video is not a problem, but after I changed the GRUB settings everytime I play a video or music it turns to black screen and only a cursor is visible then after a while it will turn black like the monitor has been turned off but the laptop lights are still on, the only thing that you can do is hold the power button to turn the laptop off I’m using Compaq Presario V2000 laptop w/ intel graphic card, can anyone direct me to a solution.
answer to sherry: when you boot your laptop you need to wait until the GRUB loading appears then hit ESC, it will show you different GRUB options I choose the lower number not the one with (recovery mode) in my case there is 3 the one ending in .21, .22 and .23 choose the one with .21 or lower, then you will be able to boot up until the ubuntu login screen, you must log-in and open your terminal this is where the you will need to read the Solution posted here in my case I used the one with the header GRUB, you will need to know how to use sudo to allow you to be a temporary super user type this sudo gedit /etc/default/grub then it will prompt you for a password use the password you set for admin then edit the grub file as stated here. this is how I fixed my problem and now I face another problem with playing media files not sure if this caused my problem.
Great post!!!
I have a Dell 700m that I tried to upgrade with 10.4 and am getting the blank screen…specs say I have a “Intel Extreme Graphics” card will either i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0 work? Or is there something else I can use?
I have tried all the solutions mentioned above to no avail. I use a Hp compaq 615. When I use acpi=off option in the grub menu, it loads fine but my bluetooth and wireless are no longer working. I never had this issue with 9.04. Please someone tell me what to do!!!
I have tried the solution on my Sony VIAO VGN-T37TP but still failed to boot and install 10.04 on it. Any suggestion??? Thanks
This resolved it on my old Compaq Evo N800c with ATI
In the file
/etc/default/grub
changed the line
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”
into
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash nomodeset vga=0x318″
and saved it (edit as root, use your editor through sudo, for example).Then run
sudo update-grub
in a command window (uses /etc/default/grub as template).
The thing vga=0x318 is to get a little neater splash picture and also not such a large text at console login, if you ever try that. Without it will function equally with a larger splash.
Since there is no intervention with acpi etc., nomodset seems to be useful(?)
Extactly the same problem. Any suggestions?
Hey guys, thanks for the help! i had the same problem on an asus P4c800 mainbord with a ati radeon 9600. for me, it was the acpi=off that did it. after changing that in the grub, everything boots fine. i have no problems with my wifi with acpi turned off.
For my ATI HD5450 I had to add radeon.modeset=0 xforcevesa
My system has an ATI PCIe card and I get the white screen of death when booting my Lucid install disc. Had to revert to Karmic just to get my system back up and running. Anyone else getting the WSOD when booting a Lucid install disc?
I will attempt updating to Lucid from Karmic and making sure that I have the nomodeset option in my grub file before rebooting. {fingers crossed}
I’m using the “old” Grub and so I had to add “i915.modeset=1” in “/boot/grub/menu.lst” behind the “quiet splash”. Works perfectly. Thanks!
Im new to ubuntu and linix in general.
trying to install every timdo a get the out of range across my hdtv compture montor.
I have a old intel video card and cant seem to get it to work even with this guide.
Id like further explaination if someone would be so kind.
Im not sure how to install the option using F6
Greeat post! Worked for my old toshiba laptop with the ancient intel chip onboard. Added “i915.modeset=1” on the end of the boot parameters, and installation finally began rather then just dumping me off on a black screen.
Thanks. Adding “nomodeset” fixed this problem on my HP Pavillion a1730n desktop.
Thank you so #$@%ing much. Been searching everywhere for a fix for this. It worked wonders. I’m gonna print this out for the future just in case 😉
Again, thank you!
Referring to my earlier post:
@ Tore Ericsson
I did try the same trick on a formally equal but some year older laptop, but this one required the ONLY extra parameter ‘radeon.modeset=0 ‘ to properly show the splash screen (thanks, XabiX! — xforcevesa destructive, though).
All other options, like also vga=x0…, did at worst destroy tty1–6 and did also ‘touch’ something in the sound system (malfunction messages after startup). So each system seems to need individual check, and I did not get the console mode on this laptop to show other than those huge letters.
A little disappointing from an LTS release.
Hi. This is awesome, finally worked for me on an Acer Travelmate 290 using the option i915.modeset=1
To get into Grub on first reboot, hold down the Shift key 🙂
Thanks a lot!
I have a Fujitsu Amilo L1300 laptop with an integrated Intel graphics card. These tips haven’t worked for me so far =(
I tried it on a DELL T7500 workstation with two NVIDIA AVG275 cards, and it did not help. Went back to Ubuntu 8.04…. Please somebody fix it for newer versions!
I also tried upgrading from 9.10 or 9.04, but it only works if I used the live cd..
After applying the work around as you pointed out( big thanks by the way)the first part works meaning during start up but i have difficulty making it permanent.In the Terminal when i put the command sudo egdit/etc/default/grub i get the reply “command not found” .Any work around on this?
Thanks– “i915.modeset=1” fixed the problem on my Toshiba a45 s120
Yes, thanks — “i915.modeset=1″ worked on my Toshiba a45 s150, as well. Adding the parameter was the easy part. Finally discovering that hitting the Shift key right after BIOS boot was the only way to get a Grub boot menu in order to add the parameter, now that was the tedious part…
Thanks, it works! Acer Travelmate 250
@ Zat
I got lucid to work on my Amilo L1300 by using a live CD. Before selecting “try ubuntu without installing”, I hit . A little white box appeared with different options. I hit and then typed: “i915 modset=0 xforcevesa”. (it will appear at the end of a command line allready displayed).
I got a running system from the live cd, then used the install option. From then on, the system worked. However, the graphics resolution was horrible.
I had this problem when I upgraded my Dell Inspiron 700m from 9.10 to 10.04. The i915.modeset=1 works well. The hard part was knowing to hit the shift key to get to the Grub boot menu where I could load a safe graphics version and edit my grub file. All is fine now. Thanks very much
Help, I have tried all of the above, but nothing seems to work on my old Toshiba Satellite 2800-400 that has an S3 Savage IX graphic card
I have attempted to edit Grub with all the above options
* i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0
* nomodeset
* xforcevesa
and of course saved & updated the file (update-grub), but the GUI remains black with only the mouse pointer
any assistance is much appreciated
I had the same problem when upgrading my Dell Inspiron 8000 from 8.04LTS to 10.04LTS. This laptop has Nvidia GeForce 2Go graphics, so the “nomodeset” command worked for me too. However, I did not find any “/etc/default/grub” file. Instead I had to add “nomodeset” to the “kernel” command line in the “/boot/grub/menu.lst” file. See the clip below from my edited file (note that the asterisks are in the real file a looooong hex number, don’t change this):
title Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, kernel 2.6.32-24-386
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-386 root=UUID=********** ro quiet splash nomodeset
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-24-386
Thanks for all the good advice!
Hello
Problem solved using this blog
Thinkpad X40 : ubuntu 10.04
Installed using ubs key
during reboot I needed to hold “shift” to access the Grub then e to edit then add i915.modeset=1 after quiet and splash (no need to delete them as told in the blog)
then Ctrl X
….
then update /etc….
don’t forget the update-grub (sudo)
***
it works
first tnx for the advice..
I didn’t get to the grub,so I booted with a rescuedisk and edit the grub.cfg directly..
went smootly.. after this I could boot up normally and do a update-grub, although it seemed that that was not needed anymore.. but better safe then sorry.. 🙂
tnx again..
Many thanks! On my Dell Latitude X300 seems to work with i915.modeset=1 (I lost all the afternoon before reading your post).
tnx again
@sanders
peter/sanders – did you find a solution. i still can’t install having followed the suggestions in the original workaround.
i’m on sony vaio vgn s480p
me too peter/sanders, as the problem persists on my old Toshiba Satellite 2800-400 that has an S3 Savage IX graphic card
The first part worked:
Older Intel video card: i915.modeset=1
when booting from CD. I did the full install.
But I can’t get it to take the ‘e’ during boot to change GRUB. It just goes on to a blank screen.
This worked as well for me on my amilo 1300
thanks for the help@ Zat
I have a compaq presario sr1210NX. I tried all 3 combination and it did not work. I am able t get to the GRUB menu. But, when I boot. I get the blinking mouse and goes dark after a few cycles. Any suggestions?
When installing/booting Ubuntu 10.4, my Dell studio 1537, screen is going black. I have been trying “e” and GRUB with different suggestions reading this discussion. Booting is going some steps further before going to blank. I think the videocard is ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450. I try to install Ubuntu 10.4 together with Vista. Any suggestions what to do : )
IBM Thinkpad G40 with Intel 825 chipset.
When installing/booting Ubuntu 10.04,using i915.modeset=1 is fine but after a while,the screen is frozen and turn back to a terminal screen(But I can’t do anything) but the tty[1-6] still work.I have to reboot my computer then in order to fix it temporarily.
In case using xforcevesa from the installation step,my laptop is working fine,however,it is running in Safe Graphic mode!—If I don’t use “xforcevesa”,my laptop only can use i915.modeset=1.
How can I fix that?
[Sorry,My English to bad]
852GME on Toshiba Satellite A45-S120:
(in grub.conf)i915.modeset=1 gets me through bootup but no video/graphics excelleration.
Does anyone know the settings necessary to kickstart excelleration?
Many thanks!!!
@ Mark
I am new to ubuntu, could we please talk over the phone so I can get this right? I also have a Dell 700m.
Thank you, Ryan
Thank you for this site, it helped me get my blank screen issue resolved. However, it still took me about a week to finally stumble across the combination that got my Dell PC to boot, so I feel obliged to publish the procedure here to help others install ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx on a Dell PC with built in ATI graphics card:
My problems started when I upgraded from Ubuntu 9.10 to 10.04. All previous versions worked perfectly, but this latest upgrade resulted in a blank screen, causing endless frustration.
The upgrade worked long enough to install 10.04, but thereafter the screen would go blank with a message from the monitor that it would shut down to preserve power. The solution is to press esc just after the CMOS screen disappears, when the PC is first turned on. This takes me to a screen that has the option to run in recovery mode. Select & boot this option. It results in a screen with a few options, one of which is “start in failsafe graphics mode”. Select this, which takes you to the next screen with the first option as “run Ubuntu in this mode once only”. Selecting this results in a bootup with a working monitor, which is very encouraging for desperate newbies. Alternatively, I am not too sure what I did, but I think I just selected “run in X” on that same screen. This resulted in a working bootup and no further changes required for future startups.
For other reasons, I was then forced to do a complete new Ubuntu re-installation on the same machine, and was faced with other problems: To overcome: start up PC with the CD / flash drive installed, and the CMOS settings adjusted so that the CD / flash drive has priority over the HDD. This results in a screen with Ubuntu Logo, listing options to the effect of “boot off disk”, “run installed OS”, “options” (nothing listed in this menu…), etc. Moving the cursor up and down on these menu items, and repeatedly and extendedly pressing F6 and also the left shift key, eventually resulted in some code appearing at the bottom of the screen, which looked like a mess and was overwriting the menu that was previously on the screen. In this code, I finally spotted the words quiet and splash. I deleted them and typed nomodeset in their place, and pressed enter. This resulted in an installation with a working monitor screen / ATI graphics card! (When I least expected it!!)
Now I have Lucid Lynx running my Dell, and and most satisfied with the installation and performance!
GREAT HELP Thanks
I had been coaxing my wife to shift to ubuntu for quite some time, and once she agreed, the installation on her ancient acer turned unexpectedly disastrous.
This was of great help.
Thank you!
I had this same problem with a dell inspirion 700. Install Latest Intel Driver 2.12 On Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx)
http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-latest-intel-driver-2.12-on-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx
this has fixed my issue and ubuntu boots up and video plays very well now.
thanx 🙂
i am find it difficult to install new theme plus you the extra effect
I have got so far but am still having problems with my Packard Bell desktop. I have a fairly old Nvidia graphics card and the nomodeset stops the black screen and freezing but it sets the screen resolution at 1024 * 768 with a resfresh rate of 0hz. Can anyone offer a solution? If I install the Nvidia drivers it crashes all the time, never at the same moment. Thank you.
i have install UBUNTU 10.10 it is working fine , but problems come when i am SWITCHING to other USER’s ACCOUNTS .
only a orage screen of ubuntu is comming and no icons not even any bar (eg menu and tool bar) is coming just a orange screen .
errors :
1) could not update ICEauthority file /home/cursername>/.ICEauthority
2) there is a problem with config server . c/usr/lib/libgconf 2-4/gconf-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256
3) Nautilus could not create : /home//Desktop,/home//.nautilus
need help , want to try UBUNTU 10.10
What if you don’t have a /etc/default/grub file to edit to make the change permanent? What I do have is a /etc/grub.d/10_linux file.
Just applied the workaround on a the acer travelmate of a friend of mine – works perfect =D
You should consider expanding this tutorial by adding the steps one needs to do for grub legacy (grub 1). It’s just that the config file ist not ‘/etc/default/grub’ but ‘/boot/grub/menu.lst’
Awesome, that sorted me out, thanks!
A supplementary piece of advice. If you have already installed your system and don’t want to go through the whole installation process again just to try out which option works, here’s something that I found helped.
I connected a “normal” monitor to the external monitor port at the back. When Lucid boots, it manages to display to that monitor quite happily so that you can see what you’re doing, and I also found that the Amilo display wasn’t blank any more (although it came on a few seconds later). Once I’d logged in, I could unplug the external monitor and work as normal. Until a reboot, of course.
Totally new to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, I dont even know what grub is. I did the i915.modeset=1 and installed it. Then I restarted my system without the grub edit thing and it went blank again what do I do now? Please give me details on how to get into grub & edit it. cant find it anywhere tried various commands in a few it said wrong command etc and in a couple it said grub not installed get grub by typing sudo apt-get grub etc…….PLEASE HELP ME !!
Disclaimer: Do at your own risk. I used the information here:
http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2010/05/06/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-blank-screen-at-startup-workaround/#respond
and added my own steps based on trials and errors I experienced. Try at your own risk. All the credit goes to the author of above article.
————————————
The instruction here was correct but still not clear/complete for a newbie. So here is what I did to correct my “black screen” at the boot for HP Pavilion ze4904us. It appears that this was caused by the Intel video card. The problem was that after trying to reboot from a live CD, the initial installation pages of Ubuntu Lucid Lynx (10.04.01) was not appearing and a black screen would appear and not go away. Here is how I corrected it:
1- Insert CD and boot from the CD
2- Press F6 as the first purple screen is coming up and you get the Ubuntu 9.04 like menu for the languages
3- Press enter to select English (or your language)
4- use the arrows to choose the option “Install Ubuntu”
5- Press F6 again, another menu opens up (nomodeset is one of the options but don’t chose anything), press escape to get rid of this menu
6- boot option line is now appearing on the screen, below the menu choices
7- use the arrows to only erase the words “quiet splash”
8- Insert one of the choices mentioned here:
* Older Intel video card: i915.modeset=1 or i915.modeset=0
* nVidia: nomodeset
* Generic: xforcevesa
the first one worked for me (i915.modeset=1)
9- press enter and now you can get passed the black screen and install Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04.01
10- go ahead and re-boot after the installation is complete but keep your finger on the “Shift” button as it is coming up. This will bring up the GRUB menu to help you edit your boot options.
11- press “e” to edit the GRUB file
12- use the arrows to delete “quiet splash” again and insert the choice you had from above making sure all the other words and spaces are unchanged.
13- press CTRL button and x at the same time to re-boot. You should now be able to boot passed the black screen
14- you have to make these changes permanent in the grub file or you would have to do this every time. The file is in the /etc/default/ directory but you can’t edit it there and needs sudo permission
15- start a terminal session and enter gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub
16- the grub file is now open in an editor and you can add your option (in my case i915.modeset=1) to the end of this line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash . Note that you are not erasing the “quiet splash”, you are adding. save and exit the file
17- Terminal should still be open, type in sudo update-grub, hit enter, enter your password and hit enter again. It should work like a charm.
HELP! UBUNTU TOOK ALL MY DATA AND TOOK IT AWAY! I NEEDS THE HELP TO FIND IT AGAIN! PLEASE HELP ME?!?
still problem with sis 671….i can’t boot with livecd lucid
As I said in my previous post, I did not have any /etc/default/grub file in my file system. Instead I edited the /boot/grub/menu.lst file. This worked fine until the next linux kernel update, but then I had to do the /boot/grub/menu.lst update all over again, since the contents of this file depends on which kernel version is used.
To avoid having to repeat the /boot/grub/menu.lst editing I created a new /etc/default/grub file containing just the single line:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash nomodeset”
Now, when a new kernel is installed, the installation script senses the existence of this file and runs “update-grub”, which then updates the “/boot/grub/menu.lst”. The first time you add the “/etc/default/grub” file, you run “sudo update-grub” manually to get the “menu.lst” updated. “sudo update-grub” is also useful to test for syntax errors in your “/etc/default/grub” file.
I had one problem when creating the “/etc/default/grub” file. I copied, pasted and edited the command line from the top of this web page and got a strange syntax error. The cause was that there is more than one type of quote character. The quotes looked normal to me, but apparently they did not have the correct ASCII code. Use copy – paste with care!
Holding the left shift key during boot bring up the options needed to boot my old nvidia MX-440 card . But on my older system, I had to remove my USB keyboard, and revert back to a PS/2 keyboard for it to work correctly. Holding the left shift key during boot on the USB keyboard did nothing. However on the PS/2 keyboard it worked. Just after booting, I press the left shift key, then select English, then Press F6 and select nomodeset then select install from the menu. FINALLY the install has begun. 🙂
Hello,
Thank you for the information.
On my dell latitude e6510
acpi-off worked on ubuntu 9.10
but still can not run on 10.10, tried all kind of options
Does somebody has any ideas?
Thank you
THANKS, MAN !
There is a conundrum in my situation.
I got Ubuntu 10.04 to install fine with the LiveCD. When I reboot, I get the black screen, but I *hear* the Ubuntu drumbeat startup sound. I just cannot see anything. Pressing CTRL+ALT+F2 does not bring me to the console. CTRL+ALT+Backspace doesn’t work either.
I boot once again from the LiveCD, which works fine with the GUI, and mount the hard drive. I change the /etc/default/grub.cfg file on the hard drive to try to use one of those 3 choices in your post. I then cannot run update-grub because the LiveCD doesn’t know where the hell GRUB is. If i try booting into rescue mode on the hard drive, I see the bootup text go by, but once I’m at the login screen, I see nothing but a black screen.
Any ideas? Or has Ubuntu failed me?
That was just awesome. I’ve searched for ages for a solution! Thank you so much =)
Dude. Thanks so much. This fixed me right up.
Worked beautifully! Thank you for your solution!
Hey! Thank you very much for this fix. It would have been great if Canonical test better their products… If linux doesn’t go further is because of this kind of problems. If something works (as it worked on v9.10) DONT TOUCH IT!!! 😉
Thank you so much; that did the trick for me with an old i915 chipset!
I got installed ubuntu 10.04 on my fujitsu s6210 laptop using live usb adding i915.modeset=1.But after reboot the screen goes blank.Tried to modify grub using live usb, but could not update grub.It says ” /usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for / (is /dev mounted?) “.
Any way to solve this?
some of us new to linux who installed it just because they absolutely hated windows, mqy not understand how to edit the file from the live usb (me). I have no idea how to edit it because it says it is read only. If you could maybe reply with a more detailed way of editing the file without it being read only. Thanks
@ jonny rocket
HELP! UBUNTU TOOK ALL MY DATA AND TOOK IT AWAY! I NEEDS THE HELP TO FIND IT AGAIN! PLEASE HELP ME?!?
to get back your data use testdisk for windows and you can recover the partition its free program and easy to use
Only by removing “quiet” and “splash”, I got it working. The modeset=0 or 1 didn’t fix it I have a ibm x41 tablet with intel i915gm
This solutions seem too heavy. I got this problem on Ubuntu 10.04 with an radeon X16xx card. I can’t disable hardware accelleration, I need it! I hope Ubuntu can improve the support without this problems…
I have old P4 pc with Intel 845GL/GV motherboard. i have 1GB RAM & no graphic card.
i had installed ubuntu 10.04. but i didnt start.
i has blank screens at startup… then not starts.
any solution??
@ jonny rocket
What fo you mean, what happened?
Worked for my old laptop with an Intel GMA955 chipset. Just appended the i915 bit to menu.list. Thanks!
I tryed every trick for my Mitac 8858.
Nothing helped!
It work perfect with 9.04.
Then I use my brain and connected a external VGA-screen.
Now I can run the instal-CD!
Lets see if it work after some update/upgrade!!
Ill try this out on my Gateway NV79 with Intel HD Media Accelerator graphics. I am currently in the GRUB file and i cant figure out how to get it out of read-only mode. help?
(PS to the people who said this did not work for them, previously to get ubuntu to show graphics i just plugged in an external monitor and pressed F2, then F7 again and it showed up on my main display. It serves at temporary fix while you find a working solution.)
Thanks!!!! I fixed it! Commodore KE- 8320 with Intel video card
i915.modeset xforcevesa
Saludos!!! y gracias
@Kicni
thanks for the ati fix worked for me.
Hello again!
My solution in the post from 21 nov 2010 seemed to work for a couple of times, but then not any more. Forget about the “/etc/default/grub” file. The correct place to edit is in the “comments” in the beginning of the “/boot/grub/menu.lst” file:
## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash nomodeset
The last line (with a single #) is not a comment line, but is used by update-grub during a software update to modify each kernel command line later in the file. I added the “nomodeset” at the end of this line. This has worked fine for the Linux kernel updates the last 6 months, without any extra hacking each update. Everything works automatically as it should.
Guys,
I have a Dell monitor U2311H. I installed Ubuntu 11 and having similar issues as most of the people have mentioned above. Tried what teh article mentions and even tried what PerL had suggested but nothing worked. Background:
I had windows 7 on my desktop and while installing Ubuntu 11 I chose the ‘install alongside’ option and now when my computer boots up I get ‘The current input timing is not supported by your monitor’. It waits for few minutes with a black screen then takes me right into Ubuntu. I cannot get into my windows now. Any help is appreciated.
wow… had i found this page before…
i have just bought a new laptop , hp pavilion g6… like 1 hour ago….and will read more about this before trying to install any ubuntu version again.
i started with karmic 2 years ago and i was so happy i could get rid of windows… then it went downhill straight from then on, every new ubuntu version brought this issue with blank screen, messed up grub, booting problems and kernell issues.
during the last week i spent hours trying to figure out (as i am really not a tech guy) what all these terms like |dev/sda, partitions, grub” meant, trying to reinstall, copying files…
i’m a bit ashamed to say this, but earlier today… i ended up smashing my old laptop (hp pavilion dv2000, which had all the problems listed in this page) against the wall and finishing it with a hammer (yes, i was that frustrated…), then went out to buy a new one…(with a scandinavian keyboard, since i moved to finland 1 month ago…).. so, thx everybody for posting all these tips… i’ll try to learn more before attempting an installation (btw, if anyone knows how to get a good copy of the installation cd… for maverick or natty.. as i downloaded and burned 4 different iso files, on different machines and all of them had some issues or the installer crashed…)..
i am dealing with windows now and and 1 hour of it makes me wanna go back to ubuntu (despite all the compatibility issues) asap 🙂
cheers
@Kicni
thanks for sharing, i have a touchsmart 300 and was not taking any linux distro due to the same problem.
but now im working wonderfully 🙂 THANKS A MILLION!!
Thanks a lot! Worked for me on an Acer Travelmate 290 using the option i915.modeset=1
To get into Grub on first reboot, hold down the Shift key!
‘Adding nomodeset after quiet splash and then doing update-grub’ worked for me (I have HP laptop with nVidia Graphics card)
Thanks a lot
this fixed the problem for bt5 capslock and scroll lock flashing.
The solution for me was to use “acpi=off” inplace of “quiet splash”.
Here is how I discovered the solution:
1) Try booting from a CD or external drive and after you select your language, a menu shows up with “Install Ubuntu” as one of the options.
2) Previously, clicking on that would result in a blank screen. But at this point, you can press F6 and select one of the options out there. (One of them is nomodeset, another is acpi=off along with a couple more).
3) After selecting one of those, try the “Install Ubuntu” option. If the blank screen goes away, that’s the option you should go for. Otherwise, try with another one.
Samsung Q30 installs perfectly with
i915.modeset = 1
Thanks!
Good heavens, for over a year now I have tried to get a couple of old Dell Optiplex SX270 PC’s to run under Ubuntu. To no avail until now, after installing the sceen went blank. The fix to use is the parameteri915.modeset=0,
Indeed, no aditional driver required under Ubuntu 11.04.
Very grateful ! Windows is gone now -:)
Sony Vaio VPCS1 with Nvidia G310M
This worked for me.
after quiet splash,
nomodeset vmalloc=512m
you guys rock!
This bug is still happening in Ubuntu 11.10 :-/
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-video-intel/+bug/744187
OW thanks so much!
thanks thanks tks, now i go bracktrack.
After. Root /. Toor
Vim /etc/default/grub
Line edit modeset=1
UPDATE-grub
Fixed \o/
Thanks for all
@Constantinos
hello, i use linux absolute on toshiba sattelite 2800-400 8 mb grafic card and works fine, just instal multimedia package. web browser does not work.
Using Mint 11 on a Dell X300 i915.modeset=0 worked for me
Thank you!
@Anatoly
This string also worked for me installing XMBCLive 10.1 on an Inspiron 700m. After I installed it wouldn’t display any graphical output only text output. So I rebooted, I pressed ‘e’ to edit the GRUB conf, deleted “quiet” and “splash”, and in their place typed “i915.modeset=1”. Thereupon, it booted into XBMC and looked great.
I love you!
Have used a lot of time on this issue.
And you make it so easy 🙂
I’ve seen a lot of people struggles with live cd and booting and so on. I just mounted the ubuntu iso file with Daemon tool in windows, booting from there 🙂
i915.modeset=0 worked also for me on HP Pavilion g6
Thanks!!!
hi! i have system cd and recovery cd of acer TM 290 LCi after restoring process on my pc it shows on the pc screen Missing Operating System. but before the process i forgot to back up files. and now my computer can’t open and restore back. does any body have an idea to solve this problem? much appreciated
@Kicni
thnq so much
Thank you.
Works like you described it.
It worked on my EmachinesE725 Laptop with
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=0″
Thanks for the solutions!
Didn’t work for me on a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, multiboot (Windows + Ubuntu/Lubuntu/Xubuntu 12.04). I’ve had the same issue for the past two years, with a black screen for 10-12 sec after the grub selection screen, followed by about 2-3 sec splash screen before the login screen. It truly piss me off and I find it amazing that it should be so difficult for Ubuntu to come up with a nice splash screen that runs continuously from power on… all the way to the login screen – on various hardware.
Thanks Christer.
Acer Veriton N2620G
Ubuntu 12.04-Multi-color strobe when installing
Hold down shift
e to edit
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash nomodeset″
WORKED!
It’s Cool MAN!!! You saved my life!
Be Well!!!
It works perfectly!!!! Thank you very much from Spain. My laptop is Dell Latitude 505 and works with i915.modeset=1
This failed for me with ubuntu 14.04 and VGA Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller.
I have tried all the options and failed!
Any valuable insights?
Thank you so very much. I had trouble with getting my setup of Zentyal 3.5. I was installing it on an old dell i386 P4 computer. I used your suggestions and removed splash from the boot options and the modeset1 for the older intel graphics and it started the ubuntu server installation right away. Thank you so much. Kudos to the post writer. Cheers
Works with GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash i915.modeset=1″
Thanks alot!!!
I also have ubuntu 14.04 and VGA Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller. nomodeset worked for me but only after upgrading to kernel 3.16.