[SOLVED] Cannot get past the Kubuntu blue bar loading screen

[Stingly]

Hi there,

I am a complete Linux beginner - this is literally the first time I have ever tried to install Linux in any guise on any machine, so I apologise if I'm being completely dense here!

Using the DVD install disc for Linux MCE, everything seemed to install correctly. However when the machine boots up I get the Kubuntu screen with the blue loading bar, which gets halfway full before the pc speaker plays a little downward scale of notes. The bar then continues to 100%, then there is briefly a console screen that says something about the "mdadm.conf" file and gives me a prompt to login to the dcerouter. Maybe a second later it changes to another console screen that says something about a helper script, then the pc speaker plays 4 notes that go low-high-low-high and the screen goes blank and I have to do a hard reset.

Any ideas? I'm using an old PC to install this on, which is a AMD Athlon 1.4 and has 512Mb RAM and a 120 Gb HDD. Its also got a Nvidia 4800 Ti SE graphics card and 2 network cards as suggested. I took any excess hardware out after the first couple of tries to install LMCE thinking that it could have been my old SCSI card that was messing things up, but I'm still getting the same problem. I know that the hardware all works as the machine was running Windows XP fine up until I installed LMCE instead.

Like I say - I have no Linux experience at all, so please make any suggestions baby-proof! Thanks very much!

[jeff_rigby]

Biggest problem I had with LinuxMCE was not waiting long enough for things to happen.  I kept assuming that it was locked up.  I believe, and I'm a beginner too, that during the initial install for a diskless MD or the MD running on the core that MCE is waiting on an orbiter to login.  If it doesn't it proceeds with the diskless MD option.  Somewhere in there are hardware probes etc.  Since MCE is desgined to work with relatively slow computers these timeout options might be longer than we are used to.

I reinstalled MCE two times assuming I had problems.  The problem was me not waiting long enough.  The system I'm using is an AMD X2 3.6 Ghz with 1 gig of memory on a M2NPV-VM motherboard. 

Speed is not an issue (other than it might take longer) for MCE to boot and install but is an issue for live TV playback.  The key in these early releases is the video card.  Nvidia 6000 series work flawlessly.  MB Nvidia 6000 video support sometimes does not work depending on the design I guess.

I've usually had text on screen indicating fatal error hardware probe issues if there is going to be a problem.  I did have one machine with ATI video support on the MB that hung for about 30 min before the video&audio wizard appeared.  Then after setting those it took even longer for the setup wizard to appear and it stuttered.  I gave it up as a lost cause on that motherboard

[Stingly]

Hmmm... I might try it again later and leave it going for an hour or so. The problem is that the machine isn't outputting anything at all - my monitor just turns itself to stand by as if theres nothing getting to it? I had left it for quite a while in the numerous times I've been trying to get it working, but I'll give it even longer if thats what you suggest.

[Zaerc]

Hmmm... I might try it again later and leave it going for an hour or so. The problem is that the machine isn't outputting anything at all - my monitor just turns itself to stand by as if theres nothing getting to it? I had left it for quite a while in the numerous times I've been trying to get it working, but I'll give it even longer if thats what you suggest.

The problem is likely that the video goes to the wrong output.  Check the AVWizard page in the wiki to see how to select other display outputs, or connect screens to them. 

[ThePulse]

Hmmm... I might try it again later and leave it going for an hour or so. The problem is that the machine isn't outputting anything at all - my monitor just turns itself to stand by as if theres nothing getting to it? I had left it for quite a while in the numerous times I've been trying to get it working, but I'll give it even longer if thats what you suggest.

do this:
On boot press ESC to get access to GRUB boot option -> chose recovery
wait until it is done -> type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf     press Enter (Capital X)
find the spot where it says NVIDIA and change it to NV -> press CTRL-o press enter CTRL-x and write sudo reboot

thats it -> but remeber to set it back to NVIDIA after the setup!

[Stingly]

do this:
On boot press ESC to get access to GRUB boot option -> chose recovery
wait until it is done -> type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf     press Enter (Capital X)
find the spot where it says NVIDIA and change it to NV -> press CTRL-o press enter CTRL-x and write sudo reboot

thats it -> but remeber to set it back to NVIDIA after the setup!

HA! That worked! Got me through to the setup wizard at any rate! The downside is that I selected the medium graphics option (full screen images with no alpha blending), which I think my graphics card didn't like as after LMCE had finished building things it told me that it couldn't start OpenGL. I'll try the lowest setting tonight (ran out of lunch-break time!).

[ThePulse]

do this:
On boot press ESC to get access to GRUB boot option -> chose recovery
wait until it is done -> type: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf     press Enter (Capital X)
find the spot where it says NVIDIA and change it to NV -> press CTRL-o press enter CTRL-x and write sudo reboot

thats it -> but remeber to set it back to NVIDIA after the setup!

HA! That worked! Got me through to the setup wizard at any rate! The downside is that I selected the medium graphics option (full screen images with no alpha blending), which I think my graphics card didn't like as after LMCE had finished building things it told me that it couldn't start OpenGL. I'll try the lowest setting tonight (ran out of lunch-break time!).

no - now you have to set it back to NVIDIA again

[Stingly]

Really? I tried that actually, but just got the old no-signal-from-the-graphics-card thing again? I assumed that it hadn't quite finished with the "nv" settings...

[tschak909]

hey man, this will help...

after you put the 'nv' back to 'nvidia' use this page:

http://wiki.linuxmce.com/index.php/AVWizard

This will show you the numbers to press to get the appropriate input.

One thing to note with NVIDIA cards that have BOTH a DVI and a VGA output... The NVIDIA driver TREATS the DVI port as the first VGA port.. so if you need to, attach a DVI to VGA dongle to it, and connect your VGA connector there.

note to all others: please dear god, unless your card is definitely not supported by the vendor driver, DO NOT MESS WITH THE VIDEO SETTINGS UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! THE SYSTEM TAKES CARE OF THIS ITSELF. There are exceptions to this, and they are detailed in the wiki.

[Stingly]

One thing to note with NVIDIA cards that have BOTH a DVI and a VGA output... The NVIDIA driver TREATS the DVI port as the first VGA port.. so if you need to, attach a DVI to VGA dongle to it, and connect your VGA connector there.

You are a genius! Using a DVI-VGA adaptor, I can now see AND hear that Sara bird! Thanks very much!!