[SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

BangBangBang · 2012-04-22 12:15:24

So after downloading the Crunchbang iso I fiddled with it a bit in a VM. I've never used GNU/Linux before, so I was surprised how easy it was to get it cooking. A VM is nice and all, but I wanted the real deal so put the iso on a bootable usb and installed it straight away (not first checking the live version because I thought I already tested it enough on a VM).

Went ahead and divided my 60GB Windows drive in two partitions, and used the installer to take the largest block of free space to install #!. Next, next, next, yes, yes and it installed very smoothly, just like the VM. Until a new step occured introducing me to GRUB. It said it detected Windows Vista (odd, since I'm running 7) and whether I wanted to overwrite its bootloader with GRUB. Sure, I assumed it would include my Windows partition in the GRUB boot menu.

A few minutes later the installer finished, rebooted and GRUB was thrown at me. Without the option to select W7. I thought I could fix that from #!, so I booted it and after some text, the console its font changed just like my monitor.

The rendering was severly messed up, like some glitchy faulty image file and I still can't make much of it. But this didn't happen in the VM! Let's try the live usb. Same messed up rendering. Fail safe version? Works like a charm! Not my laptop its native resolution, but at least it's something, huh.

So now, I have this:
- A GRUB menu without Windows
- A crunchbang installation which I can access but not use due to the screen being a mess
- A USB with crunchbang which I can only use the failsafe version of

How do I
1) boot into windows
and
2) fix the crunchbang installation so I can see something
or
2) remove crunchbang and pretend it was never there and try another distro

I Google'd and found something about grub-update, but the live version doesn't have it and I'm not going to run it on the installed #! because I won't be able to see what's going on.

I also read something about Hiren's Boot CD and running mbrfix to get rid of grub and get the w7 boot loader back.

What do you guys think?

PS: Hello!

Last edited by BangBangBang (2012-04-24 10:09:35)

erghiez · 2012-04-22 16:01:39

While waiting for the gurus to respond,

Can you do the grub-update in safe mode? I have installed cb in several computers, and always have to grub-update to add windows to the grub.
And any picture of the glitchy image?

rhowaldt · 2012-04-22 16:04:46

hi BangBangBang, welcome to the community!

is the screen glitched out only in GUI-mode, or in text-only mode as well? so when you boot into #!, and you do Ctrl+Alt+F1 to switch to tty1, is that glitched too? because if it isn't, you can work from there to do a 'sudo update-grub' to get your Windows-partition back into grub.

(oh, this is pretty much the same as what erghiez said... just read that now smile )

BangBangBang · 2012-04-22 16:16:34

Hi everybody!

I'll try to get a picture for you guys a.s.a.p. I'll also try to switch to textmode and see what I can do from there. Thanks for the responses, you will hear from me!

I managed to get in Windows by editing one of the grub options (e)

set root='(hd0, 1)'
chainloader +1
makeactive
boot

Too bad I have to type it every time because those edits are not persistent. Is there a way to use the grub console to add an option to the grub list or is too much of an hassle?

I'm also very annoyed by those system beeps which show up now and then in both the live version and the glitched installation (I'm greeted by two beeps for logging in, why?). Is this due to a configuration error or is this normal? Because if it is normal, why? Does every Linux distribution have this?

Last edited by BangBangBang (2012-04-22 16:17:32)

ivanovnegro · 2012-04-22 20:29:23

Some hardware specs would also be nice because of the glitches, what video card etc.?

lspci

always gives some useful output.

BangBangBang · 2012-04-23 05:44:50

Text only mode seems to have the same problem.

Here's some speccy data, as I'm not able to run the lspci command.

Operating System
            MS Windows 7 Enterprise 32-bit
        CPU
            Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T5600  @ 1.83GHz    58 °C
            Merom 65nm Technology
        RAM
            2,00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)
        Motherboard
            Dell Inc. 0KX350 (Microprocessor)    60 °C
        Graphics
            Generic PnP Monitor (1440x900@60Hz)
            64MB Quadro NVS 110M (Dell)    66 °C
        Hard Drives
            59GB Hitachi Hitachi HTS721060G9SA00 ATA Device (SATA)    33 °C
        Optical Drives
            TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-L632D ATA Device
        Audio
            High Definition Audio-apparaat

Here's a picture.

ivanovnegro · 2012-04-23 14:59:27

Seems you have an Nvidia card, maybe a drivers problem. You could install the drivers for Nvidia.

As for the Windows problem, someone that dual boots has to help here.

xaos52 · 2012-04-23 15:51:33

Try using the
nomodeset
boot parameter:
When the grub screen is displayed, position the cursor over the irst entry, enter 'e' (without the quotes - e for edit)
Position the cursor after the line starting with 'linux' using arrow keys.
Left arrow key to go to the end of the line starting with linux
add a space and 'nomodeset'
enter F10 or Ctrl+B to boot

I suspect nouveau is messing up your graphics.

If this works, you will be using the 'vesa' graphics driver. But once the system is installed and accessible, that can be remedied by installing the nvidia proprietary driver.

If graphics are nicer, update
/etc/default/grub

change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"

then run

sudo update-grub

reboot
Your windows install should now be included in the grub menu, and the 'nomodeset' parameter should be added to the linux line, so just selecting #! in the grub menu should now work.

If you now want to improve your graphics, let us know.

I am sure the beeps can be remedied.
No, they are not there for every linux distro.

hth

BangBangBang · 2012-04-24 06:58:05

xaos52 wrote:

Try using the
nomodeset
boot parameter:
When the grub screen is displayed, position the cursor over the irst entry, enter 'e' (without the quotes - e for edit)
Position the cursor after the line starting with 'linux' using arrow keys.
Left arrow key to go to the end of the line starting with linux
add a space and 'nomodeset'
enter F10 or Ctrl+B to boot
I suspect nouveau is messing up your graphics.
If this works, you will be using the 'vesa' graphics driver. But once the system is installed and accessible, that can be remedied by installing the nvidia proprietary driver.
If graphics are nicer, update
/etc/default/grub
change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="nomodeset"
then run
sudo update-grub
reboot
Your windows install should now be included in the grub menu, and the 'nomodeset' parameter should be added to the linux line, so just selecting #! in the grub menu should now work.
If you now want to improve your graphics, let us know.
I am sure the beeps can be remedied.
No, they are not there for every linux distro.
hth

Thanks a bunch, that worked; I'm currently replying via Iceweasel! I'm really seeing forward to improve my graphics, will perform a search to do so, but if you are willing to help, that's okay with me too.

Rebooting in 3, 2, 1-

xaos52 · 2012-04-24 07:14:10

Installing the nvidia proprietary driver should improve your graphics:

(1) install kernel sources: see http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/206630/#p206630
(2) follow instructions from the post above the mentioned one to install the nvidi driver.
WARNING: you might have to adapt instructions to your HW (32 bit vs 64 bit)

hth

BangBangBang · 2012-04-24 07:21:50

xaos52 wrote:

Installing the nvidia proprietary driver should improve your graphics:
(1) install kernel sources: see http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/206630/#p206630
(2) follow instructions from the post above the mentioned one to install the nvidi driver.
WARNING: you might have to adapt instructions to your HW (32 bit vs 64 bit)
hth

Returns the following:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-2.6.32-5-686'

I managed to turn off the system beeps by using this guide. Works like a charm.

BangBangBang · 2012-04-24 08:01:52

Update
Ran sudo apt-get update and after that the Linux headers were found. Followed the instructions and everything worked like a charm with the proprietary NVIDIA installer. Didn't have to use step 6-7-8 as it already installed fine. Thanks for your time xaos52, I can now explore the marvelous world of #! and Linux.

Last edited by BangBangBang (2012-04-24 08:02:17)

xaos52 · 2012-04-24 08:36:49

No problem.
Have fun.

ivanovnegro · 2012-04-24 08:56:43

And mark the thread solved by editing the title of your first post. smile

pvsage · 2012-04-24 13:18:41

BangBangBang wrote:

Ran sudo apt-get update and after that the Linux headers were found.

Looks like you missed the initial login script due to the video glitch; you might want to go ahead and run `cb-welcome` in a terminal. wink This will grab any security updates and patches, plus it will offer to install LibreOffice and set up printer support, among other things.

CrunchBang Linux

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#1 2012-04-22 12:15:24

[SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#2 2012-04-22 16:01:39

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#3 2012-04-22 16:04:46

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#4 2012-04-22 16:16:34

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#5 2012-04-22 20:29:23

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#6 2012-04-23 05:44:50

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#7 2012-04-23 14:59:27

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#8 2012-04-23 15:51:33

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#9 2012-04-24 06:58:05

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#10 2012-04-24 07:14:10

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#11 2012-04-24 07:21:50

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#12 2012-04-24 08:01:52

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#13 2012-04-24 08:36:49

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#14 2012-04-24 08:56:43

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

#15 2012-04-24 13:18:41

Re: [SOLVED] Monitor/video glitched

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