48 replies to this topic

[bman]

So I have started a thread over on the Ubuntu forums but it does not seem to be going anywhere. I thought I'd try and post here and see what happens.

http://ubuntuforums....d.php?t=2106308 is the thread.

Basically, twice now, I have rebooted and came into Unity 2D mode. The first time seemed like it could have been something I did, so I re-installed. Though this time I didn't do anything that could have caused this, and yet it still happened. No matter what I do, logging out and choosing something else, the only thing that works is Gnome Classic (no effects), and Unity 2D.

Please read the thread fully to get the conversation. There is a lot of info over there.

[xorangekiller]

After reading your other thread, it definitely sounds like your problem is related to the proprietary AMD graphics drivers. fglrx has never worked well in my experience; I recommend that you try the open-source driver instead. (I realize that someone in the other thread pointed that out as well, but I'm not sure you configured it properly.) Try the instructions I posted here.

Edit: You may also want to read through this thread. It appears to be unrelated to your problem based on the first post, but it devolved into Mindovermaster and I discussing how to get his Radeon HD graphics card working in Ubuntu. I recommend that you read the whole thread, but pay special attention to this post in particular.

[Mindovermaster]

I second his motion. Use the open source Radeon drivers. Worked better for my 5770 and 6870 than the fglrx drivers.

[bman]

Is different versions of Ubuntu that different?

I know awhile ago I was running Ubuntu 11.04 I believe on the exact same system, and never had issues. Now this keeps happening for no reason? Kinda crazy.

Will read through all that and post back.

**So I went through it, and it's hard to see what is relevant to me and whats not since it's not exactly related. Obviously it's video related, be it hardware or software. It makes sense it's software since I am pretty sure the last time I used Windows it ran all ok.

So ok, it's the new 13.1 AMD drivers that just give up after awhile. Why is Ubuntu 12.04 so much different (in that respect) then 11.04. Kinda annoying.

The main reason I installed the proprietary drivers is because since Steam came to Linux, I wanted to try and play some games, like Skyrim under Wine, and with the open source it's not possible.

Of course I don't really play that many games anymore, and care all that much, playing HD videos is what I mainly do. It's just kinda annoying.

So, how do I go about COMPLETELY removing all of the 13.1 drivers I installed, and putting back the opensource? Every time I have done this before, tried, I end up being stuck outside Ubuntu on a black screen or console mode.

[Growled]

I've always had better luck with the open source drivers myself.

[xorangekiller]

So, how do I go about COMPLETELY removing all of the 13.1 drivers I installed, and putting back the opensource? Every time I have done this before, tried, I end up being stuck outside Ubuntu on a black screen or console mode.

The very first post I linked to has explicit instructions for how to do this.

Follow the instructions below to remove fglrx and revert to radeon.

# Remove the proprietary AMD graphics driver.
sudo apt-get purge $(dpkg --get-selections | awk '{if($1 ~ /fglrx/) print $1}')

# Backup and remove your X configuration file (if one exists).
[ -e /etc/X11/xorg.conf ] && sudo mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.fglrx.0

# Install the necessary packages necessary to get full graphical acceleration.
# Some (or all) of these packages may already be installed.
sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental libgl1-mesa-glx linux-firmware-nonfree xserver-xorg-video-radeon

# Reboot to apply changes.
sudo reboot

Is different versions of Ubuntu that different?

I know awhile ago I was running Ubuntu 11.04 I believe on the exact same system, and never had issues. Now this keeps happening for no reason? Kinda crazy.

Newer versions of Ubuntu ship with newer versions of virtually every package on the system. Sometimes those newer versions add new features, sometimes they fix bugs, sometimes they depreciate or remove outdated functionality, and sometimes, unfortunately, they introduce new bugs. With regard to your graphics driver problem, the issue is most likely the result of Ubuntu 12.04 shipping with a newer version of X which the proprietary AMD graphics driver was not properly tested against.

So ok, it's the new 13.1 AMD drivers that just give up after awhile. Why is Ubuntu 12.04 so much different (in that respect) then 11.04. Kinda annoying.

The main reason I installed the proprietary drivers is because since Steam came to Linux, I wanted to try and play some games, like Skyrim under Wine, and with the open source it's not possible.

Of course I don't really play that many games anymore, and care all that much, playing HD videos is what I mainly do. It's just kinda annoying.

If you were getting poor framerates with the open-source radeon driver, its most likely because you didn't have the proper firmware and/or MESA 3D libraries installed. Although the driver is open-source, it requires binary firmware to use some of the advanced features of the graphics card. Due to potential legal problems with its distribution, the firmware is not installed by default. The instructions I quoted above involve installing both of the aforementioned components.

[bman]

Thanks, I will give that a try.

I was just not sure if those instructions linked were general or to his setup.

[bman]

When I put in the first code this is what I got.

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  linux-headers-3.2.0-29 libgnutls-openssl27 linux-headers-3.2.0-29-generic
  libpython3.2 libc6-i386 lib32gcc1 libntlm0
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

Is that normal?

[Mindovermaster]

That means they are already installed, bman.

[bman]

I am confused.

I want to remove the AMD 13.1 Drivers, to reinstall the open source ones.

Was that not suppose to remove everything, so I can do the next steps.?

[bman]

Just waiting on confirmation,

Should I continue and do the next steps, or do what it says and apt-get autoremove?

[cybertimber2008]

The packages that were left are ok to leave alone.
Linux-headers = Linux kernel source, etc. Nothing ATI was left, so continue on.

[bman]

Yes but at the end it says


0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.


Shouldn't something have been removed, I was trying to remove the drivers...

[bman]

So I went ahead and did the rest of the steps anyway, and rebooted and nothing has changed.

So to me seemed like nothing was removed or changed from that command, I can even still see the AMD Control Center in my menu, so....?

[xorangekiller]

Apparently nothing was removed because the proprietary AMD graphics drivers were not installed in the first place. If you followed the remainder of the steps and you are still stuck in Unity 2D, you must have another problem. At this point, the contents of your /var/log/Xorg.0.log would probably help more than anything else. (Also, running sudo apt-get autoremove is a safe operation. It will remove any packages that were installed as dependencies to packages which are no longer installed.)