[SOLVED] Ubuntu 9.04 display problems

[mrs1179]

I'm brand new to Linux and just installed Ubuntu 9.04 on a 5-year-old Gateway 4520GZ laptop. If I open an application, the window displays correctly. However, if I open a second application, the display on the first window will sometimes turn to unreadable garbage. If I maximize the garbaged window, it usually clears the garbage and displays normal. I've tried this with several different applications and it seems to happen with all of them. Are there some settings I could change to clear this up? Or are there display or video drivers that I need to install? Any ideas would be appreciated.

[devils casper]

Hi and Welcome !

It looks like Graphics Card problem only.
Execute this

sudo lspci | grep -i vga
grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Post output here.

[mrs1179]

I went to Applications > Accessories > Terminal and entered these commands. The first one prompted me for my password, but gave no results. The second command gave no results.

[devils casper]

Just type correct password and hit Enter. Nothing will appear on screen, not even '******'.

[mrs1179]

Results:

mark@mark-Linux-laptop:~$ sudo lspci | grep -i vga
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
mark@mark-Linux-laptop:~$ grep -i driver /etc/X11/xorg.conf
mark@mark-Linux-laptop:~$

[devils casper]

Press Alt+F2 and type this

gksu gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

It will open xorg.conf file in Gedit with root privileges.
Copy this code :

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Generic Card"
	Driver		"vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	30-71
	VertRefresh	50-160
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Generic Card"
	Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"1280x1024" "1024x768" 
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier	        "Default Layout"
	Screen		"Default Screen"
	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
EndSection

Save file and Logout. Press Alt+Ctrl+BackSpace or reboot machine.

[mrs1179]

Thanks for the information. I have applied the code and rebooted. I still have the problem, but I'm now seeing a pattern. If I have 2 windows open such that one is partially on top of the other, I can grab the top window and move it without any problem. However, if I grab the edge of the window on top to resize it, it will turn to garbage the part of the back window behind the portion of the top window that got resized. Then if I drag the top window, it garbages the portion of the window below that is getting dragged over. There may be other situations that I haven't found yet, but this is what I am seeing now.

[devils casper]

Replace "vesa" with "i810" in xorg.conf file.

[mrs1179]

Apparently I did not save the first change you asked me to make, because when I went to make the second change, it looked like the default file. So I reapplied the original code you gave me, saved, quit and rebooted.

Now when it boots up I get the following error:

Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode.
The following error was encountered. You may need
to update your configuration to solve this.
(EE) Problem parsing the config file
(EE) Error parsing the config file

[devils casper]

(EE) Problem parsing the config file
(EE) Error parsing the config file

Contents of xorg.conf file are not correct. Verify it again. In case it doesn't work, rename xorg.conf file.

cd /etc/X11
sudo mv xorg.conf xorg.conf.bak