Hey people, A few days ago, My ubuntu disc's came through the post. So I tried out the Live CD and it loaded up all fine, got passed the splash screen where all the components load and then i get a black screen (Blank), and then my monitor displayed a blue background with white text saying "Signal out of reach", which I think flashed every few seconds. First thought was a disc error so I tried another live cd (I have 5 sets) but got passed the splash screen and it happened again. I then began to thought it would be my graphics card, which I wouldn't be suprised if it was. So now I move on and do the full installation of Ubuntu 5.1.0. This time it displays the same error. So im really thinking of upgrading the graphics card at christmas, if i have any letover money. Anyway, if anyone could help I would appreciate it very much! Really want to move on from windoze. :x: -Over and out, Chris
The problem you're having is likely caused by the frequency range being too great for your monitor to support, not necessarily the video card. Cheap monitor? But if you really do have the 3DFX Banshee listed in your specs, an upgrade might not be such a bad idea after all. Nvidia has the best supported 3D drivers in Linux (and they're the ones who bought 3DFX, by the way), so I'd recommend you go that route. If you don't plan on gaming at all, perhaps look into a budget card like a 440MX or an FX5200. If you're going to do any gaming, the 6600 or 6800 is a pretty good value right now. Just avoid cards by ATI unless you don't ever plan on gaming, as their Linux 3D drivers are abysmal. Actually the drivers for ATI cards models < = Radeon 9200 are fairly well supported, but the 3D performance still isn't great.
This is strange because I installed Ubuntu and never even gave it a second thought.... What card have you got? One thing I liked about Mandriva was that you can control every aspect of the install from a-z. I cannot remember having the option with Ubuntu.... Have you tried their forums? http://www.ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=90
My Specs are to the left.. -- Can't find anything with the issue on that forum. Thanks! It's a pretty nice monitor. Im not going to be gaming, and I might buy the FX5200. Thanks AT.
Some good points, sabashuali. I have installed Ubuntu on a couple of old-world Macs, and it worked pretty well. I do prefer Mandriva over Ubuntu, as that's what I'm typing this on and what my wife uses as well -- in fact she's been running the same installation for two years now without a single problem. But I digress; while a video card upgrade might not be a bad idea, I don't think it's the problem here. I suspect the monitor. Either the resolution, the refresh rate or both were set too high for the monitor to display the image. Edit: Since I see you have a flatscreen, likely Ubuntu has the refresh rate jacked up higher than your TFT can support! Sabashuali is right, Mandriva is better for hardware auto-detection (and for many other things).
