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The screen is all glitched up

queien

Wed Sep 05, 2012 7:18:32 pm

I've been messing around with Zorin on my new laptop (this one: http://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavillion-G6-2 ... rds=laptop ) for a few weeks now. I started by trying to use a Zorin 5 disc that a coworker had given me. He told me it was the 64 bit version. However, after I tried it and it failed, I realized it was the 32 bit version.

I downloaded the 64-bit version of Zorin 6 and made my own live disc for the first time by using guides I found online. The disc seems to have burned properly. When I load it up, it gives me the usual menu. When I tell it to load off the live disc, it gives me the tri-colored loading bar at the bottom. Everything looks good, but then it says this: "hda_codec: Cannot build controls for #0: Error (-16)"

The screen then flickers a bunch of glitchy-looking colors, but continues to the desktop. The desktop looks normal until I either move the mouse or the CD stops spinning. Then, it has lines and lines of glitchiness all over the desktop that correct themselves if I hover over the task bar.

I don't know if this bit is important or not, but a while after it finishes loading, an additional icon appears near the "Z" start menu. It's tinged red. When I hover over it, it shows me the image of a black safe and the word "Backup."

Other than the screwed up screen, things seem to be running smoothly. I can connect to the internet (even though it's a bit of a pain because the glitchy lines cover up the window where I'm typing the password) and use the browser. What's exceptionally weird is, if I open most things (start menu, calendar, wifi connection status, wifi connection window...) and then close it again, the window will appear again whenever the screen goes into its glitched out mode. What I find even weirder is that the browser is immune to the glitched-out screen. The streaks of weird glitchiness go behind the browser and don't seem to effect it in any way. However, closing the browser adds it to the glitch screen.

When I go to shut down the computer, it tells me that shutting down the computer will close all my open programs even though I don't have anything open. Well, unless the "Backup" thing I mentioned earlier counts. I don't know if this message is a standard shut down message or not.

My goal is to install Zorin on this laptop. However, I don't want to even try if it keeps acting like this. Is there any way to fix it? If not, is there a version of Linux that's as easy to use as Zorin? I'm new to Linux and want something simple and fun.

queien

Wed Sep 05, 2012 8:31:35 pm

The closest option on the live CD was "safe graphics mode," so I tried that. The same "hda_codec: Cannot build controls for #0: Error (-16)" message appeared and it still flashed glitchy colors while loading. The desktop is still glitched out in the exact same way. What do you mean by editing the start command with the tab key?

Thanks!

queien

Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:56:21 pm

Thanks for the explanation!

I tried what you suggested, and everything still loaded exactly the same. :/

Now that you mention it, there's no sound, either. I honestly have no idea how to tell if the two are merged.

queien

Wed Sep 05, 2012 11:07:34 pm

I'm pretty sure they're the same. At the very least, I know I have an AMD processor and an AMD Radeon video card.

I couldn't find "additional drivers" under "administration." :/

What's different about Zorin 6.1 Lite?

Thanks for your help!

queien

Fri Sep 07, 2012 3:03:53 am

Zorin 6.1 Lite works just fine, though has no sound. Zorin 6 32 bit is glitchy in almost the same way that the 64-bit version is. The only difference is that instead of streaks of glitchy colors, the screen is mostly black.

It's a shame that the core OS doesn't seem to work with my laptop. It looks so much better than Zorin Lite. :/ But I guess I'll go with what works. Well, unless anyone else has any advice for me.

Thanks for all your help!

Wolfman

Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:33:25 am

Hi,

for sound:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2023

Also, check your system is up-to-date:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2247

In Lite, the sound manager is very funny, check the front mic settings, this normally stops sound and if you are not using it, disable it. Otherwise try using the Pulse Audio Manager!!.

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:29:10 pm

I decided to test the updates thing in the 64-bit version since the 32-bit version froze on me. After I started updating, the screen flickered to being unglitched and stayed that way, so that's good at least. But now it's frozen and has been like this for a good 20 minutes as of submitting this post. The disc is no longer spinning constantly like how it acts when it's loading stuff. Instead, it only spins when I move the mouse, which is the only thing unfrozen. The mouse also changes to a typing cursor when I hover it over the terminal, but nothing else moves or happens. The terminal is stuck on "Processing triggers for man-db." What should I do?

Update: I think I've given up on the core version of Zorin. No matter what I try, it still acts weird. I'm now seeing what I can do about getting Zorin Lite fully functional for me. I can't seem to figure out how to get to the mic settings. I tried installing Pulse Audio, but it doesn't work and gives me the message "connection to PulseAudio failed. Automatic retry in 5s."

Wolfman

Sat Sep 08, 2012 9:45:03 am

Hi,

did you burn the ISO file at the slowest possible speed??, if you didn't, you will get errors like the ones you are having now!!.

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Sat Sep 08, 2012 5:28:47 pm

Did not know that. Thanks! What number should I set the write speed to?

madvinegar

Sat Sep 08, 2012 6:44:00 pm

4x would be nice (if your burner allows it).

queien

Sat Sep 08, 2012 8:24:30 pm

Thanks for all your help!

I have a friend over and I tried the disc in her computer. It works just fine. I guess my laptop just isn't compatible with Zorin.

Update: I burned an Ubuntu disc (I used x10, the slowest possible write speed) just to test things out and had similar issues, just not quite as bad. The glitchiness of the screen stopped once everything was loaded, and there was no sound. Other than that, it worked decently. I also tried some other versions of Linux I had lying around (Slacko Puppy 5.3.1, Berry 1.16) as an experiment to test the whole lack of sound thing. The sound didn't work on either of them. I guess I'm fated to have no sound no matter what version of Linux I go with. :/

Wolfman

Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:26:03 am

hi,

if you checked out both the normal sound manager and Pulse Audio, you might find the switch or slider that is not quite where it should be, sometimes it is simply muted and you just unmute it!!. Simple as that really!!.

What is very important is to fully update the system once installed which may also solve the problem with new kernels etc:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2247

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Tue Sep 11, 2012 1:49:18 am

Realized that the sound issue was caused by the laptop having two sound cards. I turned off the one that the live disc was defaulting to and now sound works great in the core OS, though I still get the same codec error messages Also, I still can't manage to get sound in the Lite version. I tried moving the slider. It moves just fine. However, when I click out of it, it goes back to nothing.

In spite of figuring out what was wrong with the sound, the screen is still extremely glitchy in the core version. If anything, it's gotten worse. The glitchiness now takes up the entire screen instead of just the middle.

This is what the desktop looks like after I've opened and closed a few things. I had just clicked on Chrome, so the Chrome menu is the only thing that's truly there and not some sort of ghost. I only thought to take pictures after I'd messed with a few things, so I don't have any pictures of what it looks like on start up. However, start up looks a lot like that, just without the half-formed dialog bubbles , start menu, and task bar. The entire screen is just chaos.

Here is what happens after Chrome loads. The weirdness in the screen goes behind the browser. The browser itself works 100% flawlessly.

I learned from opening an earlier program that, if I move it around the screen a bit, the glitch pattern vanishes semi-permanently. However, once I close the program, the glitched screen comes back with a vengeance and error messages start to pop up saying that some program crashed. I can't recall what it was, but I think it was something like "Complz." It started with a C and had a P in it and I'm pretty sure it was only 6 letters.

This is what the screen looks like after closing Chrome. Now, normally there's no difference, but I wanted to illustrate exactly how weird this is, so I ran my mouse over the desktop icons, which made them show up through the mess.

Any further advice after seeing this?

madvinegar

Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:43:09 am

If it is compiz the thing that causes your glitches, try running the system in 2d mode.

Log out, in the login screen press the "Z" round button and select "zorin fallback mode".
Log back in and see if things look better.

Please also post the outcome of the following commands so as to see your GPU,drivers etc.
Code:
lspci | grep Video
sudo lshw -c video



As regards your sound problem try the following.
First open terminal and write
Code:
alsamixer

Using your arrow keys and the letter "M" look around and see if there is any bar muted or needs to be set higher. The "OO" means it is not muted. The "MM" means that it is muted". After that check to see if you get any sound.
Also in terminal write
Code:
gstreamer-properties

In the window that will open, the first tab is about sound. Experiment by choosing other sound schemes in the output options.

queien

Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:42:40 pm

Thanks for the info! Yeah, it was "compiz" that stopped working after I "fixed" the glitchiness.

When I tried to log out, it told me that three programs were running. All three were called "gnome-keyring-daemon" and all three were not responding.

I successfully managed to log out. The login screen has no glichiness. I managed to select the version you mentioned. However, it's saying that I need to provide a username and a password. I entered nothing and then pressed enter to try to get in because, well, it's the live disc. I shouldn't have a password. However, it said that the password was invalid. How do I log back in?

Anyway, for now I decided to restart my computer to see about running those commands.

Edit: The first command didn't work. Here are the results of the second:
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI
vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0300000-f033ffff

(This was all in the core OS)

Sound update:
I tried the sound thing in Zorin Lite. When I entered the first command, it listed my sound card as the one I disabled and said "This sound device does not have any controls."

Wolfman

Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:36:12 pm

Hi,

in Zorin Lite you have to add the controls in the sound manager, did you try Pulse??:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2023

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Wed Sep 12, 2012 2:57:58 am

Thanks. I tried installing Pulse, but got the same results.

madvinegar

Wed Sep 12, 2012 6:11:14 am

queien wrote:Thanks for the info! Yeah, it was "compiz" that stopped working after I "fixed" the glitchiness.

When I tried to log out, it told me that three programs were running. All three were called "gnome-keyring-daemon" and all three were not responding.

I successfully managed to log out. The login screen has no glichiness. I managed to select the version you mentioned. However, it's saying that I need to provide a username and a password. I entered nothing and then pressed enter to try to get in because, well, it's the live disc. I shouldn't have a password. However, it said that the password was invalid. How do I log back in?

Anyway, for now I decided to restart my computer to see about running those commands.

Edit: The first command didn't work. Here are the results of the second:
*-display UNCLAIMED
description: VGA compatible controller
product: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI
vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi vga_controller bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f0300000-f033ffff

(This was all in the core OS)

Sound update:
I tried the sound thing in Zorin Lite. When I entered the first command, it listed my sound card as the one I disabled and said "This sound device does not have any controls."


Hi.
Are you sure you copied and pasted the commands correctly. The 1st one should work without any problem.
Just try
Code:
lspci -nn

Anyway, when you are in a live mode, the username is "live" (without the quotes) and you leave the password blank.
Your GPU has no driver installed (inclaimed).
Give me the result of the lspci -nn to see if I can identify the driver needed.

queien

Wed Sep 12, 2012 3:54:41 pm

Fallback mode made everything look right! Thanks!

Here are the results of that command:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Complex [1022:1410]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device [1002:9990]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device [1002:9902]
00:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Port [1022:1414]
00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB XHCI Controller [1022:7812] (rev 03)
00:10.1 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB XHCI Controller [1022:7812] (rev 03)
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804]
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)
00:12.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)
00:13.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 14)
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson PCI Bridge [1022:780f] (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Hudson USB OHCI Controller [1022:7809] (rev 11)
00:15.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:43a0]
00:15.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Device [1022:43a1]
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 0 [1022:1400]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 1 [1022:1401]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 2 [1022:1402]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 3 [1022:1403]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 4 [1022:1404]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 5 [1022:1405]
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:0032] (rev 01)
04:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:5229] (rev 01)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 05)

The first command you gave me earlier still doesn't work, even when I copy and paste. Nothing happens. It just gives me a fresh line to type into.

Wolfman

Thu Sep 13, 2012 7:57:00 am

Hi,

try running the updater from recovery mode using "dpkg" but before you do, change the download location of your software sources and then do dpkg.

See also:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Its worth a try if nothing else.

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Thu Sep 13, 2012 4:44:46 pm

Is "recovery mode" the same thing as "safe graphics mode"? I don't see a "recovery mode" on start up. Also, in the tutorial, it mentions the possibility of having to run "fsck" before "dpkg." However, there doesn't seem to be any info on what fsck is or how to run it. How do I do this?

Thanks!

Update: I tried the "dpkg" thing in safe graphics mode and with an ethernet connection. It still didn't work. I then tried updating my system just as an experiment. It actually completed without freezing. I then logged out of Fallback mode and into the normal mode. The glitchiness was still there. :/

madvinegar

Fri Sep 14, 2012 5:27:45 am

Could you also login in normal 3d mode (with the glitchiness), open terminal and post back the result of the following commands

Code:
dmesg | grep VGA
dmesg | grep ATI
dmesg | grep AMD

queien

Fri Sep 14, 2012 4:06:49 pm

Here are my results. The second command didn't work.

live@live:~$ dmesg | grep VGA
[ 0.000000] Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
[ 4.478779] ACPI: Video Device [VGA] (multi-head: yes rom: no post: no)
live@live:~$ dmesg | grep ATI
live@live:~$ dmesg | grep AMD
[ 0.000000] AMD AuthenticAMD
[ 0.000000] RAMDISK: 7eaaa000 - 7ffff000
[ 0.000000] ACPI: SSDT 00000000bfbe1000 005E0 (v01 HPQOEM INSYDE 00000001 AMD 00000001)
[ 0.068010] CPU0: AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics stepping 01
[ 0.072003] Performance Events: AMD Family 15h PMU driver.
[ 3.262635] ehci_hcd 0000:00:12.2: applying AMD SB700/SB800/Hudson-2/3 EHCI dummy qh workaround
[ 3.262663] QUIRK: Enable AMD PLL fix
[ 3.272763] ehci_hcd 0000:00:13.2: applying AMD SB700/SB800/Hudson-2/3 EHCI dummy qh workaround
[ 3.523018] powernow-k8: Found 1 AMD A6-4400M APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)

queien

Sat Sep 15, 2012 1:13:43 am

I don't see any of that after selecting safe graphics mode. The screen usually just goes glitchy after I select it. >.> Other than the black screen with white text, all other loading screens look a lot like the pictures I posted earlier.

queien

Sun Sep 16, 2012 12:36:47 am

Did you reply to the wrong thread? I'm confused. ^^;

Wolfman

Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:01:33 am

queien wrote:I don't see any of that after selecting safe graphics mode. The screen usually just goes glitchy after I select it. >.> Other than the black screen with white text, all other loading screens look a lot like the pictures I posted earlier.

Hi,

yes!; I think Swarf posted in the wrong thread!!.

Have you tried the "nomodeset" option??:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2758&p=12478&hilit=nomodeset#p12478

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Sun Sep 16, 2012 5:06:36 pm

Nomodeset doesn't change anything for me. :/

I tried the 32-bit version because I read somewhere that it was more stable. However, it looked just as bad and froze up the second I moved the mouse. I can at least do stuff in the 64-bit version. :/ Shame... I'm starting to think that I should've gone with a different laptop.

queien

Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:50:22 am

I kept all the partitions that were on it because I had no idea what most of them were.

Wolfman

Mon Sep 17, 2012 5:22:58 am

Hi,

here is a guide about partitioning with some useful links too:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2601

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Mon Sep 17, 2012 11:53:18 pm

Yeah, that looks exactly like the way my partitions are set up. I'll get rid of the quickboot partition. However, I'm not so sure about getting rid of the recovery partition. My computer won't let me make a recovery disc.

Wolfman

Tue Sep 18, 2012 9:22:41 am

Hi,

HP normally include a built in tool for you to make a "Recovery Disk Set", you should check your apps list again!!.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docu ... e=bph07143

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Sat Sep 22, 2012 1:16:09 am

It wants to use 5 DVDs or an 18 GB thumb drive! Nope! Not worth it for just Windows. Thanks for the info, though!

Guess it's time to start messing around with the partitions. Wish me luck!

Wolfman

Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:56:10 am

Hi,

it might be worth your while just in case!!.

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Thu Sep 27, 2012 5:40:04 am

Maybe if I had more money to spare. :/ I'll see what I can do.

Btw, any info on what driver I need?

Wolfman

Thu Sep 27, 2012 10:37:28 am

Hi queien,

what driver are you refering to?.

Regards Wolfman :D

queien

Fri Sep 28, 2012 3:22:09 am

madvinegar wrote:Your GPU has no driver installed (inclaimed).
Give me the result of the lspci -nn to see if I can identify the driver needed.


From page 3. I posted the results of everything I was given.

madvinegar

Fri Sep 28, 2012 6:00:52 am

Please also give the results of
Code:
lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 VGA

and
Code:
fglrxinfo

queien

Mon Oct 01, 2012 4:19:21 am

live@live:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 VGA
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device [1002:9990]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1849]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device [1002:9902]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1849]
live@live:~$ fglrxinfo
fglrxinfo: command not found
live@live:~$

madvinegar

Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:52:53 am

queien wrote:fglrxinfo: command not found
live@live:~$


I am not very experienced in GPU drivers, but I am almost certain that you need to install fglrx to get the proprietary drivers for your card.
In terminal do:
Code:
sudo apt-get install fglrx fglrx-amdccclete

and probably you need the below too.
Code:
sudo apt-get install fglrx-updates fglrx-amdcccle-updates

You can use the 1st command, restart and see if everything works ok, If yes, maybe you do not need the updates.
If all works ok, please post again the result of
Code:
fglrxinfo


As I said, I am not very experienced in GPUs, so use the above commands at your own risk. If it will not work, I think we can restore the old condition by running
Code:
sudo apt-get remove fglrx* --purge

Wolfman

Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:12:02 am

Hi,

I would recommend you just do:

sudo apt-get install fglrx

and don't worry about the other packages, the ATI (AMD) drivers will install any other packages it needs automatically!!. ( you can also do this via Synaptic!)

Make sure your system is fully up-to-date before starting:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

I have an ATI GPU on my notebook and the command works fine, the only problem at the moment is that the update process can crash as there seems to be a problem with Ubuntu update at the moment:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3009

If you are having problems updating, change the download location of your software sources!!.

Regards Wolfman :D