Display Blanks on start-up-Newbie

Just installed Zorin 9 Lite onto a Toshiba Satellite 1400-153E
(1.33GHz Intel Celeron with 740mb of RAM - Display not sure of the driver)

When Zorin starts up I get the normal blue screen with the Z then after 20-30 seconds the display goes blank permanently.
I think the laptop is still running Zorin as I can ping it from another PC and hitting the power button causes the disk to be accessed and final after a few second the laptop powers down.

I had to install Zorin twice because the first time during the installation the display did the same if I didn't touch the keyboard or mouse (Second time kept moving the mouse every few seconds) so I think this is something to do with display power saving/blanking.
Can't telnet to the laptop though

Assume there's some boot flag that could help out

I'm used to Solaris on SUNS and a bit Redhat/Fedora so OK with command line stuff.

Thanks in advance

Leigh

Hi Leigh,

first off, did you follow this advice when creating your boot media?:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4771

See here for boot options for Ubuntu based systems:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

Did the DVD at 8X (16X Maxell disks used) as I get buffer problems on my XP machine at high speeds. I also always verify after a burn but will redo another DVD at 4X (Slowest speed my DVD supports). and do a complete installation again.

Will let you know the outcome

Thanks for the info Wolfman

Burn't a new DVD and the same happens

1st - On installation if I don't keep moving the mouse the screen goes blank and then the only way out is to hit the power button
2nd - Once installed, Zorin gets a few seconds into the boot up and at some point the screen just goes blank.

Now I did notice a ali1535_smbus (also ali15x5_smbus) message during the installation, only appears for a few seconds but the message says to upgrade the bios or use a forced address of something.

Did a search on the net and found this posting http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2225527 The person had the same problem as me but no one came back so don't know if he solved the problem but it does show the message better
I also upgraded the BIOS from 1.2 to 1.3 - last update from Toshiba's drivers site (Dated 10/08/07) but did not correct the problem.

Any pointer as to where I go from here ?

Leigh

I think the issue with ali relates to Toshiba's novel sound chip set of that era.

Please post back the result of:

Code:

lspci

from a Terminal (Ctrl+ Alt+ T).

If you prefer a graphical response try installing 'hardinfo' from a terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get install hardinfo

Hi Leigh,

run "DPKG" per the update guide (network cable required) and see if things improve:

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Check your software settings againast the update guide!.

Will try the DPKG but here's the lspci output

00:00.0 Host bridge: ULi Electronics Inc. M1644/M1644T Northbridge+Trident (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ULi Electronics Inc. PCI to AGP Controller
00:02.0 USB controller: ULi Electronics Inc. USB 1.1 Controller (rev 03)
00:04.0 IDE interface: ULi Electronics Inc. M5229 IDE (rev c3)
00:06.0 Multimedia audio controller: ULi Electronics Inc. M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 01)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ULi Electronics Inc. M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+]
00:08.0 Bridge: ULi Electronics Inc. M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82551QM Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
00:11.0 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
00:11.1 CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC100 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade XPAi1 (rev 82)

Leigh

Tried the DPKG

First selecting Enable network, read/write, get follwing screen messages

fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
/dev/sda1: clean, 151487/1172736 files, 896767/4690944 blocks
dbus start/running, process 766
ModemManager [776]: <info> ModemManager (Version 1.0.0) starting...

network-manager start/running process 806
ModemManager[776]: <warn> Couldn't find support for device at /sys/devices/pci
0000:00/0000:00:0a.0`: not supported by any pugin


Then after a very long delay (2-3 mins) goes back to recovery menu console

Selecting dpkg

Get a load of could not resolve errors
Then message to upgrade 283 items (287MB of space)
Option to continue - Yes of course
Loads more Failed to fetch http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com ...... etc
Final E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
Finished, press enter and back to Recovery Menu

apt-get run via root console
Get some W:failed to fecth http://.....etc
Reading packing lists ...100%
Then comes up with loads of Failed to fetch .....etc
Then back to shell

Network lead is connected and link lights are on

Leigh

Just tried apt-get install hardinfo

Get option to install the item (1,054 kB)
Then a few could not resolve and Failed to fetch error

Tried http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ on another PC (on same network) in a browser and can see files so the archive is up

looks like the network parts not working as well on the Toshiba

Leigh

Hi,

change your software sources download location and run DPKG again!.

See this section of the update guide: "Changing your software sources download location:":

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2247

Changed the location to one in France and updated system (278MB) rebooted, same problem blue Z screen for a few seconds then blank screen.

While the laptop is booting up, the CPU Fan can be heard running at full speed, just and the screen goes blank the fan stops.

Tried updating the packages again, got 4 selections so the Kernel went from 3.13.0-32 to 3.13.0-46 so that got updated so selected then 46 recovery, then wireless, then dpkg - after a "scan" got told no packages to update and instead of rebooting I selected resume normal boot since nothing like graphic drivers had changed and after a list of staring .. messages the screen goes blank and the laptop stops.

The point where it stops in the list of messages above varies, 1st time it said "restoring sound.... something" so thought it was the sound drivers but having done 4 or 5 resumes the last start up message shown is never the same.

Would give up and try another laptop but I've a HP Pavilion that install fine but just locks up on boot up and a Ergo laptop I can't get to install - Just not had much luck with Zorin.

Thanks for your help guys.

Leigh

Hi Leigh,

I would say that Zorin doesn't like your particular grahics card?: "01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Trident Microsystems CyberBlade XPAi1 (rev 82)"

You can take a look here and you might need to modify the Grub entries at bootup:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2188841

I looked around the web and have found no other solutions thus far!.