Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Solved

Half Screen?

Tags:
Last response: in Linux/Free BSD
Share

Hello all, this is my first time installing Ubuntu and second time installing Linux so I am pretty much a total newb, forgive my newby-ness. :D 

One of my friends recently gave me his old PowerPC G5. I have been trying unsuccessfully for about three days now to install Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on it.
I have reformatted it and managed to work out most of the bugs in it but there is one I cannot seem to fix, and that is the screen: when I start the machine, it gets to yaboot then the monitor displays "Input out of range" before I can even see the Ubuntu Logo (As soon as I should start seeing things.)

I have done some research and found out display problems are pretty common with the G5. I then was lead to try typing in
"Linux video=TV-1:D " in the yaboot prompt. When I did I was pleased to see everything was normal except one thing, about one half of the screen is not being displayed!!! Does anybody know some commands I could type in to fix this?

Computer Exact Specs:

Dual liquid cooled 2.3 GHz PowerPC 970FX G5s
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL
2.5 Gigabytes of PC3200 DDR SDRAM
250 Gigabyte 7200 RPM harddrive

More about : half screen

Register or log in to remove

I don't exactly understand what you mean. I get that only half a screen shows up when you try to install Ubuntu, but perhaps would it be possible for you to upload a video of what exactly happens? It might be easier for people to help you then. Maybe the monitor if just faulty. Does half a screen only show up during the installation or all the time?

Hello Stealthinator, thanks for the response.

I have checked this monitor with other computers and it works, I have also tried a different monitor with this computer and got similar results. Also, during the installation the full screen was being displayed, I will try to upload a video onto youtube and link it to here asap.
Related ressources
Ask the community

J_Chiocca said:
Hello Stealthinator, thanks for the response.

I have checked this monitor with other computers and it works, I have also tried a different monitor with this computer and got similar results. Also, during the installation the full screen was being displayed, I will try to upload a video onto youtube and link it to here asap.

Then you know it's the computer with the issue.

Does it only show half screen even in BIOS menu?
It sounds more like a hardware issue, either with the cable or the video card output... or maybe the graphics card is not seated in the AGP/PCI slot correctly?

unplug everything, and make sure everything is properly seated and secured!

skittle said:
Does it only show half screen even in BIOS menu?
It sounds more like a hardware issue, either with the cable or the video card output... or maybe the graphics card is not seated in the AGP/PCI slot correctly?

unplug everything, and make sure everything is properly seated and secured!

OP has posted that 'Also, during the installation the full screen was being displayed' so I would have thought the card is working OK - although it could be worth checking it by going into the BIOS and checking that the full screen is still used.

nigelren said:
Have you checked if there are any drivers needed - try running 'Additional Drivers' and see if it can detect any drivers are needed for your graphics card.


Yeah that was one of the first things I did, thanks for the advice though.

Quote:
Does it only show half screen even in BIOS menu?
It sounds more like a hardware issue, either with the cable or the video card output... or maybe the graphics card is not seated in the AGP/PCI slot correctly?

unplug everything, and make sure everything is properly seated and secured!


I is plugin in correctly, it worked fine with OS x, and also it doesn't have a BIOS... its a mac :??: 

Still working on uploading a video.

I got the the display menu, there were two options for resolution 1280x1024 (native) and 800x600. 800x600 works... mainly... there is still a (VERY) small area of the screen that is black, its super (small enough not to bother me) small but still there. Also everything is super big, like its hard to view a web-page big, I am pretty sure that there is way around this without having to use such a small resolution... its kinda a waste of a good graphics card.

Also, if Ubuntu keeps giving me problems I will just try to dig up an OS x 10.5 disc and install that instead.

Again, thanks for the response stealthinator.

I have researched this for a while and other people have had similar problems including "phantom" ports and such, I do not believe that my issue is one that other people are currently having with this software/hardware and due to the fact that PowerMac's are outdated it is likely that it will never be fixed

I am giving up on Ubuntu for this computer, just going to go find a copy of OS x.

Thanks guys for all the help guys.
Register or log in to remove
Ask the community
!