Half Screen?

[J_Chiocca]

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.

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

 

[J_Chiocca]

UPDATE: entering "Linux video=ofonly" made it work (with half a screen) as well, I changed the conf.org file so I don't have to type it every time and 800x600 res works but is too small can someone please help?

 

[The Stealthinator]

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?

 

[J_Chiocca]

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.

 

[nigelren]

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.

 

[The Stealthinator]

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.

 

[skittle]

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!

 

[nigelren]

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.

 

[J_Chiocca]

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.

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.

 

[J_Chiocca]

Here is a video of it starting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5dDuVjhulE&feature=youtu.be

Also keep in mind, although you can't see the other half of the screen I can click on the icons that are there, it's just not being displayed.

 

[The Stealthinator]

I saw the video. It is weird. Maybe if you can somehow manage it, go to display settings and change around the resolution. See if that works.

 

[J_Chiocca]

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.

 

[The Stealthinator]

Maybe Ubuntu isn't compatible with apple hardware. We know this is a software error so I'm not sure there is much you can do about it.

 

[J_Chiocca]

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.

 

[skittle]

You could also try debian ppc instead, may have better luck than ubuntu

 

[The Stealthinator]

How are you installing ubuntu? Off CD or usb?

 

[J_Chiocca]

It was a DVD, and also I installed OSx, it works great and I am happy with it for a home computer, thanks guys for all the responses.

 

[The Stealthinator]

So who are you selecting as the best answer ?

 

[J_Chiocca]

Best answer selected by J_Chiocca.

 

[Clayman1000x]

I think I know what the problem was, the monitor has a setting in it to stretch it either horizontally or vertically, my screen did almost the same thing till I messed with the monitor settings.