Boot problems No suitable Mode (Dell X300)

[brandonsexton]

Just did an upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04 through the update manager and now I can't boot into the OS.

I receive these two errors:

error: no suitable mode found.
error: unknown command 'terminal'.

After these two errors. Screen flashes with the red/white loading circles and Ubuntu logo.

After that just goes into a black screen. Any help is appreciated.


Thanks

[snoolan]

Hi,
I have encountered the same problem.
I reinstalled a Beta version (31/3/10) of 10.04 and got the 2 error messages BUT the Ubuntu Logo came up, then the system came up!
I did an update to the 10.04 LTS release and the PC ran perfectly all day, but when I rebooted it - same problem (Ubuntu logo, then nothing).
I reinstalled the Beta today, just so I could get some work done and it seems to be running ok.
What is the difference between the Beta and the Released version?

[genoceres]

Hi,

I have also experienced this problem. It looks like Xorg is having difficulty auto-detecting the graphics card.

I have come up with a workaround as follows.

Put ubuntu 9.10 onto a usb stick, boot up from this in "try it out" mode. (see www.pendrivelinux.com for how)

Log out (but don't reboot).

As root, kill off Xorg from a spare session.

run this:

Xorg -configure

mount your hard drive somewhere sensible

e.g.

cd /root/
mkdir tmpmount
mount /dev/sda1 tmpmount

then copy the new xorg.conf into place

cp /root/xorg.conf.new /root/tmpmount/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Reboot, and hopefully it should all boot up happily

[snoolan]

The problem is that the Video mode is set in '/boot/grub/grub.cfg' to an incorrect value (hence the error message!)

around line 36: set gfxmode=640x480

This file is not one that you should hand edit, but is generated by running '/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig'

To change this apply the following
0. You need access to the configuration files, so you will need to boot a live CD, such as earlier versions of Ubuntu or Knoppix
1. become root
2. cp /boot/grub/grub.cfg /boot/grub/grub.cfg.original // take a backup of the file
3. chmod +w /boot/grub/grub.cfg // make the file writable
3. cp /etc/grub.d/00_header /etc/grub.d/Original.00_header // take a backup of the file
4. open /etc/grub.d/00_header for editing (use vi, nedit or some other editor), then
around line 39, there is the following line
if [ "x${GRUB_GFXMODE}" = "x" ] ; then GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480 ; fi
change it to
if [ "x${GRUB_GFXMODE}" = "x" ] ; then GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32 ; fi
- or some other resolution you KNOW your screen will handle.
5. save the file
6. run the following instruction (without quotes)
'/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig > /boot/grub/grub.cfg'
7. chmod -w /boot/grub/grub.cfg // make the file read only
8. Reboot & you should get the grub boot selection screen

Note that this is supplied on an all care / no responsibilty basis, but it worked for me!

[Cr0wley]

Thanks for the advice/help all, but I'm afriad I'm having problems following your recommendations.

I've booted from a 9.10 CD and attempted to follow both guides, each time getting stuck:

As root, kill off Xorg from a spare session.

I've logged off, Alt-F1'd to the command line. When I run 'sudo kill Xorg', kill complains that it can't find the process. I can't do a ps -ef | grep Xorg because I can't find where the | key has been mapped to (it's not where it should be on a UK keyboard.) Attempting to 'Xorg -configure' compains that the process is still running.

1. become root

I love this suggestion, and think I could quite happily follow the rest of the steps, but am stumped at #1. Can you please explain how I become root beyond using sudo, and change the root folder to that of the hard drive, instead of the CD I've booted from?

Thanks in advance for any help!!

[Cr0wley]

1. become root

From http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=422523

sudo mkdir /mnt/repair
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/repair
sudo chroot /mnt/repair su

However, I'm not quite there...

root@ubuntu:/# /usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig > /boot/grub/grub.cfg
/usr/sbin/grub-probe: error: cannot find a device for / (is /dev mounted?).

[rajn]

Hi,
I have the same problem though in my case eventually I am able to launch the desktop. But every boot has a long wait with two error messages.
'error: no suitable mode found'
'error:unknown command 'terminal''

I upgraded from Karmic to Lucid Lynx 10.04. on a working Vaio PCG FX220. Karmic worked well though with some changes to Xorg due to screen resolution problems which ultimately got resolved.

However, after upgrading to 10.04, I am having problems on booting up which get resolved but after about a long wait of a minute or more..I get these message
'error: no suitable mode found, unknown command 'terminal'.'

This is followed by a long 1-2 minute wait. Then a garbled screen and suddenly I am launched into the desktop.

And I tried all possible workarounds as suggested in this post i.e., changed the mode to 1024x768 in /etc/default/grub

or as suggested in

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...b2/+bug/519358.

by editing header 00 in grub.d
specifically..
if terminal_output gfxterm ; then true ; else
# For backward compatibility with versions of terminal.mod that don't
# understand terminal_output
if terminal gfxterm ; then
true
fi
fi
But to no avail....

Wonder if any suggestions in http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1469475 would work for me?

I would really like to know what is causing this. How did everything work in Karmic? Can I copy the previous grub .lst file into grub.cfg and resolve the issue?
Thanks

[belwood]

Same black screen on boot-up for me -- however, if on the grub boot-screen I choose the 2.6.31-20-generic instead of the 2.6.32-22-generic, it appears to boot fine (except for a couple of mount errors which I don't understand.

Also, if I choose recovery mode and select failsafeX startup, it works fine too.

Strangely my /boot/grub directory DID NOT have a grub.cfg and by generating a grub.cfg, changing the res and putting in /boot/grub, the black-screen of death happens AFTER login.

I hope this helps someone find the real problem.

[jamsh]

Just did an upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04 through the update manager and now I can't boot into the OS.

I receive these two errors:

error: no suitable mode found.
error: unknown command 'terminal'.

After these two errors. Screen flashes with the red/white loading circles and Ubuntu logo.

After that just goes into a black screen. Any help is appreciated.


Thanks

I have exactly this problem after updating last night.
How do I get my x300 running again?

[jamsh]

Forget it. I've gone back to 9.10.
Maybe, someday, this will be fixed.