[SOLVED] Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

Recently, my father bought a new PC.
So i took the old one so i could experiment with it! Put some linux on that MoFo :p
But not a day has passed, or i'm allready having trouble..

I installed Ubuntu 11.04 but i had artifacts all over the place!
(wasn't even doing anything yet)
Then installed Linux Mint 11. Same problem but less severe..

What could have caused those artifacts?

These are the specs of my pc: ( i think because we bought it second hand from a guy who assambled it himself)
- CPU Intel Celeron D 3.06GHz
- Intel 865G chipset
- RAM 2x 512MB DDR400
-Graphics Intel 82865G integrated graphics controller (128MB)

this is the motherboard:
http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?Model=775i65G

I find the specs terrifying but it's bether than nothing at all..
Hope someone can help me point out what the problem is or what i can do to 'cure' it ;)

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

What do you mean for artifacts? Strange, anomalous images on your screen?

However the place to search for help is http://www.ubuntuforums.com

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

yes, i can't really explain but black squares and sometimes flickering..
i once asked for help on ubuntu forums.
The first reply i got was after 2 months.. problem was allready fixed so i'm not excited to go there again :)

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

Can't say for sure what the problem is, but it might be the graphics drivers, or it could possibly be flaky hardware.

First I would check the BIOS settings, if it is overclocked at all, return it to default speeds and voltages. Also try changing the amount of RAM the integrated graphics uses to min and max if you can, to see if that has any effect.

Next try a different version of Ubuntu (e.g. 10.04 which is the LTS (long term support) version).

You might also want the check for bad RAM, set the RAM for the graphics to the minimum and run memtest86 (which is installed by default with Ubuntu you just need to select it from the GRUB boot menu), you'll want to leave this running overnight at least, maybe 24 hours if you can, this is likely to pick up bad RAM but not guaranteed to, it has missed bad RAM I had. I don't think the problem is likely to be caused by bad RAM, but it is worth checking anyway especially since this is an old machine.

Failing that you might want to pick up a cheap graphics card to replace the internal graphics. I think NVidia is the best choice here, but I haven't looked at graphics cards for ages so you might want to do your own research on it.

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

there are well known issues with older intel graphic chips. Rather than ask on the forums try a search. There is a PPA repo with updated intel drivers that may help.

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

@ handaxe
I actually did search the internet but i did not find anything about my specific problem.. That's why i posted here :) i'm useally the "Google is your friend" guy but google wasn't my friend today
But thanks for the info!

@retsaw
I checked the BIOS, updated it to the latest version.
It'll probably be a problem with the internal graphic card..
Maybe i shoud get a cheap one :) Thanks

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

Have you tried updating the graphics drivers to the latest version?

Intel 82865G Drivers

Integrated graphics aren't the best for much by a long shot. OK for general computing (Word Processing, web viewing, little bit of photo editing) but take it beyond that and you're asking for trouble.

That motherboard is pretty old now, but I'm sure you could pick up a pretty decent AGP graphics card quite cheaply. The integrated graphics of that board only support DirectX 8.0 by the looks of it. DirectX 9.0c is the latest version for AGP now.

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

Get an nVidia video card and you're done.

Re: Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

I was following a tread on Linux Mint forums from a guy who got the same problems.
He fixed it by installing mint 10 instead of 11. Then in the settings menu he unchecked "Enable desktop effects".

i only read it this morning so i got ubuntu 10 LTS running now and it works fine :)

But i should still look for a new graphic card somewhere :p

Thanks all!

Re: [SOLVED] Suffering from artifacts in linux
 

Just as i finished writing my previous comment my dad called me.
He asked me to get something from the attic.

Suddenly, an old PC (even older than the one i have now).
I opened it and found a shiny ATI Rage 128 pro ultra!
Seems like i don't have to buy one after all ^^