Thinkpads Forum

Hello,

the last days I've been struggling to get X (Ubuntu 8.10) to work on my Thinkpad 240X (2609-62G, 192Mb RAM, 30GB).
What happens is that Ubuntu starts (showing the Ubuntu graphical logo) then, when X is started, vertical green lines appear in the upper half of the screen. Then the display becomes black. This ( vertical green lines / black) occurs two times more, then the display stays black. I know the laptop doesn't hand. If I type 'reboot' <ENTER> or press CTRL-ALT-DEL the machines reboots for instance.
I've recreated the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file with the command:

X -configure -probeonly

In the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, I see that X correctly detects the Siliconmotion LynxEM+ graphics card and the 800x600 modes.

Google-ing with "xorg.conf" and "thinkpad 240X" gave me some links to websites of people who have successfully installed Ubuntu on a ThinkPad 240X. I followed all of the advices given there (adding "HorizontaL Sync", "Vertical Refresh" and DefaultDepth entries to /etc/X11/xorg.conf) but it still doesn't work.
Hints like, remove the Display sections with the highest resolutions and/or bits per pixel (color depth) didn't help either.

From the /var/log/Xlog.0.log file I know X is using the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and not an other one.

I've tested my ThinkPad 240X with IBM's diagnostics diskette and alle components pass the test. The 240X is dual boot and Windows 98SE runs fine on it. No problems with the display.

In the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file, I find the error message:
AddScreen/ScreenInit failed for driver 0
On www.x.org/wiki/... I read that the cause for the error is a big monitor in combination with an old graphics card and that it the problem can be solved by:
"... deleting some of the highest resolutions of the deepest colour mode in the Screen section of your xorg.conf, or even the whole last Display subsection."
I tried, but the problem remains.

Has anyone a clue on this?
Or has anyone succesfully installed Xubuntu 8.10 (I used the alternative install) on a Thinkpad 240X with X working?
Can anyone post the xorg.conf file from a Thinkpad 240X that is known to work under X here?

Kind regards,

Erik Meussen
The Netherlands
Thinkpads: 365XD, 240X, A31, T40

I, too, was unsuccessful to get Ubuntu 8.10 working on my 240x, so I reverted back to 8.04.

The version of X that comes with Ubuntu 8.10 doesn't use the xorg.conf from /etc/X11, but rather autodetects the hardware every time and creates a new, temporary xorg.conf. (Atleast, that's what I got from different websites about that topic.)

Hello moronoxyd,

thanks for your reply. It never came to my mind that the problem might be release 8.10! I downloaded and installed Xubuntu 8.04.1 today, installed it indeed, X came up! Thanks again! I now have a working Thinkpad 240X under Xubuntu!

Kind regards,

Erik Meussen