How to get Gnome and the X Server working on a Compaq Presario SR1503WM

As we’re switching many of the computers where I work gradually over to Linux (to save on both software licensing costs, as well as to extend the life of the older hardware) I ran into a problem getting Ubuntu 8.10 running on a Compaq Presario SR1503WM.

The install went smoothly, absolutely no hiccups there. Even after the initial reboot everything looked kosher; the main X login screen would appear just fine. It wasn’t until I actually tried to log into the account I had created that there was a problem.

Effectively, just after logging in the screen would go completely dark with the exception of a one pixel band at the top of the screen where some of the desktop was displayed, and the mose cursor would render as well. Nothing else.

I initially tried to do a failsafe terminal session and run the old trusty “sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg” command, but that didn’t work. Following this, I did a little poking around and found that the SR1503WM uses an Intel graphics card, so I went to another failsafe terminal session and edited the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to the following:

Section “Device”
Identifier “Configured Video Device”
Driver “intel”
Option “AccelMethod” “XAA”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Configured Monitor”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Default Screen”
Monitor “Configured Monitor”
Device “Configured Video Device”
EndSection

In order to edit this file from a terminal I prefer to use pico as it’s much more straightforward than using vi.

Anyway, boot to a failsafe terminal session and after this type “sudo pico /etc/X11/xorg.conf”. Following that, change the file to match what I have posted above, use Control+X to exit, and make sure to save your changes. When you’re back to the main terminal screen type “exit” and press enter, after which you should be back to the X login screen. Be sure to click on “Options” and then “Change Session” and set Gnome back to the session you want. Try to login now and you should be golden.

EDIT: It should be noted that the two bolded lines above were the ones that I added to the xorg.conf file. The rest was already there, and is pretty standard for most X11 configuration files. Also, I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.04 after this and it loaded X/Gnome just fine without any tweaks to the conf file.