ATi "screen not found"

[Snapafun]

Hi.

Using a Toshiba Satellite L500D with ATi 3100 graphics. Installed to HDD and no problems. Away a while but when I returned to boot into PCLinucOS 2010 ( been playing with Windows 7 ) I get dumped to the command prompt, can log in and change to su but when I issue 'startx' I get "screen not found". I suspect that while in Windows the graphics updated and now PCLos cannot see the card anymore.

Is there a easy fix for this? I'm asking because its been a while since I used the command prompt to get things done AND I suspect that PCLos is OK otherwise. Would be a pity to have to start over.

Right now ( I boot Vista, Windows7 and PCLos ) the windows OS have no problem with graphics but PCLos dosen't see anything at all exept the boot startup screen and then straight to dos type command prompt.

I will not mind booting into basic graphic mode but do not recall how to do this. Once there I would be able to use PCC to get things up to date and PCLos (GUI) working for me again on this system.

Any suggestions anyone? Note: I'm not an advocate for re-installation unless it's really necessary because for me, it dosen't fix anything, nor does it identify the problem. So looking for a way to fix it if possible.

[smcs_steve]

I get dumped to the command prompt, can log in and change to su but when I issue 'startx' I get "screen not found".

Hello Snapafun,
Then -- did you try XFdrake  ?
>Steve

[pags]

I get dumped to the command prompt, can log in and change to su but when I issue 'startx' I get "screen not found".

Hello Snapafun,
Then -- did you try XFdrake  ?
>Steve

+1

A Windows update will not have any effect on Linux.  The updates are to software (drivers), and do not change the hardware (video card).

There is another cause, too be sure.

Use XFdrake (as suggested by Steve), and re-setup the video using the VESA driver.  This should allow you to log into PCLOS with a desktop.  From there, use the regular tools to re-setup your ATi card as appropriate.

[Snapafun]

Thanks

That worked a treat.

Now that I'm sending this from within PCLos I see that the ATi was updated  in Synaptic so will do the pcc thing to be sure things are OK.