On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:31:07 +0000 Mark Rogers mark@quarella.co.uk wrote:
See screenshot: http://www.more-solutions.co.uk/files/12032010325.JPG
I have tried two identical PCs in case the problem is system or video memory.
I had a similar issue with the Ubuntu installation CD - it would give an unusable display very similar to that. The work-around that enabled me to run the installer was to connect the same PC to the same monitor with a BNC cable (rather than HD15) thus preventing reading EDID data from the monitor and forcing "safe" settings.
Unfortunately I cannot remember which PC had the problem but I don't think I have any PCs with the Intel chipset you mention so the problem may be wider than that - for example choosing a video mode based on the monitor saying it supports it (or even prefers it) but the X driver for the chipset does not know how to program the various timers correctly.
If enabled X can cycle through possible video modes with, IIRC, Ctrl-Alt KP+ and KP- so it may be worth trying that to see if you get a stable display.
Alternatively if you can force the "safe" mode as I did (sounds like the KVM does not connect the data lines for EDID) you could experiment with forcing X to use a different mode by editing xorg.conf and I think there is something in the archive on this list for doing that with Ubuntu.
HTH, Steve.