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Screen Blinking On & Off After OS Update

cn flag

I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 14.04 to 16.04, and immediately after system restart the screen kept blinking on and off. I 'solved' the issue by lowering the resolution (not my favorite). So ultimately the problem is with a reso of 1920x1080, which the my television supports (worked fine before).

I'm new to Ubuntu. I revived an old Samsung Rv511 with a fried LCD to use as a home server and connected it to a television (worked fine on 14.04). The laptop has an Intel Ironlake graphics card.

Does anybody have a solution -- something has to work.

Nmath avatar
ng flag
14.04 has been EOL for over 2 years and 16.04 is also EOL. Your best path is to install a supported release. Upgrade at this point is not worth the effort since you have no clear path to upgrade to a supported release.
WTRIX avatar
cn flag
I was under the impression that 16.04 is the final stop for 32bit systems (especially with 2gb ram). What distro would you suggest? I just played it safe with the official releases. Initially I read some interesting posts on the latest Unity release, but...
guiverc avatar
cn flag
[Ubuntu 16.04 LTS has reached the end of it's *standard* support life](https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2021/03/13/extended-security-maintenance-for-ubuntu-16-04-xenial-xerus-begins-april-30-2021/) thus is now off-topic here unless your question is specific to helping you move to a supported release of Ubuntu. Ubuntu 16.04 ESM support is available, but not on-topic here, see https://askubuntu.com/help/on-topic See also https://ubuntu.com/blog/ubuntu-16-04-lts-transitions-to-extended-security-maintenance-esm
guiverc avatar
cn flag
The final stop for i386 system was actually 19.04 with i386 packages built for the entire life of the product. Only Lubuntu & Xubuntu were producing i386 ISOs in the *disco* cycle (*alpha* stage anyway) but any installs or upgrades (including other flavors) got updates the entire life of 19.04. The last supported i386 system is now Ubuntu 18.04 LTS; Ubuntu Desktop however did not provide ISOs past 17.04 for i386, so systems supported had to be upgraded unless flavor.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
The last i386 ISOs I was involved in QA-testing were 18.04.5 released August-2020 https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2020/08/14/ubuntu-18-04-5-lts-released/ where I used a pentium 4 (x86 only), many pentium M (1GB, 1.5GB etc) and even tested in a very under-powered x86 celeron (732MB usable though box claimed 1GB) 16.04 means the 2016-April release which was **not** the end of i386
guiverc avatar
cn flag
If you need i386; the latest I've QA-tested hasn't been released yet, but I use the pentium M laptops in testing Debian 11/Bullseye (*non-free* only) and it was good. The pentium 4 didn't power up and won't be fixed, I didn't want to use the celeron (it didn't perform well with debian *buster* either; seeming to like only Lubuntu 18.04 due lack of RAM or limited-CPU and I didn't care enough to explore). Debian & EOL/ESM releases are off-topic here; support provided via ESM (paid support is available for 16.04)
WTRIX avatar
cn flag
I did some searching on the releases you mentioned and found some of the non-LTS releases such as 17.04 did indeed support 32bit systems. I may have to consider downloading those if they prove stable. Either way 32bit machines are being ditched so a non-LTS wouldn't hurt.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
18.04 is still being supported so it's where I'd head (I have a x86 only laptop still running Lubuntu 18.04 LTS, and yes if I run `ubuntu-support-status` some packages are out-of-support, but key packages are still receiving security-updates thus I'd avoid an EOL release unless your box is off-line, given there are still supported/patched options available); I talk about it here https://discourse.lubuntu.me/t/lubuntu-18-04-lts-end-of-life-30-april-2021/2466/7).
WTRIX avatar
cn flag
As for my graphics issue, it turns out that running a browser can stop the blinking that occurs at 1920x1080, but videos on youtube for example would be glitchy, until I drop it to 1280x720. I'm guessing they messed up some of the intel drivers in the 16.04 upgrade, and since these are tightly bound to ubuntu there's probably nothing much to do about it. I searched up alternative drivers for hours and found nothing. The laptop's lcd is fried - it was a nightmare trying to change the boot order on guesswork - so anything that disrupts the hdmi output would be as good as a blank screen.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
Drivers are actually kernel modules; intel is active and writes much of it themselves (though they like all companies are interested only in newer products). Many laptops will let you use external displays for everything (fn-display) others don't - firmware dictates that. but you're off-topic on 16.04 here and I've already provided the on-topic & ESM links which have other support options
WTRIX avatar
cn flag
Thanks for the advice. I guess I was sort of reluctant to trying Lubuntu but I'll have to test it out. It's either that or I reinstall 14.04, which was so outdated I couldn't even host a wi-fi hotspot because the other devices rejected the security standards... so that defeats the purpose of a home server. Thanks again.
guiverc avatar
cn flag
I mention Lubuntu as I'm involved with them & thus know it pretty well (easy for me to find links really)... but i386 exists for *bionic*, eg. http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/bionic-updates/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/ however fewer install options were available - it was supported as I've already said.
WTRIX avatar
cn flag
I'm currently downloading ubuntu mate 18.04.5 which I plan to test out on an external hdd before replacing ubuntu 16.04 on the main drive. This is as good a solution to my problem as any so thanks for the help. As for my initial issue with the graphics, running at 1280x720 isn't so bad (it actually has some appeal on a big screen). I'm hoping projects such as mate, lubuntu, etc., get more attention to give retro machines a chance at new life. If I hook up this device in the lounge for example I can give smart TV's a run for their money with an old box that would have ended up in the pollut...
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