Why does Ubuntu work off the live disk, but not when I install?

[Mars]

When I run Ubuntu 11.10 off the disk it works perfectly, but when i install it it all goes to hell.

When it finally boots the mouse moves, but it does not show any programs on the left bar and does not allow me to go into programs . It also does not show anything on the top bar. I can swap to a terminal window and everything seems to be working there. I have tried to install new ati drivers, but nothing seems to make a difference on the desktop.

My specs:
Asus Crosshair iv formula motherboard
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Processor
AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series
6GB ram

Any help here?

 

[guest2013-1]

AFAIK you can't install it off a live disk (haven't played around with it lately so can't say for sure)

My guess is the Live CD is pre-setup with programs you still need to configure/install on your fresh install

 

[MyWorld]

Try and do an update after install. I found that it installs everything then that is needed.

In a terminal session:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Reboot once install is completed, install restricted drivers, reboot again and test it out now.

 

[Avenue]

are you able to access the system button in the top right?
if so then log out
on the log in screen, next to your name is a drop down where you can change the desktop. try unity 2d and/or gnome classic and see if those work.

do you by any chance have a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor? it may be cutting off the edge of the screen somehow. defaulting to a 16:9 aspect ratio??

 

[Mars]

Thanks for the replies!

Try and do an update after install. I found that it installs everything then that is needed.

In a terminal session:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Reboot once install is completed, install restricted drivers, reboot again and test it out now.

Yea I tried that first. Still the same afterwards.

are you able to access the system button in the top right?
if so then log out
on the log in screen, next to your name is a drop down where you can change the desktop. try unity 2d and/or gnome classic and see if those work.

do you by any chance have a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor? it may be cutting off the edge of the screen somehow. defaulting to a 16:9 aspect ratio??

No button. The screen is the correct aspect ratio too.

I am re-installing it from scratch again now..

 

[Mars]

AFAIK you can't install it off a live disk (haven't played around with it lately so can't say for sure)

My guess is the Live CD is pre-setup with programs you still need to configure/install on your fresh install

The install cd can be run as a live disk or installed. There might be another purely live disk, this is just the standard iso I downloaded.

 

[Mars]

Nope, I did the install, did the update and this is what I'm getting.

How would I install restricted drivers from the terminal?

None of the icons work..

 

[Mars]

Ok I got it working.

I manually downloaded the latest gfx drivers from the ATI site and installed them and it worked this time.
I have no idea why its different from last time maybe I screwed it up last time.

 

[Avenue]

that is very strange. Glad you came right though

 

[MyWorld]

What frustrated me with Ubuntu in the past is that all drivers and modules are not implemented with first boot for some reason, especially if you have restricted drivers on your system. For example, I only got the USB dongle WIFI going after the 3rd or fourth reboot. And it only happens on this particular hardware, other PC's have no problem.

I suspect that it has something to do with a module failing to load and then refusing to continue the process. Ubuntu can just be strange like that sometimes.

 

[oldhat]

Ok I got it working.

I manually downloaded the latest gfx drivers from the ATI site and installed them and it worked this time.
I have no idea why its different from last time maybe I screwed it up last time.

Very strange indeed, I had exactly the same issue with drivers downloaded from ATI site, but the restricted drivers from the repo worked perfectly?!?