Using Ubuntu on HP 6515b ( ATI X1250 )

Posted on October 7th, 2007 | by Ankur Shrivastava |

So there are a lot of people having trouble installing Linux ( Ubuntu ) on those ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 or any other ATI card here is the solution ( i have given this example with ubuntu but it can be used with any other Linux distro ) first go to ATI’s site and download the driver then all we have to do is boot into your linux distro and just install the drivers, for that we will first need a copy of the drivers on HDD or flash drive, and then just cd into that directory and type
sh ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run
where ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run is the name of the driver file with me, it will start the install procedure just follow that and after the install just configure your resolution with
aticonfig --resolution=0,1280x800
as my resolution was 1280×800 your can be 1024×786 or some other just type what ever it is.
after this we just need to start the X server again type startx and enjoy every thing in graphical mode.

Note:- if you used a Live CD you will have to install the drivers 2 times first for the live CD and then for your system, enjoy!!!

Ankur Shrivastava


  1. 15 Responses to “Using Ubuntu on HP 6515b ( ATI X1250 )”

  2. By Viren Bhanot on Oct 25, 2007 | Reply

    Thanks mate. I’m the same guy who asked you for help.
    I’ll give this a shot and pray that it works!

  3. By ubuntu newbie on Oct 29, 2007 | Reply

    Hello ,
    I do have this problem with my X1250 and thank you verymuch for giving us elements of a solution, but when you write :

    “first go to ATI’s site and download the driver then all we have to do is boot into your linux distro and just install the drivers,”

    are you sure that they exist because i have searched the whole ATI site and no sign of a X1250 driver :s. If you did find it, could youy please tell me where or with which command ?

  4. By Ankur on Oct 30, 2007 | Reply

    well mate there are official Linux drivers available from ATI but they don’t offer 3D acceleration as of now there are some talks about they going to release it so lets hope for it
    anyway you can find the drivers on the ati site http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html download it
    boot from the CD then mount the disk where u have saved those drivers sh and u are done

  5. By Manish Sinha on Nov 16, 2007 | Reply

    Well done Ankur! Its quite a headache for a newbie if he/she doesnt know about the problem (what really did happen when the Xserver crashes)
    Well i too didnt knew this method, even though i have been using for a year, and never ever faced this problem as my computer doesnt have a graphics card

  6. By Ankur on Nov 17, 2007 | Reply

    it displayed a message saying that there was something wrong and the x server failed to load, then it asks if i want to see the detailed log

  7. By Tuxhimself on Nov 24, 2007 | Reply

    yes - you want to see the detailed log to know what was wrong…

  8. By sarit on Jan 7, 2008 | Reply

    Thanks for advice.
    Have you ever got this problem on Debian 4.0 etch
    on an AMD64X2 ?
    I use HP Compaq 6515b with ATI radeonX1250 (the same as you).
    #aticonfig –resolution=0,1280×800
    #error at set screen resolution : screen0 does not exist
    aticonfig : parsing the command-line faild.

  9. By sarit on Jan 7, 2008 | Reply

    By
    #dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
    Then don’t forget to cross mode 1280×800
    BEFORE this command
    #sh ati-driver-installer-8.40.4-x86.x86_64.run

    So Debian will display correct resolution.

  10. By Ankur on Jan 8, 2008 | Reply

    hey i have tried it with Debian and it worked for me …..
    anyway i have a better way to install drivers http://warofwords.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/3d-effects-on-ubuntu-710-on-ati-1250/
    this post was just as a last resort as it wont give u AIGLX support the link i gave you is better

  11. By josh on Feb 7, 2008 | Reply

    Ankur… thanks for the help in advance… I’ve got Ubuntu Gutsy… I’ve got the ATI driver burned onto a CD and onto a SD card… what I cannot do is find the file from the terminal… I put the Gutsy CD in… it tries to run… xserve dies… I hit CTRL+ALT+f1 and then try to find the ati file either on my second CD or on the SD card… NADA…

    please help :)

  12. By Ankur on Feb 7, 2008 | Reply

    well you need to mount the SD card first onto some folder
    so first insert the card and type ’sudo -i’ to become root
    then type ‘mkdir /mnt/free/’ now type ‘fdisk -l’ and try to find your SD card, which is sdb1 most of the time, now type ‘mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/free’ and then ‘cd /mnt/free’ and follow the above steps…. ( here i assumed you card to be sdb1 it can also sdc1 or something see the ‘fdisk -l’ output to know it……..
    enjoy

  13. By josh on Feb 7, 2008 | Reply

    thanks man… you rule! :)

  14. By kadu on Feb 13, 2008 | Reply

    hi ankur,

    it works! thank you for your information.

    greetings

    kadu

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