Cannot Run Unity 3d on HP Pavilion g4

Can you give the output of:

sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a

Thanks

It's the "OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc." which makes me think you are running a virtual machine -- That's exactly what I get running 12.04 with vmwareplayer, even though my actual hardware is NVidia based, and yes, I get the same software-rendered and
no Unity 3D capability in the virtual machine, while the laptop is capable of Unity 3D outside the vm.
 As others have suggested, run dash (top ubuntu symbol on the launchpad), search for "Additional Drivers", run it, and select any vendor video drivers offered. Reboot. That's the usual path to maximize the video capabilities of your hardware, but there is still no guarantee you can run Unity 3D.

actionparsnip:
Here is the information you requested-
jeff@localhost:~$ sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a
[sudo] password for jeff:
  *-display UNCLAIMED
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:c0000000-c03fffff memory:b0000000-bfffffff ioport:4000(size=64)
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
Release: 12.04
Codename: precise
Linux localhost 3.2.0-29-generic-pae #46-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 27 17:25:43 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Ubfan:
 As I wrote before, no proprietary drivers are present in the Additional Drivers utility. I'm still curious if selecting 'nomodeset' during installation is somehow responsible?

Seems its unclaimed, you may need an xorg.cof file. Have you tried Quantal in live CD?

I have not tried the Quantal live CD. I didn't know Quantal was available yet. Can I just do the update to 12.10 or should I do something specific with Live CD?

Its available in alpha 3 but the newer xorg, drivers and kernel may help

So would it be best to run 'update-manager -d' and update? What would I do specifically with the Live CD? Just update as well?

Run it in livecD so it doesn't modify the installed OS

I will update this question once I get a blank DVD to install the Live CD to. Apparently, the iso will no longer fit on a blank CD. It will be a few days before I make it to a store to buy a DVD. Hopefully Quantal will solve my problems.

I created the Live CD using the alpha version of Ubuntu 12.10 but it produced the same results. I can get to the purple options screen. I chose the run from CD option. The CD begins scrolling through the various commands and whatnot for about 5 seconds before the screen physically shuts off. This is the same problem I had with 12.04. I don't understand why the screen shuts off after the install/load process begins. I also remember that when I was originally trying to install 12.04 from the disc that when I did it with asci (?) turned off, Ubuntu did install but the backlight on the monitor was not active so I could not see the screen well enough to do anything. Another thing I've discovered is that I cannot currently use my external monitor port, the OS simply does not acknowledge that the monitor is plugged in. I'm guessing this may be related but I don't know.
I don't know what to do at this point and I am considering installing the Gnome2 Shell so that I can at least have full functionality of my system. Please help!

Gnome2 is dead, you cannot install it in Ubuntu. You can get a similar looking desktop by installing the gnome-panel package and selecting that at the login screen.

That would be nice but I don't even get a log in screen when I boot up. I don't understand why this option is not there since I did not select it on installation. Nonetheless, I still want to run Unity 3D. There has to be something I can do to make that possible. If it isn't possible, what can I do to bring back the log in screen?

I found the option to bring up the log in on start up. I rebooted and was given both options for Unity and Unity 2D. Though I selected Unity the system of course booted to Unity 2D. Is there some way to get Ubuntu developers to look at this issue? I imagine plenty of people will eventually want to load Ubuntu onto HP Pavilion g series laptops.

Try:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

add this text in the link:

http://pastie.org/4610768

Save the new file and reboot.

If you get no desktop, hold SHIFT at boot, select recovery mode and select root and run:

mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_old; reboot

I tried this option. Upon reboot I get a warning that says:
"The system is running in low-graphics mode
Your screen, graphics card, and input device settings
could not be detected correctly. You will need to configure these
yourself."
Sadly I do not know how to do this.
Next it gives me the option to start in low graphics mode for just one session, reconfigure graphics, troubleshoot the error, or exit to console login.
I don't know what to do at this point either. I'm going to revert back to the previous state per your discussions but if there is something I should do from the point described above then please give me some directions and I will try it.

I followed your instructions, selected root, and run:
mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_old; reboot
The result is that I get the same messages I entered above. How do I get my system back?

I fiddled around with the computer last night and was able to revert to my previous settings by selecting "reconfigure graphics" where I was able to revert to the default settings. So now I have my system back. Nonetheless I still don't understand what the problem is. One thing I thought of this morning is this: the Windows 7 install on my system is 64 bit but I only succeeded installing Ubuntu as a 32 bit install. Could this be a source of my problems? If not, then I don't know what else to do. Could Linux Mint be a solution to my problems?

I too have a HP Pavillion g4, with the same problems as Jeff describes, and the same output from sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a (but uname -a differs).

However, I do not have Windows 7 installed, and I have 64 bit Ubuntu installed (uname -a: Linux Nierika 3.2.0-29-generic #46-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 27 17:03:23 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux). Everything else Jeff describes it the same.

I just tried linuxMint from a live CD, but the problems are still there.
Instead of "nomodeset", I use "i915.modeset=0" as a boot option. I guess it does the same thing.

Its nearly the same OS, you aren't trying anthing different at all.

Try something non-Debian basd like Suse or Mandriva.

Take a look at question 207463, you might have a hybrid graphics problem.

Ubfan,

 I took a look at question 207463. I tried running both commands to see if I would get different results. I apparently cannot run /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p . I've tried it repeatedly but all I get is this:

jeff@localhost:~$ /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
X Error of failed request: BadRequest (invalid request code or no such operation)
  Major opcode of failed request: 135 (GLX)
  Minor opcode of failed request: 19 (X_GLXQueryServerString)
  Serial number of failed request: 22
  Current serial number in output stream: 22

I've cut and pasted it, typed it, done everything I can but this command won't work. I still have no additional drivers available so that isn't a fix. The output from sudo lshw -C display; lsb_release -a; uname -a is still the same as what I posted above in this thread.

So I don't know what to do. I ran the Linux Mint 13 MATE live cd and was able to load into that without using the compatibility mode (though my screen did go black until it magically loaded into the desktop. I would still like to figure this problem out rather than have to migrate to another OS. Does anybody have any more ideas?

The only thing I can suggest at this point is to file a bug against unity, for misidentifying the OpenGL vendor as "Vmware" instead of your Intel chip. As I'd mentioned, your output for the unity test is the same as my output when running vmware player on a 12.04 virtual machine, so Unity may decide to just give up 3D in such an environment.

To fix it try updating the BIOS to the latest version (F.60 or higher). I have a Pavilion G4-1065la with the same chipset and GPU as your laptop. And I can say that after updating the BIOS from the factory default (F.04 in my laptop) to the latest version the backlight and GPU issues got fixed and I can run compiz/HW 3d accel in 11.04 or later. Also the IRQ conflict between the ethernet card and trackpad (pointer freezes solid if you hook a network cable) got fixed, and you no longer need to pass acpi_backlight=vendor to get the backlight working.
This are the specs of my laptop
[CODE]
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev b4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
[/CODE]

Save all open files etc then run:

sudo modprobe i915; killall -u $USER

Log in, is the screen better?

I wish I could test this fix but unfortunately I switched over to Linux Mint MATE months ago when I couldn't get Ubuntu with Unity to work. If somebody can suggest some way that I can free up 5 gigs of space on my hard drive to do a test install of Ubuntu with this fix I'd be happy to give it a try.

If you run:

uname -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-image

What is output?

Mint has it's own support community and forums, so any issues with Mint need to be asked there, not here :)

To Ptero-4:
How did you update the BIOS? I do not have windows installed, only Ubuntu, and it appears that HP's BIOS update software is only for windows. Did you do it via windows, or did you have some other trick?

Thanks

I updated the BIOS from F.42 to F.65. It was an extremely painful procedure. Unfortunately, Unity 3D still doesn't work and I still need to add i915.modeset=0 as a boot option.

I tried "sudo modprobe i915; killall -u $USER" but that didn't fix Unity 3D either.

"uname -a; dpkg -l | grep linux-image" returns the following:

Linux Nierika 3.2.0-35-generic #55-Ubuntu SMP Wed Dec 5 17:42:16 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
ii linux-image-3.2.0-20-generic 3.2.0-20.33 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-22-generic 3.2.0-22.35 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-23-generic 3.2.0-23.36 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-24-generic 3.2.0-24.39 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-25-generic 3.2.0-25.40 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-26-generic 3.2.0-26.41 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-27-generic 3.2.0-27.43 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-29-generic 3.2.0-29.46 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-30-generic 3.2.0-30.48 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-31-generic 3.2.0-31.50 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-32-generic 3.2.0-32.51 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-33-generic 3.2.0-33.52 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-34-generic 3.2.0-34.53 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.2.0-35-generic 3.2.0-35.55 Linux kernel image for version 3.2.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-generic 3.2.0.35.40 Generic Linux kernel image