Garbled screen at boot

[AnteUp]

I am trying to install backtrack 5 KDE 64 on my laptop. During the initial boot process, right after I select the boot mode (the same problem occurs with all modes) the screen becomes completely garbled and unreadable. It looks like a mixture of the same screen placed on top of each other 3 times. At this point nothing can be done, it just freezes. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you

[greatwolf]

I'm running into the same problem too but with the Gnome 32-bit distribution. This is on a Lenovo laptop B575 model AMD E-series dual core 1.6ghz with integrated ATI graphics. I've also tested this on one of the toshiba floor model laptops on display with similar garbled issues.

I'm not sure what the pattern or commonality is but something is definitely not right.

[greatwolf]

Ok, I just finished downloading the KDE 64-bit distribution and verified that the md5 checksum is correct. I burned it onto a dvd and still get the same video garbling issue on the laptop.

If there's any other piece of info I should provide that's helpful, please let me know.

Edit:

Okay, I've found the problem from google. This article from Phoronix documents the approximate cause of the garbled video problem.

It seems like Backtrack 5 is based off of kernel 2.6.38 before the proper patches were applied that addresses this issue.

Any suggestions on how this could be corrected?

Thanks

[Dareeude]

I'm having the exact same problem, i just get a mixture of random lines and pixels, nothing readable. Seems that the universal video driver can't handle my gfx.
It happens whenever i choose a boot mode, except to continue with localboot=my existing Win7 installation.
However it does show me the initialization process, and it's only "crashes" when it gets to the GUI, it seems that it's still running without the gfx, atleast i get inconsistent sounds and blinks from my HDD and other various indications not implying a crash.

Could somebody more experienced please give us some help, i'm new to this place and have tried to post by your codex
My setup:
BT 5 x64 Gnome ISO burned.
i7 2630QM Sandy
ATI Radeon Mobility 6970

[greatwolf]

Okay, I managed to find a workaround for this problem. ewiget provided a nice post in the BT5 Fixes section here on how to fix the 'white screen of death' problem which describes the garbled video issue here.

Note that Ubuntu 11.04 doesn't appear to have this video garbling problem for the AMD E-series APU Zacate processors(the C-series might have a similar issue thought I haven't confirmed). If BT5 updates its linux kernel to what Ubuntu 11.04 uses or later, I think it should resolve this problem without needing the radeon.modeset workaround. Is there any chance of this happening?