Blank screen after upgrading 9.0 -> 9.2

[Kylotan]

Well, I skipped 9.1 because I couldn't get the video on it to work, and I read in Linux Format magazine that there was a bug with the XFree86 software in 9.1 that caused this. I figured it would be fixed by 9.2, so I went and ran the upgrade. But sadly it doesn't seem that way.

 

Basically I had my nvidia geforce 2 MX card working fine in 9.0, although without any special 3d drivers or anything. It ran at 1024x768 in 16 or 32-bit colour, just like my Win98 installation does. I figured that running the upgrade to 9.2 wouldn't break this, but it did. After waiting nearly 2 hours for the packages to be upgraded, I rebooted, went through the graphical loader, and then just as the progress bar was nearing completion, my monitor switched off, with various LEDs flashing. It sounded like it continued booting in the background though.

 

I'd really rather not go through the whole installation process again since it seemed to take forever. I know people talk about needing to download the relevant drivers but installing them seems awkward when I can't even get into the IDE.

 

So, anybody got any hints? I'm aware that you get variations on this problem all the time. All I really care about is being able to get to a working screen like I had on 9.0. Bear in mind that I am totally new to Mandrake 9.2 and hardly considered myself proficient in 9.0, so instructions will have to be set to 'newbie'. :)

[nggalai]

Can you post your XF86Config-4 file, please? And are you running the nv or nvidia drivers, on D-Sub (RGB) or DVI?

 

93,

-Sascha.rb

[Kylotan]

I knew someone would ask that. :) I can't get to a text prompt. Once it 'boots up', while Caps Lock seems to respond normally, Alt-F1-F6 and Ctrl-Alt-F1-F6 don't do anything. I have no idea which drivers I was running, except that I'm pretty sure I stuck with what was on the cd and didn't bother with downloading any from Nvidia.

 

If someone can point out how I'd get it to boot up without automatically starting X, I can get that file.

[Cannonfodder]

There are some recent threads (this week) on this topic. Do a search for the word blank.

 

Some additional thoughts..

 

You upgraded... you may have had the NVIDIA driver installed in 9.1 but its not present in 9.2. But your XF86Config-4 file may still be trying to load the Nvidia driver.

 

Basically, you need to boot into text mode (see the other threads) and run XFConfig to reconfigure your video. It's not a Mandrake bug issue just a configuration issue. While running XFConfig, when ready, do the test. Note, you have to select an option in XFConfig, and then hit TAB to go to the DO button, then press ENTER.

 

Post here if you get stuck..

[Kylotan]

I saw the other threads, but didn't glean much help from them. Although I did manage to get into text mode via failsafe, despite being asked a bizarre question about the permissions on kppp or something. Anyway...

 

# File generated by XFdrake.

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"
   # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
   # By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
   # the X server to render fonts.
   FontPath "unix/:-1"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
   #DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
   #DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
   AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
   Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
   Load "extmod"
   Load "type1"
   Load "freetype"
   Load "glx" # 3D layer
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier "Keyboard1"
   Driver "Keyboard"
   Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
   Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
   Option "XkbOptions" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier "Mouse1"
   Driver "mouse"
   Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
   Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
   Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier "monitor1"
   VendorName "Generic"
   ModelName "1024x768 @ 70 Hz"
   HorizSync 31.5-57.0
   VertRefresh 50-70
   
   # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)?
   # 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync
   ModeLine "1024x480"    65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344   480  488  494  563 -hsync -vsync
   
   # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
   # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
   ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
   
   # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
   ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier "device1"
   VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
   BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce2 DDR (generic)"
   Driver "nv"
   Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "screen1"
   Device "device1"
   Monitor "monitor1"
   DefaultColorDepth 24
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 8
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 15
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 16
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
   
   Subsection "Display"
       Depth 24
       Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
   EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier "layout1"
   InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
   InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
   Screen "screen1"
EndSection

 

Interestingly the file modification time said May last year. Which implies that 9.2 hasn't changed any of the settings, but doesn't support whatever 9.0 had in there.

 

 

Looking at the other threads, some people talk about using XFDrake rather than XFConfig. Is there a significant difference between the two, and which should I use?

[aru]

Looking at the other threads, some people talk about using XFDrake rather than XFConfig. Is there a significant difference between the two, and which should I use?

XFDrake ofcourse (well, I don't know nothing about XFConfig, maybe you mean xf86config? If so, XFDrake is quite more advanced and user friendly, if i don't remmember bad. Its been a long time since I used any of them)

 

Oh! also, maybe you should try the propietary nvidia drivers instead of the opensource ones

Edited March 4, 2004 by aru

[Kylotan]

Ok guys, thanks for your patience.

 

I installed the NVidia drivers, changed XF86Config-4 to say "nvidia" instead of "nv" and typed startx - it seemed to run just fine. I clicked the logout button when prompted, and tried again as a normal user, but this time it said it couldn't initialise the Nvidia kernel module, with this error: "Screen(s) found, but none have a usable configuration."

 

Any idea why it worked for root and not for a normal user?

 

EDIT: I just tried again in Failsafe mode and it works for both root and non-root users. I think it was non-Failsafe (ie. when I just chose 'Linux' at the boot menu) where it wouldn't work for a non-root user. Sorry about the vagueness but obviously I have to keep rebooting a lot to test all the different combinations.

Edited March 4, 2004 by Kylotan

[Cannonfodder]

XFDrake, my bad :)

[spiedra]

Wow, that's strange how it will work for root, but not normal user. I would've said to go back into XFdrake and adjust your screen resolution or some of the other specs there until you find a working combo. What happens if you create a new user and boot into that?