Guest mrt Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 Hey guys, I'm new to linux and mandrake in particular. I just finished installing mandrake onto the computer and the entire process finishes, but after the reboot it doesn't let me logon. It gets past the bootloader (and I've tried both grub and lilo...silly me for thinking it was the bootloader) and it scrolls through all the checks and then the screen turns black. I imagine it's at this point, that the screen should turn blue or something and a login/password box should pop up...but nothing does. It just stays black. But the screen is active in the sense that my monitor doesn't go to sleep. Also...if I hit ctrl-alt-del once or twice, it reboots the system (with all the scrolling checks and everything that shows all the "terminating calls" etc). Any help is GREATLY appreciated!! I can't wait to get started with mandrake and linux!! Thanks all! Tiancheng mrt@stanford.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 Ok. This could be tricky. It sounds like you told it to boot into X (the graphical environment) and log your user into the desktop automatically, but your video driver isn't working properly. Most of the time, it is because of an NVidia-based card. Put the first installation CD in and hit F1 at the prompt and type 'rescue' (without the quotes). You'll get a screen that gives you some options. I'm assuming you're using 9.1 or 9.2. Choose 'Mount your partitions under /mnt/ Then choose 'Go to console'. Once you are there, type 'chroot /mnt' (again, without the quotes). Then type 'vi /etc/inittab' (no quotes). Hit 'i' to go to insert mode. arrow down to find the line that looks like this: id:5:initdefault: (or close to that). Change the number to a 3. Hit Escape then type :wq and hit enter. Remove the CD and hit Ctrl-D. That should reboot you (if it doesn't, type 'reboot'...no quotes) and you should get to a console login prompt. Log in with your regular user and type 'startx' (no quotes) and it will try to start X and give you some errors. Try to write the erros down as closely as possible and come back here and post them along with the type of card you are using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulSe Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 Sound advice, remember that you can also switch to a non-X console with ctrl+alt+F5 - this will give you clues as to whether the problem is with your X server not starting up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 Thank you guys for your fast responses!! I'm so impressed and grateful!! and wow you guys are amazing!! right on the dot too! both of you guys! so yes I can go into the login prompt by editing the inittab file or by using ctrl-alt-F5. okay so I'm using a nvidia gf3 card made by asus...it should be a first generation card. And here's the error message that I get when I hit startx after I login. It's not much of an error message, but it's what I can see on my screen after start up X and then get out of X by using ctrl-alt-F5. If i dont' use ctrl-alt-F5, it just stay at the symptomatic black screen: Writing authority file /home/mrt/.Xauthority Using authority file /home/mrt/.Xauthority Writing authority file /home/mrt/.Xauthority XFree86 Version 4.3.0 Release Date: 9 May 2003 X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.6 Build Operating System: Linux 2.4.18-23mdksmp i686[ELF] Build Date: 10 September 2003 Before reporting problems, check http://www.XFree86.Org/ to make sure that you have the latest version. Module Loader present Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. (==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Fri Oct 17 03:38:22 2003 (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4" Using vt 7 waiting for X server to begin accepting connections giving up. xinit: Connection refused (errno111): unable to connect to X server xinit: No such process (errno3): Server error. Thanks so much guys for all your help! Tiancheng mrt@stanford.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 Ok. First, you'll have to go to nvidia.com and click the 'Download Drivers' link at the top of the page. Click 'Linux/FreeBSD drivers' and choose the one appropriate for your system. Download it to a place accessible in Linux. I'm going to assume that you put it in Windows' My Documents and that you are dual-booting. I'm also going to assume the name of the driver package from nvidia. When you get to the login prompt, log in as root. Do urpmi kernel-source cd /mnt/windows/My Documents chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run Follow the instructions. When it is done, check to make sure that it made the proper changes to /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 by doing vi /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 Look for where it says Load "dbe" and there should be a line close by that says Load "glx" if it is not there, add it, using the tricks with vi from my first post. Scroll down to the device section where you see your card and check to see if it says Driver "nv" If it does, change it to Driver "nvidia" Save the file by hitting Esc and then :wq and hit enter. Check /etc/modules.conf to make sure that the alias is there: alias /dev/nvidia* nvidia Save the file. Type in rmmod nv modprobe nvidia [hit Ctrl-D] Login as regular user and type startx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 I can't seem to do this: urpmi kernel-source it tells me: no package named kernel-source ... what should I do? Tiancheng mrt@stanford.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 What ML version? 9.1 or 9.2? 9.2 doesn't have a kernel-sources :roll: .....9.1? Are you root? Do you have CD3 (International)? su <hit Enter> roots_password <hit Enter> urpmi kernel-source The kernel-source is actually not necessary anyway. Just run the installer and it'll use the precompiled drivers for mandrake :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 WHOA, I just tried something. At the boot-loader, instead of using linux-secure, I tried just linux. And X started up!! wow! Hey what's the difference between all the different linux packages on the bootloader? Tiancheng mrt@stanford.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 also no need for a chmod just sh NVIDIA-xxxxx.run :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 I'm using 9.2, sh NVIDIA-xxx.run doesn't work either...it opens up the nvidia installer but then it just says no compiled kernel interface was found... should I just try to boot into linux every time instead of linux-secure? what's the difference? Do I still need to do the nvidia drivers? Tiancheng mrt@stanford.edu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Scrimpshire Posted October 17, 2003 Report Share Posted October 17, 2003 You won't be able to run glx stuff without the NVidia drivers and you won't be able run the NVidia installer successfully unless you have the kernel-source installed. First, while you are in linux not linux-secure, try running urpmi kernel-source as root again. If it fails, go here: http://plf.zarb.org/~nanardon/index.php and set up all your urpmi sources and do urpmi kernel-source Then you have to exit X to install the nvidia driver. You can do that in a console as root by typing init 3 again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 you don't really want me to install NVIDIA without the kernel-source to prove it do ya :wink: :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 yea I have to go to that link and follow their directions, but I can't get onto the internet right now. the setting up interface eth0 fails at the boot... so I can't get connected to the internet. I'm trying to figure this one out too...hehe do you guys have any good ideas? I'm using the network port on the board of my Asus motherboard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bvc Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 port to what?.....a router? cable modem?.....what? Have your run drakconnect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mrt Posted October 18, 2003 Report Share Posted October 18, 2003 yes I've run drakconnect. It doesn't help. I also tried to hardcode the ip address...but in the hardware profile of my network connection, it just says that the network card is "down"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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