BLACK SCREEN and system freezed as soon i type startx with FC5

[jlfr]

On a desktop with an ATI Radeon 7000 video card, i can't get X11 running.
On the the same hardware, i had FC4 running very well until last day.
I tried to reinstall FC5 but same results: Black screen just after typing startx.

Does anybody can give me some idea ?

Thanks in advance,

Jean-Louis

[tomcat]

I guess you still have the stock kernel from the CDs. In that case, upgrade your kernel first, as the stock one is "broken". Run as root from the command line

yum update kernel

then
1. add the livna repo ( rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-5.rpm )
2. do a "yum install kernel-module-fglrx-$(uname -r)"
3. reboot.

Run system-config-display for setting up the gfx environment if it doesn't work at once after rebooting.

Hope that helps.

[kaeru]

Hi,

I had the same problem using an IBM eserver , and same videocard.

The solution was to comment the line "Load dri" from xorg.conf line.

I also was not able to change console to text and logon. So, I had to do a ssh login,
edit the file and reboot from there.

It was not an illumination. I found the solution at
http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2177

Best Rgds,
Kaeru.

[jlfr]

I guess you still have the stock kernel from the CDs. In that case, upgrade your kernel first, as the stock one is "broken". Run as root from the command line

yum update kernel

then
1. add the livna repo ( rpm -ivh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-5.rpm )
2. do a "yum install kernel-module-fglrx-$(uname -r)"
3. reboot.

Run system-config-display for setting up the gfx environment if it doesn't work at once after rebooting.

Hope that helps.
:)

Thank you for your fast and detailed answer, after applying what you suggested, X11 was
working. After few minutes, i got another problem: after moving around the mouse for
few minutes, X11 hangs !!!
Fortunatly i got a second answer after yours more specific for my video card.

Again, thank you.

Jean-Louis

[jlfr]

Hi,

I had the same problem using an IBM eserver , and same videocard.

The solution was to comment the line "Load dri" from xorg.conf line.

I also was not able to change console to text and logon. So, I had to do a ssh login,
edit the file and reboot from there.

It was not an illumination. I found the solution at
http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2177

Best Rgds,
Kaeru.


Thank you for your answer, it works fine.

Jean-LOuis

[umakantmirji]

I have the Similar Problem,

I am new to Linux , and this is my first experience in installing Linux, I tried to install FC5 I could not succeed installing in GUI mode, finally I could mange to install the FC5 in text mode, now the problem is every time I type in startx to get the GUI, screen goes garbled / BLURR Screen with a huge blurr mouse pointer.

The FC5 has recognised the mother board and monitor correctly as Intel chipset Mother board 82915 and Monitor: Samsung Synchmaster 793s , 17"monitor, I have verified the /etc/xorg.conf file and the horizontal, vertical synch frequency are wihin the range specified Horizontal = 30 70Khz and Vertical :50 - 160Hz., The system works fine in text mode., It is intel 2.6Ghz with 512MB RAM syste.


Any help in solving this problem is highly apprciated.

[silent_wumpus]

You can try VESA mode till you work out the video issue:

Put this in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. It should give you VESA 800x600.

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, a font server independent of the X server is
# used to render fonts.
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"

### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor 1024x768"
DisplaySize 320 240
### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
HorizSync 31.5 - 57.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "nVidia Corporation NV4 [RIVA TNT]"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

[umakantmirji]

Thanks for the Quick reply,

I tried the 'vesa' mode, commenting the Hsync and Vsync as suggested, still the problem remains, the only change being that the display is now stable with vertical lines.I happen to see the /var/Xorg.0.log
The only (W) message say VESA bios checksum Failure, otherwise all the other values detected and reported are fine.

Pl. note :this is a dual boot system and my Win XP OS rocks at the highest video resolution !

Any further leads and I will be really glad to experiment the nex course.

Thanks in advance .

[bob]

I wonder if this has anything to do with an ATI graphics card? You don't mention which card you have, but I remember that some of the ATI's have had problems until they are configured properly. You might try the tweaks for graphics cards here:
http://www.fedorafaq.org/ (Problems & Solutions section) or here:
http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_core_5_installation_notes.html#nVidia

[umakantmirji]

Dear bob ,

Iam having Intel 82915 Chipset Motherboard of Mercury/Kobian make

[bob]

Well, it's been suggested by Giulix in another thread that if you boot up a live cd of Knoppix, that distro has a very wide range of graphics settings and may recognize your card and motherboard settings correctly. If so, copy down those settings from Knoppix and then put the same settings into Fedora and it should make it work.

[LinOrWin]

Hi,
When I first tried to install FC4 and FC5 on my laptop (Acer Aspire 5002 WMLi) I could not see the GUI. I had to type at the very beginning of the install process: linux nofb.
I found that in the help offered for the installation.

Then later, I updated the BIOS of my laptop. I re-installed FC5 lately and did NOT have to type: linux nofb.
Strangely enough, my brother has the same laptop and he did not need to type that command to install FC4.
Different bios? Possible.

Good luck. May the Penguin be with you.

[tsl]

Hi,

I'm having problems similar to the above described: During installation the first thing I noticed is the Fedora logo is not displayed at the top. I continued with the graphical installation but after anaconda started, it correctly identifies my graphics (and monitor if the nofb command is given) then the screen turns off an on a few times resulting with a screen full of what can only be described as snow. The mouse is represented by a box of dots that do not disturb the (useless) screen as you move it around. So I installed FC5 in text mode. All is fine until I enter 'startx' ... Now my (useless) snow screen is replaced by tightly banded vertical orange bands with a lime box representing the mouse (which moves undisturbing the background).

After reviewing the above issues I've noticed a potential pattern: umakantmirji is your graphics integrated? Mine is on my ASUS P5RD1-V as the case with laptops. This may sound like an oldschool idea but is FC5 interfering with system memory that the bios allocated for graphics?

Footnote: One thing I noticed, If I startx on the installed FC5 the useless screen may be hiding at least a partial active system: after not touching the system for 10-15 minutes (I'm guessing) the screen flickered and the mouse 'box' disappeared, when I moved the mouse the mouse box re-appeared giving me the impression the screensaver had kicked in.

Footnote2: The bootloader screen's graphics display properly.

P5RD1-V with 1G ram & a 3.2G processor.

[bob]

Tsl, I'd change the runlevel from 5 to 3 until you resolve this (in other words, stay with text instead of trying the graphics). Then do the updates and see if the most recent kernel helps. If signing in as 'su -' and then doing 'system-config-display' doesn't get you straightened out with your graphics and hardware, you can also try the trick of using Knoppix to get your graphics identified reasonably well and then copy the settings into /etc/X11/xorg.conf. And, of course, you can plug your laptop's ID into the search engine for the Forum and find other members and see if they have similar problems or can PM you with suggestions. Finally, there's bugzilla. It may be a problem that there's already a fix listed there or you can certainly get the best people on the job to help you with.

[tsl]

Ok, still no go...
I made a comparison that was misleading-- No laptops here.
If I change the graphics to vesa the display problem goes away but as you know vesa is a generic driver that cannot take full advantage of vendor specific hardware acceleration so even though I have a workable gui -- it's still not fully funcitonal. I tried the KNOPPIX trick with version 5.0 and it returns my graphics card as "All" (in the Ramdisk folder) -- no help there-- unless xorg.conf is not the correct place to loook.
Now I'm dealing with two machines, both are 775 chipset and both are having graphical problems (I havenen't even attacked any sound issues) neither machine will run gui mode when anything other than vesa is entered. On my 3.4 machine with a X1800XL I even tried installing the drivers from ATI only to have my windows manager quit! --During every boot the windows manager spash screen shows up but by the time you see it -- it's already crashed.
I've done searches for these errors on every web venue I know of with no results (often literally).
My 3.2 machine is running a P5RD1-V motherboard has onboard ATI video RS400 [Radeon XPRESS 200]. This is the mobo I've searched for issues as bob suggested and no results.
Signed ..Lost..

[roboknight]

I have a similar issue. The problem appears to be before X even gets started as I have tried using the rescue disk from FC6 to change my system-config-display several times to no avail. I've tried to set it as low as 800x600 using no special display. However, my Philips 109S can't sync at the frequency provided (27K x 61Hz)... This never seems to change. I'm unsure what the issue is as I've examined the xorg.conf several times to get results. Is there ANOTHER place I need to change the horiz & vert sync frequencies?