Black screen after boot (post installation F7 x86_64)

[vaibhav103]

hi,

I am trying to install Fedora core 7 on HP dv6000 laptop.

Problem : Screen goes blank after initial boot
(It shows initial boot process in graphical mode, and goes blank after starting HAL, smartd....)


I tried 2 installation modes :

1. Live CD
Use Live CD (with KDE, x86_64 bit version)
- Works fine with LiveCD when I boot from CD

Installation to hdd completes successfully, but screen goes blank after partial boot

2. Install Fedora-7-x86_64
Installation completes successfully (using graphical mode)
However, screen goes blank after intial boot.

Any help on this 'd be appreciated!
(I tried searching through forum/google , but could not get upto relevant topic...)

HP dv6000 laptop
AMD Turion 64 dual core
2GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce Go 7200

[bbfuller]

Hello vaibhav103

Welcome to the forum.

I have one machine with an nvidia card that goes to black screen each time it gets beyond a certain stage in the install procedure.

The answer for me on other distributions has been to specify frame buffer mode on boot up. I assume that's possible on Fedora. Once installed the proprietary nvidia driver then fixes the problem.

An alternative may be to hold down Alt and Ctrl and tap F2 and move to a text console - if that is available - and install the nvidia driver from there.

I'm about to put fedora on that particular machine, so if no-one else posts with a definitive answer and you want more help post back here and I'll compare notes.

[vaibhav103]

Thanks bbfuller for looking into the problem.

1. GUI works fine with LiveCD.
Also, the boot process status is displayed in graphics mode.
Do you still suspect that it could issue with driver?

2. How can I get text console? the screen goes blank during boot (after Starting HAL daemon, smartd...) and I have no control .

Thanks again for extending help!

[bbfuller]

Hello again vaibhav103

It still may be.

My install fails earlier than yours and I have to do a full text mode install.

However, your system booting as far as smartd is interesting as that is the last thing shown in a normal boot before the graphical interface takes over.

Like you, in my system, if I try to force the graphical interface to start I then have no control over the machine.

I'm presently working through how to install the nvidia driver from a text console.

Try booting your machine to a text console, if it works, I'll be in a position to tell you if the next part works in some 60 minutes.

To get a text console, from the initial fedora boot menu there is a chance to edit the boot commands.

My system I'm trying this on has several kernel updates on it so when I start up I see one kernel with no options and if I press 'Enter' I see all the available kernels with some help suggesting if I want to edit the commands I use the arrow keys to move over one and press the letter e

You will have only one kernel installed so you may see the editing options straight off.

Use the arrow key to move to the line starting 'kernel /vmlinuz' and press e again

This allows you to add an option to the end of the line to tell the computer to start in text mode.

That option is just to type a space and then the number 3

Press Enter to accept the change and then b to boot.

With luck it will bring us to a text prompt where you can log in.

If you get that far then you have a basic working linux system and we can consider the next part.

Do you have a working internet connection from the machine? It will work in text mode if you have.

Typing:

ping www.bbc.co.uk

for example should confirm that.

Ctrl-c stops the ping command by the way.

[bbfuller]

Hello again vaibhav103

Well, the last parts of the equation that got it working for me once I had a command prompt was to update the system. The nvidia driver modules are only available for about the last two kernels which means they won't be available for a kernel from the install disk. In the text console type:

yum update

Doubtless I could have specified just the kernel, but I opted for the whole lot. 45 minutes on a fastish internet connection.

Reboot to start using the new kernel. Don't forget the '3' again.

Then install the repository that contains the nvidia drivers, again in that text console:

rpm -Uvh http://rpm.livna.org/livna-release-7.rpm

Once that is installed:

yum install kmod-nvidia-96xx

That will install the kernel module and two associated rpm's

For me then:

startx

starts the graphical interface. For you, it may just be a matter of restarting again to use the new driver. No need for the '3' this time though.

Hope it works out for you.

I'll be looking to see if you hit any snags. Good Luck.

[vaibhav103]

hey bbfuller,

I finally managed to install nvidia grafix drivers and got rid display problem!

Thanks a lot!!

however, I am still struggling to get wireless n/w card installed on the system

Any suggestions on this 'd be very helpful

[bbfuller]

Hello vaibhav103

That makes two of us with graphics sorted! That one was a desktop for me so no problem with wireless.

The first thing for you is to deduce just what wireless you have.

I assume that as it is a laptop your wireless is built in?

If it is, if you issue the command:

lspci

in a super user terminal or:

/sbin/lspci

in an ordinary one there should be some basic information about your card which will tell us which direction to go next.

[henriquefm]

Hi,

First off all, thank you bbfuller for your explanation.

I'm not new in Linux, but this is my first time with Fedora. If I didn't manage to solve this problem, I would have gave up on Fedora.

I've been using it for a month now, but it has a really strange problem. When I turn on my notebook, it stops at the black screen. I restart it and then it has no problem getting to the login screen. I use my computer and turn it off. The next day is the same thing: first time I turn it on, black screen. Restart it, it's OK.

I have never seen anything like this and I don't have any clue of what's going on.

Thanks,
Henrique

[bbfuller]

Hello henriquefm

Welcome to the forum.

Can't offer you any advice there at all I'm afraid.

Laptops are notorious for their peculiarities.

As an example. I have one that works well on most distributions, but on one particular distribution the keyboard goes to sleep and can't be woken without rebooting. The period varies from 30mins to several hours.

How far has your laptop booted when it stops at the black screen, have you had the Grub boot screen?

Has it gone beyond that and you can display the boot messages to see at what stage in the procedure it fails?

Or is it failing at the logon screen?

What exact graphics card are you using?

[henriquefm]

Hi,

Sorry for the late response, I've been busy.

I've made a 'script' of what happens when I turn on my laptop, so you can have an idea of what's going on:

-Turn on my laptop
-Grub
-Screen on 'text mode' that shows grub boot options and some messages like 'uncompressing Linux', 'welcome to Fedora', 'starting udev', etc... (about 15 seconds)
-Black screen (about 6 seconds)
-'Graphical boot', the 'clouds and baloon screen'. The system is loaded all the way, no errors found
-Black screen. System freezes, no response on the keyboard, nothing.

----I reboot the laptop

-Grub
-Screen on 'text mode' that shows grub boot options and some messages like 'uncompressing Linux', 'welcome to Fedora', 'starting udev', etc... (about 15 seconds)
-Nvidia Logo (about 6 seconds)
-'Graphical boot'. The system is loaded all the way, no errors found
-Nvidia Logo again (about 6 seconds)
-GDM
-I use my computer with no problems. I even have compiz fusion working.

This is it. I hope this will help.

I almost forgot to say, it's a Nvidia Geforce 6150 Go.

Thanks,
Henrique

[Dlwood]

I was wondering if anyone has found a solution to the nvidia problem? I have the same system that vaibhav103 has and I also have to boot twice like henriquefm to get to the login screen. I hear that there is new nvidia drivers out. Has anyone tried them? I am not even sure its a driver problem. Any help would be appreciated.

[FriedChips]

try disabling rhgb and see if that helps. I know it causes problems with my HP Pavillion dv2000 series..

To do this, when you get to the grub screen hit 'e' to edit the options and remove the "rhgb" from the line that starts with "kernel", then hit enter and 'b' to boot. If that works you can take it out completely from grub with

su
gedit /etc/grub.conf

hope that helps :)

[Dlwood]

hey hey hey thanks Friedchips it worked. now just to make it perminent. Now if I can only get my wireless and maintenance software working I can get rid of my windows harddrive. lol

[henriquefm]

I also noticed that by adding 'noapic nolapic pci=acpi acpi=off' at the end of grub boot options, the problem goes away, but others things stopped working, like sensors... so your solution is better.

I got my wireless card to work by compiling ndiswrapper and using it with a bcmwl5.inf driver that I downloaded. This was easier than it sounds. That only tricky part was to find a right bcmwl5.inf, because it didn't work with a few that I tried. My card is
Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 01)

Just say something if you have any trouble.

Henrique