Can't boot fresh F17 install GNOME

[jovcek]

Hi everyone. I am a fedora user since version 12 Constantine.

I downloaded the 64 live image via torrent, put on usb stick using LiveUSB Creator and booted off the stick. The live session was flawless. I proceed to installation - also, flawless. Now, the reboot part. On reboot I see the grub with options and leave it to boot default. Instead of the logo charging, I see intense dark screen flickering. Then it stops and starts again but grayish color. This must be the charging logo and the first screen of the post-installation configuration. I tried ctrl+alt+backspace and it stops, but starts again and this time in some kind of dark purple color. When I try ctrl+alt+F1, the screen goes black. There is nothing I can do but hard reset the PC. Same in recovery mode. I press "e" at the grub and add "nomodeset" parameter to the boot kernel and it works but in low quality graphics mode. Glxinfo says "Gallium 0.4 on LLVMPIPE". Updated, and reboot, same result with unusable screen. When I try to add "nomodeset" in the "Basic emacs-like..." it freezes, so I can't do that. I can't add boot parameters.

Downloaded the KDE version and all works flawless, except when updating "systemd conflicts with nfsustils" but as in my previous experience it is something that in few days will be fixed, so no problems there. I installed gnome-shell and it did finished successfully with all dependencies, but when I reboot the same things happens as in GNOME version, the unusable screen.

My graphic card is Sapphire Radeon 6670 (Turks XT).

Any ideas?

Thanks
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UPDATE 1: It seems like this is not related to installation: I tried to hard reset the PC few times and it booted perfectly sometimes on 2nd, sometimes on 5th try. Today it didn't worked until 7th try and I gave up. And everything works perfectly. That is, when it boots. But every time I boot my PC I am in some kind of a lottery if it will or if it will not. I updated, installed applications, worked, all ok, until I shut it down. Since it worked perfectly on F16, my suspicion is on the changed software parts: X.org version (1.11 to 1.12) or mesa (7 to 8). Or maybe systemd?

Any ideas?

Thanks

PS: I don't know how (If I can at all) to change from installation help forum to other, so I guess the moderator should do it.
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[jovcek]

No ideas??

[tashirosgt]

Can you use Ctl-Alt-F2 and get a console?

Using a console (or on one of the successful boots) look at the log files in the /var/log directory. If you note the time of the failure (down to the nearest second on a clock syncronized with the computer's) then see what happened around that time in /var/log/messages. The various files /var/log/Xorg.*.log may show some problem with the video. Compare a log whose date corresponds to the time of a failure with one that corresponds to a successful boot.

Check for crashes in /var/spool/abrt. A directory with a long name that includes a date has files that have core dump type information.

I haven't tried this method of breaking out of freezes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key but it looks interesting. To enable it in Fedora, I think you must edit /etc/sysctl.conf and change the line
kernel.sysrq = 0
to
kernel.sysrq = 1

[jovcek]

tashirosgt, thank you for the reply! I coudn't use Ctrl+Alt+F2, but used the logs.

I think I got it: it's not Xorg, ati drivers or mesa, it's GRUB.

After inspecting my xorg log files I found out that my monitor resolution and the refresh rate was not picked correctly. After searching around bugs in bugzilla I came across these:

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=826279
and
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=827003.

I edited the /etc/default/grub file with adding GRUB_GFXMODE=800x600 after which comes the obligatory grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg and rebooted three times and it works perfectly.

[kirba]

I edited the /etc/default/grub file with adding GRUB_GFXMODE=800x600 after which comes the obligatory grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg and rebooted three times and it works perfectly.

Hi! Could you please post a basic guid on how you actually did this?

My problem is really close to what you have described... I have installed F17 and wont boot correctly. I get random artifacts, screen flickering and random colors. Please help me as i need to get cracking with my work for uni and this is holding me back!
Thanks in advance

[george_toolan]

Close, but no cigar ;-)

It would be better if you could describe your exact problem in detail.

You can boot Fedora 17, but the screen is partially garbled?

Which Desktop Environment did you install? The standard Gnome 3.4 or something different?

What kind of graphics chip do you have?

Did you install any proprietary graphics drivers from nvidia or ati?

[kirba]

Hi and thanks for replying.
I am using a SSD and an HDD. I have Windows 7 installed on the SSD and half of the HDD space is reserved for windows as well. The rest of the HDD was unallocated space (where i installed Fedora).
The installation was completed successfuly.
After the reboot, the screen with the "f" logo loads but the display is not right. Then I get all those weird things and I know that the OS is running but i cant see what im doing due to the graphics failure. Also when i move my mouse to the top right, vertical white lines appear out of nowhere.

I have installed Fedora-17-x86_64-Live-Desktop.
My graphics card is a Radeon HD 6850 1024Mb.
Processor AMD Phenom II x6 3.30 GHz
8.00 GB RAM.
Windows 64 OS.

[jovcek]

This is what I did: (and hope that it helps you too)

As soon as grub appears, I pressed "e" on the keyboard and that presented me a screen with grub parameters. The first line is

setparams 'Fedora'

the second is

load video

the third is

set gfxpayload=keep

There are more downwards, but not important for this case. I edited this line replacing "keep" with "text". So the third line looks like

set gfxpayload=text

Pressed F10 on the keyboard and the boot continued as it should. (You can edit these grub parameters, but it will not be permanent. Just for this boot.)

Once I was able to use my system perfectly fine, used the step I described above: terminal>root>gedit /etc/default/grub, add the line GRUB_GFXMODE=800x600, save, do not forget to run grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

More info here: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...tml#gfxpayload

[kirba]

Hi again and thanks for replying! I wasn't expecting this to work but it did ! Fedora loaded without the graphical proble ( even though, just for a second and after the logo loaded, the display messed up. but after that it turned back to normal and put me on the log in screen).

Now however I am not listed to sign in and when i click on it, the authentication fails. ( and im pretty sure i put the right info. )
Any ideas ?

[jovcek]

Since you had problems with booting the system, and fedora installation is a two phase process, did you boot successfuly after the initial installation? I am asking because the user(s) are added in the second phase of the installation.

Here is a step-by-step-screenshots of the installation:

http://www.if-not-true-then-false.co...h-screenshots/

Did you get to 3.6 Create Fedora User?

Doesn't it say "Not listed?" in the login manager? (see "3.7 Fedora 17 “Beefy Miracle” login" from the screenshots)

[kirba]

Hi again!
I did a fresh installation and everything went smooth this time. I was able to set everything up on the welcome screen (which i dont remember doing in the past so there must have been something wrong with my first attempt to install.)

Thanks for your help !