black screen on boot

heylin · #1 24th May 2009, 03:15 AM

The resolution was extremely low. There was no xorg.conf file was not present in /etc/X11

I attempted to create a file called xorg.conf. I appear to be getting permission errors.
I opened a terminal window and used 'su root' to change to root user. I then copied the file I created from the desktop to /etc/X11

Now when I boot up, I get a black screen. Do you know what this issue might be?

coleys · #2 24th May 2009, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heylin

The resolution was extremely low. There was no xorg.conf file was not present in /etc/X11

I attempted to create a file called xorg.conf. I appear to be getting permission errors.
I opened a terminal window and used 'su root' to change to root user. I then copied the file I created from the desktop to /etc/X11

Now when I boot up, I get a black screen. Do you know what this issue might be?

What is your graphics card?

heylin · #3 24th May 2009, 10:32 AM

The motherboard has onboard graphics. There isn't a separate graphics card.

***glennzo*** · #4 24th May 2009, 11:05 AM

Find out what graphics adapter you have by opening a terminal and typing

Code:

/sbin/lspci | grep VGA

On my desktop box:

Code:

[glenn@centos5 Podcasts]$ /sbin/lspci | grep VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5500] (rev a1)

On my laptop:

Code:

[glenn@laptopbeta Download]$ /sbin/lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

Also, the output of the comands

Code:

cat /etc/fedora-release
uname -r

would be helpful.

heylin · #5 24th May 2009, 12:23 PM

thanks for the reply. I will try that when I get the PC to switch on.

At the minute I have a black screen with a cursor flashing in the top left corner. Do you know if there is anyway to get past this or must I reinstall F10?

tdfranc · #6 24th May 2009, 12:27 PM

you can always try to go to the terminal which doesn't run X.
when booted press ctrl-alt-F2 (or F3,...,F10).

Now you can log in without the graphics,
and you can continue your search

stoat · #7 24th May 2009, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heylin

thanks for the reply. I will try that when I get the PC to switch on.

At the minute I have a black screen with a cursor flashing in the top left corner. Do you know if there is anyway to get past this or must I reinstall F10?

Hello heylin,

If nothing else helps, try booting with the Fedora DVD, choose "Rescue installed system", enter chroot /mnt/sysimage at the sh prompt, and then delete or move or rename that xorg.conf file that seems to have started all of this. Maybe then you can go back to where it all began. According to your first post, at least it booted and you had a display back then. After that, try something else to get the resolution the way you want. Maybe then you can identify your video card (built-in or not) and get a driver for it. That may solve your problem.

P.S.: The xorg.conf file sort of went away starting with Fedora 10. But I, like some other people, still had a use for it. I found that my old practice of copying it from old versions to new versions stopped working with Fedora 10. I had to let Fedora 10 create one. So if you hand-wrote that xorg.conf or copied an old one, maybe you should try creating one with Xorg -configure :1 and copy it from /root to /etc/X11. Edit it as needed. Maybe that will work if this same hardware worked well with an xorg.conf in a previous Fedora version.

heylin · #8 24th May 2009, 04:44 PM

I got back to where I was before the all black screen. Resolution choices are either 640x400 or 640x350

Do you know how I might be able to increase the resolution a little?

graphics adapter:

VIA technologies, Inc. VT8378 [S3 UniChrome] Integrated Video (rev 01)

thanks,

Peter

jaymann · #9 24th May 2009, 05:38 PM

Quote:

At the minute I have a black screen with a cursor flashing in the top left corner.

I had this problem with crt monitor not being recognized,
maybe this is your problem as well.
When you see the cursor flashing in the top left corner
Press CTRL + ALT + F2
Log in
Install system-config-display

Code:

su -c 'yum install system-config-display'

then

Code:

su -c 'system-config-display'

Go to the 'Hardware' tab
Press the 'Configure' button
Check the 'Show all available monitors' box in the
lower left corner
Select you monitor
Click OK
Maybe this helps

heylin · #10 24th May 2009, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaymann

I had this problem with crt monitor not being recognized,
maybe this is your problem as well.
When you see the cursor flashing in the top left corner
Press CTRL + ALT + F2
Log in

I got past the black screen by putting in the F10 disk. I did not get any option to rescue the installation, I instead reinstalled F10. As it was a recent install, I lost nothing by doing this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jaymann

Install system-config-display

Code:

su -c 'yum install system-config-display'

I tried running this install command from the terminal to see if it would fix the resolution, but I got "Error: database disk image is malformed"

***glennzo*** · #11 24th May 2009, 07:21 PM

I've had this happen to me from time to time with new Fedora installs. In my case, and this is extremely odd, at least to me, the problem was that X was running on TTY1 but as the system came up it wasn't switching to that VT, it was coming up on TTY2 or 3, etc and leaving me at a command prompt. Logging in and typing startx got me a warning that X was already running. I started trying the different VT's. Simply using CTRL/ALT/F1 brought me to the correct terminal and there was my GUI. Historically the correct terminal has been 7. I don't expect that this will be the case with you but I thought it was worth mentioning.

stoat · #12 26th May 2009, 01:23 AM

Hello again heylin,

I hope you got your display issue corrected. I just had a parting comment about this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by heylin

I got past the black screen by putting in the F10 disk. I did not get any option to rescue the installation, I instead reinstalled F10.

If you continue to use Fedora, then I promise you that someday you will need to know how to do that. Prior to Fedora 7, it was simply called "linux rescue", and you got there by entering those very words as a kernel boot parameter at the old Anaconda boot prompt. Eventually you would arrive at an sh prompt with your system mounted at /mnt/sysimage. It's a place from which you can access files in your system to make repairs to them (or many other useful things). Anyway, since Fedora 7, the boot prompt is gone, and we have a nice GUI menu soon after booting with a Fedora DVD. The third menu choice down the list is "Rescue installed system". Choose it when that day comes. To me, it's still good old linux rescue once it takes you to the familiar sh prompt. It's just a choice in a nice graphic menu nowadays.

P.S.: If you did solve your display problem, take a moment to come back and describe what happened. Someday, it may help some frustrated person with the same signs and symptoms.

heylin · #13 26th May 2009, 11:13 PM

Hi Stoat,

I'll remember that in future. Thanks.

I didn't get the resolution issue fixed yet. I'm still playing around with it..
If you have any advice, it would be greately appreciated.

Thanks,

Peter

asaan27 · #14 29th May 2009, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by heylin

The resolution was extremely low. There was no xorg.conf file was not present in /etc/X11

I attempted to create a file called xorg.conf. I appear to be getting permission errors.
I opened a terminal window and used 'su root' to change to root user. I then copied the file I created from the desktop to /etc/X11

Now when I boot up, I get a black screen. Do you know what this issue might be?

I hve the same problem, and My VGA card is :
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82G33/G31 Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 10)
I will be greatful, if someone helps..
Thanks