Author Topic: boots to a black screen(Solved)  (Read 2869 times)

Online scoundrel

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boots to a black screen(Solved)
« on: December 08, 2009, 07:23:29 AM »
installed nvidia 71xx while in live cd then I installed  ..then updated the 552 packages rebooted .. played with it for a while then shut puter off....... came back and turned it on and it boots to a black screen ..trying in safe mode it stops at

Telling INIT to go to single user mode.
INIT: Going single user
sh-4.0#

and nothing more.... this happens with all pclos versions


this is an old Compaq 1.7  1Gb ram and the riva tnt video card
« Last Edit: December 08, 2009, 10:43:49 AM by scoundrel »
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Offline Joble

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2009, 07:25:21 AM »
can you type video at the command prompt?
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Online scoundrel

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2009, 09:35:50 AM »
can you type video at the command prompt?

command not found .. as with all others.. startx works but gives me a white flashing screen with vertical lines
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Offline Joble

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2009, 09:37:59 AM »
What about the full path to the video command?  Same result?  I would give you the full path but I'm not on my machine at the moment.
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Offline MaddogF16

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2009, 09:41:03 AM »
Are you at root level when trying the video or XFdrake commands?
Why?

Online scoundrel

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2009, 09:46:18 AM »
Are you at root level when trying the video or XFdrake commands?

this is where I am

Telling INIT to go to single user mode.
INIT: Going single user
sh-4.0#

do not know if its at root.. but typing root gives command not found
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Offline MaddogF16

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #6 on: December 08, 2009, 09:53:19 AM »
Type "su" then give root password, then type video or XFdrake
Why?

Offline 7272andy

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #7 on: December 08, 2009, 09:55:14 AM »
Black screen of death? you sure your not running winders  ;D <--- Idjit giggle

You could also try running /usr/sbin/drakx11


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Offline pags

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #8 on: December 08, 2009, 09:58:40 AM »
this is where I am

Telling INIT to go to single user mode.
INIT: Going single user
sh-4.0#

do not know if its at root.. but typing root gives command not found

This sounds (looks?) like it isn't finding the root filesystem (so, nothing is available beyond the initrd).

If you boot from a Live CD, do you see all your partitions?  Are they OK?  Does the /etc/fstab agree with your actual drive layout?

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #9 on: December 08, 2009, 10:22:43 AM »
sorry guys ..had to put on the feed bag..

1 ..this is not a lappy.. its an old compaq small form factor..
2 ..live cd runs without a problem.. installs fine..
3.. after I install and using the generic video driver .....no problem..even installing the 71xx driver and not updating it works.. its after I update..after reboot..shut it off and later starting it that this happens..
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Offline pags

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #10 on: December 08, 2009, 10:35:31 AM »
sorry guys ..had to put on the feed bag..

1 ..this is not a lappy.. its an old compaq small form factor..
2 ..live cd runs without a problem.. installs fine..
3.. after I install and using the generic video driver .....no problem..even installing the 71xx driver and not updating it works.. its after I update..after reboot..shut it off and later starting it that this happens..

Regardless of laptop or desktop (or form factor), the Live CD is an awesome troubleshooting and recovery tool.

Out of curiousity, are you doing any shutdowns prior to your updates?  Just curious what happens if you did a complete power down cycle after each step:
1 .. Run Live CD, install, shut down.
2 .. Power up, install 71xx, shut down.
3 .. Power up, update, shut down.
4 .. Power up, ???

Does it still hang only after the updates?

(Bear in mind, also, that the updates are probably in something of a "state of flux", as the tool chain is completely re-worked for a final 2010 release...there may be a particular update that doesn't currently agree with your system.  As this is a rolling-release distro, you won't be able to update to some previous point in time.  If that is the case, you might want to hold off updates (unfortunately, this approach would require that you periodically apply them as tests) until the offending update passes, or has adequate support through other updates)

Offline Joble

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #11 on: December 08, 2009, 10:39:22 AM »
Sorry scoundrel, I'm out of ideas at the moment.  Quite a dilema.
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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2009, 10:43:21 AM »
sorry guys.. its hardware ... ram problem ..... now it boots just fine.. swapped out the ram and put the old 256mb pins and its just fine...
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Re: boots to a black screen(Solved)
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2009, 10:46:10 AM »
now if I could just get it to hold the 60Hz refresh rate .. it keeps coming back on reboot as 75Hz
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Offline Joble

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Re: boots to a black screen
« Reply #14 on: December 08, 2009, 10:51:50 AM »
sorry guys.. its hardware ... ram problem ..... now it boots just fine.. swapped out the ram and put the old 256mb pins and its just fine...

hehe, wish I had thought of that.   ;D
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