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Monitor shuts off when I switch to console

Whenever I switch to console (ctrl+alt+f1-6), the monitor instantly goes into power saving mode. It also happens when I select console login from KDM, and when I reboot or shutdown the computer.

To further explain the last one: when rebooting/shutting down, after X shuts down and on the point when I should see the scrolling text of the different services being shut down, the monitor shuts off. You would think that if I leave the computer at this point it would still go through the shut down process and then turn off. It doesn't, I've waited and nothing happens. Which leaves me to believe that more is happening that the monitor just shutting off.

Some background:
I had fglrx installed through dpkg, KDE only, and X.org

Events that led to this problem
I did a dist-upgrade from the console. It stalled at "setting up xserver-xorg 7.2-5" so pressed CTRL+C. The install continued, I rebooted, KDM launched without a problem.

I then logged in as root from the console and found out xserver failed to update because it was looking for libgnome2-perl, which for some reason wasn't listed as a dependency. After installing libgnome2-perl, xserver installed and and then fglrx was also "updated." I use the quotes because fglrxinfo showed that the card wasn't being recognized.

So, I removed fglrx and for some reason rebooted the computer. Of course X wouldn't start after the reboot because it was looking for the fglrx module. I reinstalled fglrx through apt so that I can go to ATI's website and download the latest drivers. At this point, I had an AMD (or maybe ATI?) watermark on the lower right-hand corner, but I wasn't concerned.

After downloading the ATI drivers (version 8.42.3), I installed it from the console with X shut off using the following commands:

Code:

dpkg -i fglrx-*.deb 



apt-get -f upgrade



module-assistant prepare

module-assistant update

module-assistant a-i fglrx 



aticonfig --initial



mkdir -p /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri

ln -s /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/dri

Rebooted, X works, watermark gone, fglrxinfo shows card properly recognized. But, cannot go into console or shutdown/reboot computer.

ACPI is known to mess with otherwise perfectly stable systems, so you may want to investigate that route.

I tried booting with acpi=off. It took a long time finding my hard drives and kept insisting that I use the irqpoll flag also. After a while it was unable to find the root filesystem and dropped me into ASH with an initramfs prompt. I was also unable to use my USB keyboard.

I then tried booting with acpi=off and irqpoll. Although, it was slightly faster in discovering the devices, it still had problems finding the root filesystem and again dropped me into the initramfs prompt. This time, I could use my keyboard.

When I used acpi=off, it couldn't find root in sda7 (where it should be, since I have sata drives) and suggested that I try hda7.

Here's an output of dmesg | grep -i acpi:

Code:

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LSID] (IRQs 3 4 5 7 9 *10 11 12 14 15)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LFID] (IRQs 3 4 5 7 9 10 *11 12 14 15)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LPCA] (IRQs 3 4 5 7 9 10 11 12 14 15) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC1] (IRQs 16) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC2] (IRQs 17) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC3] (IRQs 18) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC4] (IRQs 19) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC5] (IRQs *16), disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCF] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCG] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCH] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCJ] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCK] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCS] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCL] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCZ] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0, disabled.

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APSI] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APSJ] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCP] (IRQs 20 21 22 23) *0, disabled.

pnp: PnP ACPI init

ACPI: bus type pnp registered

pnp: PnP ACPI: found 13 devices

ACPI: ACPI bus type pnp unregistered

PnPBIOS: Disabled by ACPI PNP

PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing

ACPI: RTC can wake from S4

ACPI: Fan [FAN] (on)

ACPI: Thermal Zone [THRM] (40 C)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCF] enabled at IRQ 23

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:02.0[A] -> Link [APCF] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 16

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCL] enabled at IRQ 22

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:02.1[B] -> Link [APCL] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCH] enabled at IRQ 21

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:0a.0[A] -> Link [APCH] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 18

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APSI] enabled at IRQ 20

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:07.0[A] -> Link [APSI] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 19

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APSJ] enabled at IRQ 23

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> Link [APSJ] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 16

parport_pc 00:0a: reported by Plug and Play ACPI

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCJ] enabled at IRQ 22

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:04.0[A] -> Link [APCJ] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 17

ACPI: Power Button (FF) [PWRF]

ACPI: Power Button (CM) [PWRB]

ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC3] enabled at IRQ 18

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:05:00.0[A] -> Link [APC3] -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 20

Just as an update, I haven't pursued this any further since ATI recognizes it as a know issue with their drivers. It has been a known issue for a long time now. As of Catalyst 8.2 (fglrx 8.455.2) it is still an unresolved issue.

During my investigation into another problem I did find this suggestion: http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Tro...rtual_consoles

http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=239#c48

I haven't tried it since I moved onto X.org's radeon driver. Also, it doesn't specify if using a DVI->VGA adapter will have the same effect.