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PC Hangs with blank background after Login

I'm a Linux Newbie...so I don't know how to properly troubleshoot:

I have tried:
SUSE 9.3 32-bit
SUSE 9.3 64-bit
SUSE 10.0 64-bit
SUSE 10.0 Live DVD
Ubuntu 5.10
Knoppix (An older version)

None work on my new PC. My 2 older PCs seem to run them properly.

I can install without a problem, but when it comes time to login, everything appears to work until the background shows...all I get is the initial background color...no menus or icons. The mouse will usually still be able to move, I can see the HDD LED flashing periodically...but even after 8+ hours waiting, I cannot get past this point.

I have tried both KDE and GNOME...same issue except that GNOME will give the bars at the top and bottom of the screen, but nothing else.

Init 3 will work...but sometimes after about 5 minutes the system will lock up as well. sax2 will start, but then hang. Using xorgconfig doesn't seem to make a difference.

Windows XP (God forbid) runs fine (at least as well as a Microsoft product can).

I'm running out of options...it doesn't appear that anyone is having the same problem straight off of a clean install.

Can anyone help? As I said, I don't know where to go next to troubleshoot.

Thanks!

--------- Hardware -------------------------------------------------------------
Intel P4 630 Prescott 3.0GHz - 800MHz FSB - LGA 775 - EM64T
ASUS MB P5WD2 Premium - Intel 955X ATX
Mushkin DDR 2 - 1GB (2x512MB) - HP4200 - 3-2-2-8
XFX Geforce 6600LE - 256MB DDR - PCI Express x16 Video Card
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi, if you can start with init 3 and login to a text console, try to look in the log files for any errors (you will need root access):

Code:

more /var/log/dmesg

more /var/log/syslog

more /var/log/Xfree86.0.log

( I don't know if that's the correct file/location for the X server logfile, it could be Xorg.0.log or something like that too)

If you run "startx" from the text console, does it go through?

Cheers!

startx produces the same results.

----------------

Here are messages in the logs that looked like errors:
[dmesg]
...
(WW) 'fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/vw/lib/defoma/x_ttc_idfont_conf.d/dirs/CID"
...
(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_BIOS) (No such file or directory)
...
(WW) NV(0): Bad V_BIOS checksum
...
(WW) (800x600,Generic Monitor) mode clock 36MHz exceedes DDC maximum 0MHz
...
(II) NV(0): Not using default mode "800x600" (hsync out of range)
...
[also the same as above replacing "hsync" with "vrefresh" and in several different resolutions]
...
Warning: font renderer for ".pcf" already registered at priority 0
...
[also the same as above replacing "pcf" with "snf", "bdf" and "pmf"]

[syslog]
ACPI-0295: *** Error: Looking up [ACST] in namespace, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS
...
ACPI-0508: *** Error: Method execution failed [\_PR_.CPU1._PDC] (Node fff81003ff79e40) AE_ALREADY_EXISTS

----------------

Unfortunately I don't really know what any of this means. The "hsync" and "vrefresh" looks like it could be a problem, but why would I have a clean background and visible/movable mouse cursor?

The errors for the font renderer were listed last in the dmesg ... since no text ever appears on the screen (using init 5), maybe this is where the true problem lies.

Any ideas?

JepN13, have you turned off all the plug and play items in you BIOS? Sometimes this interferes with Linux drivers. Just a thought...

I have turned off everything I could find that wasn't necessary in the BIOS...same result.

I thought I might also have a problem with my RAM timing. Ubuntu's memory test showed an incorrect timing setting, so I manually changed the timing...same result.

Hi JepN13.

Did you ever find a solution on this problem? Experiencing the same problem with the graphics card on both SuSE 9.3 and SuSE 10.0
Would appreciate your help on this one!

I apologize for not updating this with discovered info...but it seems that Linux (in general) does not like my MB (specifically the PCI-E slots). According to info that was given to me, Linux will not boot if using a PCI-E video card. I have yet to try a standard PCI video card, but I plan to, if it works, or if I find a version of Linux that will boot with my current hardware, I will update this thread again.

Hi.
I have the same problem with my box.
P4 3.4 GHz
1GB RAM
250GB SATA Disk
Asus P5SD2-X Mainboard
and Leadtek Winfast 6600 graphics card

It's exactly the same problem, i see only background of desktop and nothing else.
Only Warty Warthog 4.10 works fine.

do you have any suggestions?

Turns out it's not exactly as I was told. After installing the updated nvidia drivers I was able to boot into the system quite happily. I still have a stability problem I'm working out (due to my wireless-LAN card, I believe).

Best suggestion I can say for now is to get to the manufacturer's website and see if they have some new drivers for you to try out. Actually, before-hand, you may want to find out if all of your hardware is compatible with Linux (you'll have to google it, I don't remember the site). If you find the right sites, they'll even have the method that was used to get the hardware running...that's how I found the new drivers.