hello,
I've installed Suse 10.0 on a separate partition on my hard drive. When the computer loads up, I get a choice between loading "windows" and loading "suse linux." The problem occurs when I choose to load suse: instead of loading the kde enviornment, all I get is the linux kernel(black screen like the shell or dos), which asks me for a username, and a password, and then leaves me in the linux kernel, which is definitely not where I want to be.
I installed this exact version of suse once before, but then it was using VMware- back then, it worked just fine.
If anyone knows what I should do to solve this problem, I will appreciate all the help I can get...

thanks

Hi,

I suppose you are able to login then.

It sounds like you didn't pick a graphic environment to use with your new install. The two most common is KDE or Gnome. You get the choice to pick one of those during the installprocedure.

Or maybe you remembered...in that case which one did you pick?

Sincerely, Jorgen

This could be a very simple problem of Suse not able to match you video/monitor/mouse and hence drops the graphic desktop. It happens all the time.

What you should do is try to configure it yourself in command prompt.

Check /var/log/xorg.0.log to see why the desktop was stopped.

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to alter the affected drivers. Linux uses generic drivers so try to pick one yourself. If you are not sure which one then try to run the configurator either by Yast or xorgconfig.

I picked KDE.
This is a new computer, is it possible that linux does not support my graphics card (gefore 6200).
saikee, when you said "Check /var/log/xorg.0.log" did you mean that after logging in in the kernel shell I should type "/var/log/xorg.0.log" ?
When you said to edit the affected drives, I completely lost you. I'm a newbie in Linux, and I have no idea what you mean by that.
If you can, please explain yourself some more. thanks.
Maybe if I reinstall Suse, and choose GNOME instead of KDE...?

thanks for the help

You are not going to be able to survive in Linux without knowing to use an editor.

There are several ones available and the one that you can find every distro is "vi" or its improved version "vim"

Basically you look at the directory /var/log by
Having seen the file you then type
or
"less" is just to view it whereas vim is an editor allowing you to search.

You will need to do a serach on the basic instrcutions before able to operate vim or vi.

To configure the graphic desktop just type
or
at the command prompt.

If Suse installer cannot match your video card a reinstallation will be no good.

For a geforce 6200 I suggest you try "nv" or "vesa" in the xorgconfig. It is under the "device" section of xorg.conf, which is the output every time you run xorgconfig.

It is quite straight forward. You can alter the xorg.conf directly after trying out xorgconfig a few time.

Type
to get into the graphic desktop. If it fails you press ctrl+alt+backspace to drop back to command prompt to try again, again and agin until you succeed.

when typing "ls" I did not see a directory with the name "var."
Does that mean the directory does not exist?
I will try doing what you suggested tomorrow morning (it's night here) and will get back to you.
If the problem is my graphics card, does that mean I have nothing to do? since this is a new computer, and I do not intend to change my graphics card...?
thanks for all the help...

If you haven't got /var then your installation may be incomplete. Suse 10 should have 5 CDs.

I have installed over 100 distros in 3 desktops and 1 laptop and never had to look for a driver yet. You should be able to get the video card going using the generic drivers. For maximum performance and speed you may need to get a Linux driver but geforce 6200 isn't the top of the range , is it?

I have PCI express onboard of a 939 socket mobo with a AMD64 3200. I don't even know what kind of graphic card I got but it works with the "vesa" driver and there are over 100 systems run on it.

saikee, I tried setting this up using the xorgconfig command. It guided me through the steps, and I tried choosing the correct values in each step, but at the end, startx did said "fatal error."
I think my problem is either the video card, or the monitor (samsung syncMaster 730b- LCD).
I also tried going into Yast, but I was unable to do anything there. When I pressed enter on the "graphic card" I got nothing.
What should be the next step? should I try a different distro?

When logging into the system use the 'root' account.
try sax2 as command
It will give you a graphical tool for configuring X.
before saving the configuration first use the test-button.

If you want to use an editor try pico (vi is perhaps not suitable for new users).

Success.

I still think your best bet is to edit the /etc/xorg.conf.

You should also take a look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log (it should be available by now) as this error log tells you exactly what was wrong with your system. Knowing it does no harm to you at all.

I also have a LCD monitor and wrote the scanning frequencises down. It is common that the installer could fail to match the scanning frequencies and so no display possible. You can override this in the "monitor" section's two lines

HorizSync
VertRefresh

your own LCD grequencies.

The "device" section controls the video card and the relevant line is
"driver" "nv"

So try to understand where it matters is not a loss.

Changing to a different distro is definitely an alternative. Ubuntu and Slax are the two I recommend.

OK, I tried:
1) sax2: and got "invalid runlevel... please switch to runlevel 3 first."

2) startx: "fatal error: no screens found."

3) I tried configuring using the "xorgconfig" command several times, but all failed. I could make much sense of the log file...

4) I'm having trouble picking the "horizontal synch range" and the "vertical" thing.

Waiting for last minute suggestions before reinstalling Suse one more time, this time with GNOME instead of KDE. If that won't work, I'll give Unbunto a go, but since right now my problem is either the screen or the video card, my expections are low...

thanks

try this first to switch to runlevel 3:

when I chose VGA as my graphics card, I got the following error: "driver can't support depth 24" also got the same with "depth 16."
When I chose VESA as my graphics card, I got a completely different error: "mouse1: cannot open input device /dev/mouse"
So I figure that now my problem is my USB logitech wireless mouse...
The odd thing is that when I installed this distro with the same dvd disc, I had the same mouse, and there were no problems.

thanks for all the help

The log file has a statement (EE) that tells you exactly what was wrong. If it is the pointing device then the Desktop will not be activated too. The error is normally at the very end.

In the Xorg.conf there is also color depth and Vga is unable to support high definition. You should try to locate the exact error first.

The installer can cope with the wireless mouse but a driver may have to be picked for the installer version. It is generally safe to stick with older hardware where the drivers are already available.

I believe something is wrong with the installation because when running sax2, I got a pretty good graphical window, the mouse was available, and everything seemed fine. I then tried starx, and this time it gave no errors, but then it said "could not open kstartupconfig."
So I reckon that the problem is in the installation...

thanks, I'm going to try to reinstall suse...