Hi all,

I've just installed Gentoo 1.4 on my pc, and I've gotten X to work. Problem is, I boot the system with
the vga=(don't remember, but it's the code for 1024x768), which works nicely. Then I go into X, which
works nicely too. But when I log out of X, I don't get a working console anymore, just some flickering
blocks. Is it possible to run the console in 1024x768 AND safely get in and out of X? I run the 2.4.20
kernel, graphics card is an nvidia geforce 4 ti4200 card with the latest driver, with an LCD screen
attached to the vga port, and my tv to the tv-out. Any suggestions?

I.

How do you start X and log out of it?
Do you mean a blinking cursor?

Running startx from console. The .xinintrc file contains "exec startkde". Logging out is
simply the logout button from kde. Pretty standard stuff.

No, I mean a bunch of blinking randomly placed groups of 4 or more letter-sized blocks
(letter-sized as in the standard 80xwhatsit character console mode). At one time, it still
responded to ctrl-alt-del, at another time it didn't.

I.

I have the exact same problem but only with the 2.6.0-test series of kernels, and I use a Neomagic 256 video card. With the 2.4 series of kernels the framebuffer mode works fine after logging out of X. The vga mode I use is 791.

Håkan

Strange, I use a 2.4 kernel. IIRC my vga mode is 317. What resolution is 791?

I.

791 is 1024x768@16bpp.

Håkan

I'm having this problem too.

I've got:

MSI K7N2G-ILSR IGP based motherboard
512MB of samsung memory
30GB Maxtor harddrive
Gentoo 1.4
Latest emerge sync, latest emerge nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx
Latest Xfree86


I edited the config file near abouts to the same I had it set on for my previous
celeron 600 machine running gentoo 1.4 with a nvidia GF2MX.

Every time I close out X, and sometimes when I exit links -g, the console goes all weird on me. I've tried stty sane (does that even work anymore?) then hitting ctrl-alt-del. It only responds to ctrl-alt-del sometimes, maybe 4 out of 5 times.

When they do exit, the screen is filled with colored small groups of text, background same as foreground, usually green from the get go, scattered about
the screen, in some form of low text mode... It looks like 80x25.
I'm thinking something's off on the resolution switching, and instead of returning to my 1024x768x32 fb console, it stops there.
If I hit enter enough times, the screen goes red (my box's name is in red on a root prompt) so I know I'm getting back to a console that still works.
Should I try fbset? What would the commandline be? I know this is probably a temporary fix at best.

Oh yeah, I'm running kernel 2.4.20-gentoo-r9 through grub.
I'm using the vesafb mode, and a vga= on my kernel line. I think it's like 791 or something, but it's the one in the gentoo docs for 1024x768x32bit. (or 24bit, whichever.

Also -- when I try to run X, it doesn't support my USB MS intellimouse explorer optical (5 button + wheel) and I don't know why.

Edit: Ok, I got it fixed. Real easy too.

Apparently, 4496 has some problems. Answer: Don't use it.

emerge 4496, kernel and glx.

Then go to nvidia's website and download the 4363 drivers.
Here's a direct link.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d..._1.0-4363.html
Get the .run file.

chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4363.run

then ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4363.run

It'll tell you your kernel is not compatible with the prebuilds on their website. That's fine.

Accept the license agreement, and let the nvidia installer compile the kernel module, then install the GLX module.

At this point, you should be able to start and leave X freely.

BTW, this problem is covered in Gentoo's bug tracker, under ID #29336
http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=29336

Edit2: It looks like this problem is due to the gentoo kernel bootsplash patch.
Another fix is to shut it off using genkernel --config and deselecting it in the menuconfig that shows up. (unconfirmed)


Thanks.
-- Kamilion
See bash. See bash run. See bash run GCC. Run, GCC, Run!