no command prompt, just blank screen installing slack 12

hi all,

i am trying to install Slackware 12 on my desktop. i have tried multiple cd's and always checked the md5 hash. i pop the cd into the tray and boot the computer, the BIOS works fine and the cd tray starts spinning to load the Slackware installation welcome screen but nothing happens and the computer just hangs at the blank screen. its very frustrating.

what is even more perplexing is that i used to have Slackware 12 running on this exact desktop with the exact same hardware. i even used this same CD to install Slackware last time.

i have tried multiple boot cd's, and have tested those boot cd's on my laptop and they all work on my laptop just fine but the desktop wont even give me a prompt. just a blank screen. i can even install windows vista, backtrack, and ubuntu on the desktop just not Slackware. what am i missing here 0_o?

is there any way to get the install files on the drive or possibly do a network boot? just anything other than a cd? i am totally stumped.

are you sure all of your hardware is working correctly? Did you BIOS settings get changed recently? I would probably be more concerned about that before trying to install an OS.

I would test a bunch of live/boot cds to see if anything works. Can you boot from USB, floppy, etc?

As far as intalling Slackare...if you can boot into a linux OS then you can chroot and manually set up the filesystem, but, again, I recommend you figure why you are having this problem before spending time working around it.

I once spent longer than I'm going to report trying to use a boot DVD in
a machine that only had a CDRW. In your case, if the laptop has a DVD reader
and the desktop a CD reader and you installed Slackware 12 with an install CD
the first time, and then downloaded an install DVD to use now, then the symptoms
you listed would occur. And, of course, if that were the case, the solution
would be to use a boot CD--not a boot DVD.

Similar sort of "impossibilities" have been reported with Slackware 11 on older
older Dell boxes with a bios difficulty. But since you have already installed
Slack 12 on this "exact desktop" you've ruled out that possibility.

But to answer your question, the easiest non CD method of booting to an install
is a boot floppy. Lacking that, then comes a recovery CD. Then a "skeleton" boot CD
(i.e., a CD with only the files necessary to boot--assuming whatever the format difficulty
with the install CD can be corrected and the CD re-burned)

The idea for last two of these methods is to load something on your machine that
can get isoliux on your install media up and running, then complete the install
as normal.

I hope some part of this helps,

--Lawrence

Originally Posted by richcricketz hi all, i am trying to install Slackware 12 on my desktop. i have tried multiple cd's and always checked the md5 hash. i pop the cd into the tray and boot the computer, the BIOS works fine and the cd tray starts spinning to load the Slackware installation welcome screen but nothing happens and the computer just hangs at the blank screen. its very frustrating. what is even more perplexing is that i used to have Slackware 12 running on this exact desktop with the exact same hardware. i even used this same CD to install Slackware last time. i have tried multiple boot cd's, and have tested those boot cd's on my laptop and they all work on my laptop just fine but the desktop wont even give me a prompt. just a blank screen. i can even install windows vista, backtrack, and ubuntu on the desktop just not Slackware. what am i missing here 0_o? is there any way to get the install files on the drive or possibly do a network boot? just anything other than a cd? i am totally stumped.

Attach a monitor to your VGA port to see if your display driver is the cause. I have had my screen go black shortly after starting an install, especially with Debian, because my Averatec has an odd display chip. I've not heard of this happening at startup, though. Incidentally, once my system is built, it boots and runs perfectly on my display.