I am running Slackware 12.0 with the huge.smp kernal booting with the noapic parameter.

The specs on my computer can be found here.

When I start up my Computer, the Lilo menu pops up just fine. I select the Linux option and the screen turns black. If I just let the computer sit there, the screen will stay black and nothing will happen. However, there is a power button on the front of my laptop. If you press it once it puts the computer into sleep mode. If you hold it down it turns the computer off. If I press it once while the screen is black, the boot will start and everything goes smoothly. I guess I do not understand why pressing this button causes the boot to continue as normal. Pressing any other key does not do anything.

I appreciate your time and your thoughts in tracking down the cause of this strange issue :-).

Hi,

You could try the 'hugesmp.s acpi=off noapic' to see if that will work for the laptop.

BTW, Welcome to LQ.

A black screen sounds like it could be a framebuffer issue (not sure why it would be resolved by pressing the power button, but pressing it may reset the display or something allowing you to see it boot...). Of course, this is assuming that the computer is actually booting in the first place and you just can't see it. If this is the case you should edit /etc/lilo.conf, comment out any vga=### lines and uncomment vga = normal, which should work for any display. You must run `/sbin/lilo` as root before rebooting to write to the MBR or wherever else you wrote lilo's bootloader to. If this ISN'T the case and it actually isn't booting, there may be a module loaded that is causing trouble. In this case you should think about switching to the generic-smp kernel (you should probably do this anyway -- Pat discourages the use of the huge kernels for daily use), which may or may not clear up the issue.

It is possible that something else involving motherboard-specific issues is going on (ie if the above solutions do not work), and for this you'd have to wait for someone else to reply (they may recommend adding another boot option or something like that).

Good luck.

[edit]I should try refreshing the page before I reply. It looks like onebuck already suggested another boot option.[/edit]

I added the extra boot parameter apci=off and also uncommented vga = normal and this seems to fix the issue. I am thinking it was the vga = normal part that fixed it. Unfourtunetly now my bootup is hanging and never gets to completion. Could apci=off have caused this? The step before it hangs reads:

It's good that vga=normal works, but is there a way to make the boot up use the nVidia driver that I have installed? Also, any suggestions about how to fix the boot up would be appreciated.


One additional problem I discovered is that I get the same black screen when I attempt to logout of my fluxbox session, although that may be fixed now too. I cannot tell though because the boot hangs :-(.

I am going to try to use my Slackware install CD to make a rescue USB stick and see what I can do with that.

I'm relatively new so take anything I say with a grain of salt. LoL. However I too had problems logging out of an X session. The screen would just go blank and hang there. Nothing. Turned out to be a xorg issue and running xorgsetup corrected it.

Well the USB key idea failed, but I did manage to mount my harddrive with the install CD and I have edited the lilo configuation file back to what it was (to see if that fixes the problem). The only issue is that I cannot find where the lilo command is on my hard drive. I know I need to execute it to save the .conf file, but so far, no luck.

/sbin/lilo

Thanks guys for the tips, it's fixed! It was the acpi=off that caused the problem.

I have a / (sda3), /boot (sda1), and /swap (sda2) on my HD. So I did:

That issue is taken care of :-).

I attempted to run xorgsetup again as root to see if it would fix the log off problem, but it is still there. Could it be a similar issue like the startup black screen?

Hmmm I have suffered from long delay at

For ages on my desktop. I've never used acpi=off though. Will have to experiment with acpi to see if it's a problem.

I was looking back on my old lilo.conf file (I don't overwrite when I make changes, I just make new copies :-p). I was thinking that perhaps it could have been a syntax error that causes the hang up. Specifically, the key line:

I know for sure that my boot up hangs if I do not have noapic. So perhaps this is just the wrong way to pass through two boot parameters. I checked lilo.conf(5), but the part about append was not helpful.

That is the correct way to do it. Didn't work with my problem though.

-{Jester}-, what drivers are you using for your nVidia card? The best drivers available are the proprietary ones from nVidia. You *can* use the open-source drivers, but you should expect problems and no 3D acceleration. If you are already using the nVidia drivers, what version are you using? If you did install the nVidia drivers, did you let the installer compile the module itself or did you let if fetch a module from the internet (it's best to let it compile it)? What kernel are you using? (Hopefully an smp kernel, and even more hopefully the generic-smp kernel, or one you compiled yourself.) What model is your video card?

I'm using the latest proprietary nVidia drivers (NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.12-pkg1.run) with no problems (I have experienced the black screen after exiting X or switching from an X display to a VT, but only when using compiz, which I no longer use. I have since updated the nVidia drivers and I'm not sure whether the latest version is still affected).

nVidia Driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_d...32_169.12.html

I simply ran the script that came with the download in order to install the driver. It gave me the correct resolution (1280x800).

Kernel: 2.6.21.5-smp

It was the default one that was recommended during install: hugesmp.s.

Graphics Card: VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C51 [Geforce 6150 Go] (rev a2)

I noticed something else as well. When I wake up my computer after the display has been put to sleep, the graphics are wavy and burly and I have to restart.

...does Pat write the CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT file for himself?
It is *possible* (DEFINITELY not 100%) that a kernel module is loaded that shouldn't be, and is interfering with the nVidia module. You should really move to the generic-smp kernel. However, since the module compiled successfully, this is unlikely. You should post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and your /etc/lilo.conf file (does the problem still occur with the vga = normal option?). Beyond that, it's hard to troubleshoot. The only thing I can think of right now, other than the huge-smp scapegoat, is an incorrectly configured X (hence the request to post your xorg.conf). But others are much more intelligent than I, and may have better advice.

Just to backup what T3slider said, you should really think about switching to one of the generic kernels. I had nothing but problems with the huge kernel. Also, 2.6.21.5 had a lot of acpi problems on my hardware. I've since upgraded to 2.6.24.4-generic kernel and it's been nothing but smooth sailing. Everything 'just works'. Your mileage may vary of course.