Running 12.2 on a Thinkpad A20M, meaning 700MHz PIII. Much too bloated to run hugesmp.s, so I rolled my own - proc specific etc. This may be my problem, I decided to include ATI Rage as kernel modules.

Aaaanyway, machine boots up and, after bios check, goes dark, no scrolling display of boot sequence. I've hung the system up before, but this was different as I had indications of disk activity. So after that quieted down, I decided to try typing my login 'in the dark.' After entering password, more disk activity but still the lights were out (screen was blank). Typed 'startx,' and here I am!

WTF did I do?

Thanks for any enlightenment,
Geoff.

Sounds like you included the drivers for X to use (the Rage drivers), but didn't include any support for a framebuffer device that the kernel can use prior to X starting.

Ick. That's entirely possible, but more likely I left it (changed it?) to a loadable module. Any way to probe for... what, frameb, fbdev??? If so, could I add the probe to LILO?

If left as a module, is there any probing for a proper driver on bootup? Do you mean that the generic framebuffer device is in use until 'X' is invoked?

Un.believable,
Geoff.

I have used framebuffers but not laptops. I have also seen many kernel options for the LCD like 'backlighting:' that may be something to check.