'startx' gives me a black screen on new slackware 10 install

evank · 01-06-2005, 11:24 PM

i reinstalled slackware 10 on my computer, and it works perfectly fine until i startx, at which point, it just gives me a black screen. this is a completely new install, formatted and repartitioned, and tried with gnome, kde, xcef, fluxbox, all with the same result.

i've been primarily using windows, and since the last time i used slackware, i switched out my monitor for a secondhand 19" monitor (compaq mv940), no other hardware changes.

i had no problems at all with my 14" dell monitor (other than it being reeealy small), and i dont really have much experience with linux or xservers...any help would be greatly appreciated.

Electro · 01-07-2005, 12:11 AM

First check in /var/log/Xorg.9.log and/or /var/log/Xorg.0.log for any errors. It does not hurt to check $HOME/.xsession-errors. Also you may need to add a few Modeline in your xorg.conf. Go to http://xtiming.sourceforge.net/cgi-bin/xtiming.pl to help you generate some Modelines. I suggest using 800x600 for starters and then increase to the desire resolution. Not all Xorg modules (drivers) work higher than 800x600. Though you did not tell us what video card you have.

blood_omen · 01-07-2005, 01:03 AM

You could take a look at this thread:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...91#post1393391

One of my post, which is mine by the way explain how I do configure X, it might give you some hint and perhaps, why not, help you solve the problem.

I hope it helps

__J · 01-07-2005, 05:38 AM

what vid card and drivers are you using. With my Geforce 4 and nvidia's newest driver (66xx-1.0) all i get is a black screen no matter what distro i use. Ended up having to roll back to the previous driver (6111-1.0).

ZaphyR · 01-07-2005, 10:38 AM

if you have x running, stop it and enter the shell.
then type, I believe you have to be root to run the command:

Code:

X -configure

this will autoconfigure your xorg.conf file.
to test the settings, just type

Code:

X -config /root/xorg.conf.new

usually you will get the X server up and running, and can press CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to kill it.
if not, you will have to modify the config file. just play around with the xorg.conf.new until it works.

when it works, just type

Code:

cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

now you can reboot and the X server and your windowmanager should start

evank · 01-07-2005, 09:59 PM

i'm using an nvidia geforce 2 ultra, and i DID get it working now. apparently, due to the new monitor i'm using, startx right after the slackware install just gives me a black screen from which i can't do anything. ctrl+alt+del does nothing, ctrl+alt+backspace does nothing,.

someone mentioned trying xorgconfig, so I did, which overwrote the original config file from installation, and that's got it working now.