AAAGGHH please make Linux work!!!
 

Hullo,

I have just installed SuSE 8.1 on my PC, i installed it all through the 8.1 boot disk and downloaded from the FTP through YAST, all the users are setup and suse seemed to identify all my hardware, however when i boot up to it, all im getting is the command line, and being brand spanking new to linux i havent a clue what to do (help i need a windows enviroment!!!), i manage to log in as the root or as the user,

my system is Duron 1200
PCChips 810lmr
384MB DDR Ram
Spahiretech 9000 128MB Radeon ATI

if its any help, when suse 8.1 boots up it seems to be fine and then the screen flashes 4 or 5 times and then is fine, but just leaving the command line, please can someone help me to get KDE up and running, if i can get this to work ok i can finally delete
the dreaded XP of my other HD and never see it again (Wahey!)


i hope you can help

Tom

Try "startx" (Without the Quotes} after you login.

if that doesnt work
try "Xconfigurator" (no quotes, make sure the X is upper case) from the command prompt to set settings

i tried "startx" and i got a screen full of messages, the following seems to be the jist of it,

(EE) RADEON(0) : no valid mode found for this DFP/LCD
(EE) Screen(s) found, but none have a usable confiuration

Fatal Server error
no screens found

Fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer on xserver)
"0.0" after 0 requests (0 known processed with 0 events remaining)

Does this mean that it could be a problem with the video card???

Cheers

try running Xconfigurator and try various fifferent settings.
My experience is that video cards don't act quite the way they do under Windows setup. and I now use 24bit colour rather than 32bit as i would under windows.

I had trouble with video card initially (RedHat didn't support the particular type of graphics chip i had) and in the end went out and bought a new one so i could use Linux without having to shut down and put an old ATI card in.

Hi,

I tried to run Xconfigurator but got an unkown command message, i then tried "X configurator" and i got a whole list of commands (however i could only see the ones at the bottom of the page - tried scrolling but only managed to scroll through the previously typed commands at the command prompt),

SuSE 8.1 looks to be fine except for not being able to launch into a desktop enviroment,

I am at a loss, Dam windoze for making me lazy and not learning different OS's,

any ideas??

Cheers

to scroll sown and up on command line yo can press shift+PgUP or shift+Pgdwn

(actually in my keyboard the are called diferently, but i am almost sure that s how the key are called on english keyboards :D )

When one is just beginning x interface seems the most important thing, however you will shortly learn you can do almost all the things you do on x on the command line

You could try de "xf86config" command.. the program will introduce you to several hardware configurators.. most probably things won t work perfectly the first time,, but try with different configs.

after this type "startx" and cross your fingers :P

cheers, ill try that, ive been wanting to try linux for ages but never had the courage to do it, hopefully this will be the answer,

thanks

i tried the xf86config and that was ok, i entered all the relavent details, (monitor scan ranges etc, video ram) and set the colour depth to 256 colours just to see if it would work, i then saved it and tried startx, something seemed to happen cos the HD kicked in, then the monitor goes into standby , but i can here some tune from the speakers, but the monitor just stays in standby, and the only way i can get it to come back on is to ctrl-alt-backspace, (allready im learning some linux speak!!),

any more ideas??

sorry for being a pest!

cheers

Make sure those are the right monitor scan ranges. Also try setting it to 640x480 or 800x600 resolution to see if it'll work with that.

I'm a newbie too, but I had that prob when I installed RH8.0 for the first time, and it was due to the monitor scan ranges.

What I found was that during the install I Click-clicked my way through the monitor config section. I have a fairly cheap monitor (MAX-something....at home) from Best Buy, so it wasn't on thier list of regular monitors. From what I can deduce, in my limited Linux-noob knowledge, is that the horizontal and vertical sync was off....thus the flutter flutter at the begining of booting.

Being a newbie, and realizing what I'd done, I just reinstalled the whole dern thing, making sure I set my horiz and vert sync values (had my monitor's paperwork at hand) and set it to it's proper range. Once I did that, it loaded up beautifully. I did look online before this, and found out that I should use xf86config to redo it (mentioned here), but for me, it didn't do the job. I wasn't using it right? Dunno.

Of course, there's GOT to be a better non-drastic way to fix it, but I don't know. Does the monitor config things ring a bell?

Also, do you have a dual-monitor vid card? I do, and it caused another prob (Chaintech Gef 4 ti 4200 128 DDR)

a fellow newbie,

jMack

yeah cheers jMack,

im changing everything in xf86config ok, and that is the only time that i get an oppurtunity to do them, (im using SuSE 8.1 with the ISO boot disk image, and then installing from the FTP), i think ive configured everything right, but as you mentioned a dual vid graphics card, maube that could be the problem as im using a ATI Radeon 9000 128MB, also hooked to the TV, you reckon that could be it?


Cheers

you may want to re-run sax and select a plain vanilla setup, like vesa vga 800x600, that way you should be able to get x up and running. then search for updated drivers. or you could select ->linux-safe settings from the boot menu, that should run x in framebuffer mode.

Xilent-

lol. funny I called it.

A short story:
I had a ATI VE Raedon Vid Card, and upgraded to the Ti 4200. When I did that, for whatever reason it numbered the DVI output as my master vid output, and the VGA output as my secondary, just the opposite w/ ATI. I easilly switched it in the drivers, but it was strange for the program to do that.

IN YOUR CASE:
try this trick: swap the vga connectors on the back of your Vid Card. Maybe what's happening is that it's sending the same basic signal to both output at startup (typical of my old ati card) then closing down what the OS thinks as output#2. In otherwords, maybe it's sending the vid signal to your TV, which can't handle the settings meant for your PC monitor.


just a guess, but it'd be funny if it worked.

good luck,

jMack

YES YES YES , i am typing this using Konqueror!!!!,

I actually was at my wits end, i unplugged the tv-out (s-video) cable and reinstalled SuSE 8.1 and everything works fine, by the way i cant remember any time i have been this excited at something new (to me anyway!),

thanks to everyone who replied and now im off to investigate!!!!

Cheer everyone,