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Old 07-07-2004, 05:10 PM   #1
xxvm1
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Registered: Jul 2004
Distribution: WinXP Pro, Mandrake 10
Posts: 88

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Unhappy just get black screen when booting up SuSE 9.1


after the SuSE 8.2 disaster (see earlier post) i took the advice of my only reply and downloaded a newer distro, so i went for SuSE 9.1.

so i selected "Installation" and it all went fine. It said "cant make swap file" but i assumed i could put that in later, and installation continued. I believe the set up was something like this

/dev/hda - my hard drive name
/dev/hda1 - 20gb windows boot NTFS
/dev/hda2 - extended
/dev/hda3 - 1Gb swap file
/dev/hda5 - 40Gb windows programs NTFS
/dev/hda6 - 8.6Gb linux reiser
/dev/hda7 - 80Gb windows storage NTFS

so installation completes and all seems to have gone fine, GRUB works fine and my windows xp and partitions seem to be in tact. However, when i try to boot linux i get the usual loading bar, but once it completes it just moves onto a black screen, and my monitor power light flashes as though the pc were on standby.

confused, any ideas people?
 
Old 07-07-2004, 09:05 PM   #2
wini_g
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Registered: Jun 2003
Distribution: SuSE 11.0
Posts: 171

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Ehhh maybe ...

I always try switchin between the df consoles or whateva theyre called with Ctrl+Alt+F1 through to F12 .. this sometimes brings the monitor back ..... else boot up into runlevel 3 by typing in "init3" or init 3 or somethin along that line .. log in and look at your xfree86 config file ... maybe you can find something strange ... or easier .. might work .. when you are in runlevel 3 type in sax2 as root and the SuSE X configuration utilty should start .... if youre lucky it will give you a screen to look at .. else try any keys you can find on your keyboard as long as youre not logged in and pess em .. thats how I managed .... it prop is unhappy with your monitor ... try te find an update from SuSE for X .. easiest YOU in YAST .... might fix it .... .


Da Wini G.





Just reread ur post ... you say that you dont have swap ... might just be that SuSE doesnt have enough RAM to be able to load the GUI .... unlikely but then I dont know ur specs .. .

Last edited by wini_g; 07-07-2004 at 09:16 PM.
 
Old 07-07-2004, 10:05 PM   #3
bruno buys
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Registered: Sep 2003
Location: Rio
Distribution: Debian
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Can you figure out if its going black trying to start X? Maybe you need to edit the x config file and set a lower resolution and screen size. The file is rather easy to edit. A safe way would be to load a live system from a cd and mount the drive where the file is.

***************
Just reread ur post ... you say that you dont have swap ... might just be that SuSE doesnt have enough RAM to be able to load the GUI .... unlikely but then I dont know ur specs .. .
***************

I wouldn't say 1GB swap is "don't have swap".

Last edited by bruno buys; 07-07-2004 at 10:06 PM.
 
Old 07-07-2004, 10:20 PM   #4
xxvm1
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Registered: Jul 2004
Distribution: WinXP Pro, Mandrake 10
Posts: 88

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i dont have a swap file at all because despite specifying a 1Gb swap it gave me an error message during installation and i clicked ok and proceeded installation without one.

my system spec is:

3200+
1024mb ram
ati radeon 9600XT

my monitor is a 17" tft native in 1280x1024 @ 60hz but when the SuSE Linux 9.1 bar has got to 100% on booting it just goes black and the power light on the monitor flashes on and off exactly like when its on windows standby.

the hard drive light does flash a few times after its gone black, as though its still loading, but after a short while that stops and i have no option but to press the reset button.

im fairly sure its a display related program as opposed to a full on crash on boot up.

any ideas?
 
Old 07-07-2004, 10:49 PM   #5
scuzzman
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Registered: May 2004
Location: Hilliard, Ohio, USA
Distribution: Slackware, Kubuntu
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Mine does this sometimes.
Although not quite sure what causes mine because it's so unpredictable, yours is most likely caused by an unconfigured X. You can configure this using sax2 or xf86config, whichever SuSE uses.
if your version of GRUB has a fail-safe or single-user mode, use that.
edit your /etc/X11/XFree86-Config-4 (or something similar, that's what mine is in MDK 10) and change the line that reads "default=" to 3
this will start booting your computer into a console. once successfully booted adn at a console, type startx. If that fails, reboot, and look @ the XFree-86.log in /var/log
as this may prove useful. Hope this helps
 
Old 07-08-2004, 02:20 AM   #6
nerdbebo
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Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Arlington, Texas
Posts: 17

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I have the same problem, yet its totally random. (Or at least I haven't figured out why) Basically I have to boot into "Failsafe" mode and run sax2. For some reason SuSE looses my configuration for my monitor, and it tries to run it at a refresh rate that isn't supported.

1. Boot into Failsafe
2. Login as root
3. Run sax2 and check your configuration
4. Test the setup in sax2, if it works reboot and you should be great.
 
Old 07-08-2004, 08:16 AM   #7
xxvm1
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Registered: Jul 2004
Distribution: WinXP Pro, Mandrake 10
Posts: 88

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Question how do i boot SuSE 9.1 into the "desktop" screen

wini_g gave me the following advice in his above reply "I always try switchin between the df consoles or whateva theyre called with Ctrl+Alt+F1 through to F12 .. this sometimes brings the monitor back". So i tried this and the moment i pressed CTRL+ALT+F1 the screen popped into life and i had visual.

Unfortunately what i see is what i would describe as "DOS mode" in Windows. Now bearing in mind i am a complete Linux newbie and have never dealt with any code before, i really need to be able to learn Linux via a "proper desktop screen" initially at least. Im sure SuSE 9.1 came with a couple of desktop programs but i have no idea how to get to this stage. So if possible i need to know how to do this.

Thank you for all the help so far, any advice is much appreciated.
 
Old 07-12-2004, 03:02 PM   #8
jac0b
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Registered: Feb 2004
Location: Edgewater, FL
Posts: 22

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Question just get black screen when booting up SuSE 9.1

I had the same problem and it was my refresh rate that was wrong...I changed the refresh rate and saved the config which worked but now when I restart the boot screen comes up and after it completes booting I get a black screen for a second and then my desktop...
.
.
The problem is now when I log off to logon as root I get a black screen that says out of range and can't login as root I know it is the refresh rate can someone how to fix this problem...thanks
 
  


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