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mutt4xtreme 01-11-2013 11:48 PM

Unable to go into GUI - Slackware
 
I'm somewhat new to Slackware Linux, the version that I have installed and ran is 13.37. I edited that inittab using nano text editor to start up as GUI desktop instead of the terminal type thing. And when I restarted it looked like it was gonna work but after it gone through the start up I came to this blank screen with just the "_" in the top left corner blinking and the only way to get out of it is to do Ctrl+alt+del. How do I fix this? And how do I get the GUI to work right so I could use that?

TobiSGD 01-11-2013 11:57 PM

Which video hardware are you using?

mutt4xtreme 01-12-2013 12:02 AM

Msi R6570 MD2GD3

I have dual monitors hooked up, one on VGA and one on DVI-D.

allend 01-12-2013 12:07 AM

This is likely to be a hardware/driver interaction problem.
First, I would revert the change to /etc/inittab. If you installed Slackware with the default LILO bootloader, then when you reboot, select Slackware and hit TAB. Type " 3" (note the space) then Enter. This will boot to run level 3 and allow you to use the nano editor.

To help, more information is required. Please post the output of '/sbin/lspci' and the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

When first getting a GUI environment in Slackware, it is recommended that you use the 'startx' command. Only when this is working reliably should you make the change in /etc/inittab. http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:install

TobiSGD 01-12-2013 12:14 AM

You need to use the proprietary AMD driver for that card on Slackware 13.37, or you install the newer kernel, libdrm and Mesa from the /testing folder of your install medium. The default radeon drivers that come with Slackware 13.37 will not work with that card.

allend 01-12-2013 12:16 AM

Quote:

To help, more information is required. Please post the output of '/sbin/lspci' and the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log.
Cancel that. TobiSGD has it covered :-)

mutt4xtreme 01-12-2013 12:21 AM

I understand how to do the first thing but how would I post the output of'/sbin/lspci' and the contents of '/var/log/Xorg.0.log' ?

mutt4xtreme 01-12-2013 12:28 AM

Never mind my last post then, but how would I install the new kernel or install the correct AMD drivers for it? Could I just install the new version of slackware, would that fix it?

TobiSGD 01-12-2013 01:01 AM

Slackware 14 will work with that card by default, but the free default drivers still lack some functions (hardware video decoding, proper power management, not all 3D functions are available). If that is an issue for you I would recommend to install the AMD drivers.
You can install them with launching these commands in runlevel 3 as root:
Code:

wget http://www2.ati.com/drivers/linux/amd-driver-installer-catalyst-12.10-x86.x86_64.zip
unzip amd-driver-installer-catalyst-12.10-x86.x86_64.zip
sh amd-driver-installer-catalyst-12.10-x86.x86_64.run

Now the installer will run, just use the default options. After the installer has done its work launch the command
Code:

aticonfig --initial
and reboot the system. The graphical system should now run flawlessly.
This routine to install the driver works on 13.37 and 14.0.

mutt4xtreme 01-12-2013 12:59 PM

I did all that you said and none of it will work. I tried using the wget and downloading and installing the file for 13.37 and when I did it wouldn't download and I realized I had not setup the config for it. So instead of going back and redoing the configuration for Slackware, I installed 14.00, figured it would clear up any bugs but towards the end of the installation where it was asking me to do the boot loader LILO, after choosing all that I wanted it said it could not install correctly because of the video hardware was not detected properly and it didn't know what it was so it set it to auto console which is option 3 in the inittab. And when I rebooted it said that it could not boot because it could not find a file and there was something wrong with LILO. SO, now i'm stuck wondering what I should do, do you think I should just completely scrap this slackware linux idea and try a different distro, and if so which distro would work with my computer?

TobiSGD 01-12-2013 01:26 PM

You can use your installation DVD to boot the installed system, instructions for that can be found directly on the boot page of the DVD. After that you can try to reinstall lilo.
But of course you use a different distro also, any recent version should work.


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