[SOLVED] Console goes blank during boot

This is a problem I've never run into before. I've swapped a motherboard in my computer from and ASUS P8-Z77-V LK, to a Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H. When I boot my Slackware 14.2 system, it gets to the part where the screen changes to a smaller font on the console, then the screen goes completely blank!

It boots from the installation CD without problem.

I believe the boot process has halted because I cannot ping the computer, or ssh into it. Any ideas?

try adding "vga=ask" to the lilo boot prompt, and see if you can see the console that way.

What is your run level set to in the /etc/inittab file?

I had to set mine to 4 to boot to the KDE or XFCE DE.

id:4 initdefault

Since you have a new mobo you probably have a different GPU and it might not be configured yet.

https://docs.slackware.com/howtos:ha...aphics_drivers

Originally Posted by BigTig try adding "vga=ask" to the lilo boot prompt, and see if you can see the console that way.

In anticipation of doing that, what will my answer be?

Ztcoracat: no GUI, runlevel 3

Originally Posted by mfoley In anticipation of doing that, what will my answer be? Ztcoracat: no GUI, runlevel 3

When it boots, it'll say something like "press enter for video modes or wait 30 seconds or press space to continue"
If you press enter you can see the available video resolutions for lilo that you can use to update lilo.conf. Your new motherboard probably doesn't have the same video resolutions available as your old one, so you just get a blank screen.

Ok, if you want a gui than change your runlevel to 4:-

Originally Posted by mfoley It boots from the installation CD without problem.

so if in the installer you see and do

"In a pinch, you can boot your system from here with a command like:
boot: huge.s root=/dev/sda1 rdinit= ro"

what happens?

Try to reinstall Slackware 14.2 with the huge kernel.

Originally Posted by BigTig When it boots, it'll say something like "press enter for video modes or wait 30 seconds or press space to continue" If you press enter you can see the available video resolutions for lilo that you can use to update lilo.conf. Your new motherboard probably doesn't have the same video resolutions available as your old one, so you just get a blank screen.

Did that. Answered "0 - 80x25". Still did the same disappearing console thing.

I recall there was some way to disable the font change on the console during boot. Anybody know what that it?

jobster: not desiring to reinstall Slackware.

OK, figured out a solution: add nomodest to the lilo.conf append statment:

append="nomodeset"

When I lilo'ed, I got the message:

Warning: Unable to determine video adapter in use in the present system.
Warning: Video adapter does not support VESA BIOS extensions needed for
  display of 256 colors. Boot loader will fall back to TEXT only operation.

The motherboard is Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS2H. Processor: Intel i3-6100 3.7GHz

lspci shows the video adapter as:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphic
s (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
       Subsystem : Gigabyte Technologies Co., Ltd Sky Lake Integrated Graphics
       Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
:
etc.

I suppose jostber might be right in that a scratch installation of 14.2 might fix the problem. I'll experiment with a dummy drive. However, the actual target system is our company's webserver and batch production machine with LOTS of applications installed and I don't want to EVER have to scratch install that machine.

I've never run into this condition in 20+ years of using Slackware. Moving a current drive to a new MB just worked. Perhaps there is something special about this Intel graphics? I suppose if a scratch install doesn't "just work" I'll not be able to use GUI on this computer -- which isn't really needed.

LATER ... confirmed. I installed Slackware 14.2 from DVD and the same thing -- console blanked. I had to add the nonmodeset parameter. I guess the conclusion is that kernels 4.4.xxx do not support the "Gigabyte Technologies Co., Ltd Sky Lake Integrated Graphics" chipset. Either a future kernel might (Slackware current is at 4.14.67 as of this writing), or a separate graphics card would be needed. Web searches indicate that probably kernel 4.9.x supports the sky lake graphics, but since that isn't part of 14.2 and I don't really *need* the graphics on this computer, I'll bide my time until Slackware 15.0.

At least I have my short term solution.