Can't boot into Slackware 13.37 on my Dell XPS 15
 

When I installed Slackware 13.37 for the first time, there was no problem. Everything worked very well - as expected from this great distro.

But, the LILO won't detect Windows installation correctly. So I tried to edit it using liliconfig, where I wrongly entered the entry for Linux. So without further messing around with the system, I went for reinstalling the whole system.

Now when I chose 'Linux' in LILO menu, Some initial startup scripts ran correctly - like detecting and mounting the root and non-root file systems.

But then the suddenly screen went black. It happened so fast, then and again, that I couldn't take a look at what's wrong.

My best guess is that there's a problem with video driver. (The laptop has nVidia GeForce graphics card)

Sounds like KMS is kicking in and has issues with your video card or monitor. If you pass 'nomodeset' to the kernel, does the machine continue to come up?

Does this Dell XPS 15 have Optimus technology and can you disable it in the BIOS?

[Edit] There is a thread at Ubuntu that may be applicable. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1763271 [/Edit]

How do you "pass 'nomodeset' to the kernel"?

Yes, it does have Optimus technology. I don't want to disable it however. Isn't there any other way around? Because as I mentioned, everything worked smoothly for the first time.

I read the thread you posted. The problem is that those steps are to be done in terminal and need Internet connection. I am not reaching the login stage while booting, and even if I do, I won't be able to connect to Internet as I have USB modem that has to be configured later on using an installation script.

Do I have to do it while installing - at the point where the set-up asks whether you want to pass extra parameters while booting?:confused:

You can add nomodeset to the append line in /etc/lilo.conf. Then rerun lilo. You should be able to boot from the Slackware install DVD to do this if you can not boot the instaled system.

To use nomodeset during boot, I believe you press TAB when you see the lilo screen (there is a message on the screen actually), type in (or leave in, if it is already there) the name of the boot option you want (normally called Linux, unless you changed it in lilo.conf), type a space, then the word nomodeset. This is equivalent to going in lilo.conf and adding nomodeset to the append parameter - but as you can't even boot, you can pass nomodeset during boot.

It looks like I have the same problem, with an Intel integrated video chip, and at the moment I've switched to using nomodeset and the vesa Xorg driver - until I get to try a newer kernel. Here is the thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...3-37-a-882680/

Sebastian

P.S. If you are using nomodeset, you will have to use the vesa driver in XOrg as well, until you get things sorted.

Thanks for postting that. I could not exactly remember how to pass options to lilo 'on the fly' like that using the TAB key.
Although I have been using Slackware for several years, I have been booting Slckware from Ubuntu's grub. So I have very little experience with lilo.

I tried using 'nomodeset' as described by xj25vm. It also doesn't work.

Now I see KDE initialization screen. But as soon as it completes, KDE crashes. there were many error messages. I believe following was important:

xprop: can't find display 0

As far as I know, this probably means my monitor is not recognized.

And what is the root of the problem anyway? nouveau should be working fine.

KDE is likely crashing because it is trying to enable compositing. Does xfce4 work? If so, start up xfce4, launch KDE's systemsettings, and then disable compositing in KDE (under desktop effects).

Adam

Well - if you get all the way to KDE - then 'nomodeset' actually works. Otherwise you wouldn't see anything on the screen after about the 12th second (on a slowish, Intel U2500, 1.2GHz machine) of the boot process.

On the other hand, I use Fluxbox, so not sure if there is a further problem with KDE.

Then again, maybe your problem is different then mine, as, without 'nomodeset' - my screen would go black before getting to mounting root volume.

Hi,

If you use the Install DVD to boot then at the 'boot:' prompt; Initial screen provides a sample of booting a kernel, then you can add parameters at the end of that input line to pass parameter(s) to the kernel. This way you do not need to modify the '/etc/lilo.conf' in order to pass parameters. If you decide later that parameters are necessary then place parameters in '/etc/lilo.conf' and then run 'lilo' to update your bootloader.

Thanks. That exactly was the problem. XFCE works fine. Guess I will use it as default