Hi, I have a problem installing/running SUSE Linux 9.2 and Windows XP Pro. I first did a complete reformat of the hard drive using XP Pro Operating System/Recovery disk that came with the laptop. In the process, I partitioned the hard drive roughly into two halves. I then went about installing XP on one half, including all its drivers, etc. Then I put in the SUSE 9.2 Linux CD, and went about installing it, instructing it to break off a piece of the second partition for a 940ish MB swap and the rest for Linux. It seemed to install smoothly. I then rebooted it, and it gives me 3 options at load: Linux, Windows, and Failsafe. Windows loads. Failsafe gives me a prompt, and I can access the root account from there. Linux however just goes through a loadup sequence, and then the screen goes blank instead of offering me login options. I tried the Rescue option off the Linux CD, couldn't figure out anything. I then tried to just cleanly put back on WinXP off its disk again, and I get the "Setup is analyzing your configuration..." message, and then it goes to a blank screen again, like if I tried to load up Linux. While I can still use Windows normally (as far as I can tell), I need to know that it can still be reformatted if the need arises. Optimally, I would still like to get a dual-boot Windows/Linux. Computer is a Dell Latitude 505 (35gb hdd) if that makes any differece. I'm very much a Linux newbie, so if I don't know much about the Linux terminal/console/prompt commands. Any help very much appreciated. Thank you for your time, -Neil PS: I hope its alright that this was posted to two mailing lists.
On Friday 01 April 2005 11:24, Savant wrote:
Hi,
I have a problem installing/running SUSE Linux 9.2 and Windows XP Pro.
I then rebooted it, and it gives me 3 options at load: Linux, Windows, and Failsafe. Windows loads. Failsafe gives me a prompt, and I can access the root account from there. Linux however just goes through a loadup sequence, and then the screen goes blank instead of offering me login options.
Computer is a Dell Latitude 505 (35gb hdd) if that makes any differece.
Looks like a graphic card/display setup problem. What is the video card in that machine? Sunny -- Get Firefox http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&id=10745&t=85
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I then rebooted it, and it gives me 3 options at load: Linux, Windows, and Failsafe. Windows loads. Failsafe gives me a prompt, and I can access the root account from there. Linux however just goes through a loadup sequence, and then the screen goes blank instead of offering me login options.
I'm no expert, but I have put SuSE on several laptops and I imagine the problem is the video card. After choosing linux, do you mean that you see a long sequence of test results and drivers loading, then a black screen? I have seen this many times. SuSE has chosen a wrong video driver or screen resolution. The black screen is the X server, without having initiated properly. Check this by doing a Ctl-Alt-F2. You will get a black screen with Login:, login as root, do an init 3--this will kill the X server. Still as root, run sax or yast2 from the command line--I prefer yast2. Navigating witht he TAB and Arrow keys, choose hardware, then Display for video card details, Framebuffer for available resolutions and maybe Framebuffer Device. (Or, you can get all this information from XP.) After you have all the info on the hardware, back out of all the screens back to the beginning and choose Hardware>>Graphics Card and Monitor and set linux up with your hardware. Ed Harrison SuSE 9.1, Kernel 2.6.9-vanilla PolarBar Mailer 1.25a
I did as you suggested, however ctrl-alt-F2 ddn't get me anything, it just stayed black. I loaded up in failsafe and called up yast2, checked under Hardware->Graphics and it seemed to show the right driver to me, but under monitor it said "unknown", and I didn't know how if it was normal or how to access it. I tried changing the bootup thing from GRUB to LILO, that made no perceptible difference. I used failsafe to log in as root, and then typed "kde" thinking that might call up the KDE Desktop software, and I got a bunch of lines started with X-something that said not initialized or not configured or something (a lot scrolled by too fast). I loaded up yast again and checked installed software, and looked under KDE Desktop Software, and it seemed to me like everything matched up (inst vs. avail versions). I also noticed, during Linux boot up, it would do something that looked like this: " pci ...WWWW.W...W....FATAL ERROR: blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah usb ....W...WWWW..W....WW.......WWWWW.....W......WWW........ " The blah blah blahs are there in places of a bunch of technical stuff that I didn't catch. Lastly, I loaded up WinXP, and it doesn't see the Linux partition. (I may have mentioned that before.) Not sure if thats normal. Anyways, I know this isn't the most specific in the world, and I probably am not copying a lot down right. If anyone knows a way that I can grab a log of this to provide more detailed info, please let me know. Thank you all for your time and assistance. -Neil Ed Harrison wrote:
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on Fri, 01 Apr 2005 22:54:26 +0530 I then rebooted it, and it gives me 3 options at load: Linux, Windows, and Failsafe. Windows loads. Failsafe gives me a prompt, and I can access the root account from there. Linux however just goes through a loadup sequence, and then the screen goes blank instead of offering me login options.
I'm no expert, but I have put SuSE on several laptops and I imagine the problem is the video card.
After choosing linux, do you mean that you see a long sequence of test results and drivers loading, then a black screen?
I have seen this many times. SuSE has chosen a wrong video driver or screen resolution.
The black screen is the X server, without having initiated properly.
Check this by doing a Ctl-Alt-F2.
You will get a black screen with Login:, login as root, do an init 3--this will kill the X server.
Still as root, run sax or yast2 from the command line--I prefer yast2.
Navigating witht he TAB and Arrow keys, choose hardware, then Display for video card details, Framebuffer for available resolutions and maybe Framebuffer Device. (Or, you can get all this information from XP.)
After you have all the info on the hardware, back out of all the screens back to the beginning and choose Hardware>>Graphics Card and Monitor and set linux up with your hardware.
Ed Harrison SuSE 9.1, Kernel 2.6.9-vanilla PolarBar Mailer 1.25a
On Apr 3, 2005 11:48 AM, Savant
I did as you suggested, however ctrl-alt-F2 ddn't get me anything, it just stayed black.
I loaded up in failsafe and called up yast2, checked under Hardware->Graphics and it seemed to show the right driver to me, but under monitor it said "unknown", and I didn't know how if it was normal or how to access it.
Boot normally. On the grub boot prompt write: 3 vga=0 This will boot your system to runlevel 3 with standart text mode 80x25. Then, log in as root, and start: #sax2 -l This will start sax2 in a low resolution mode, so you can set your diplay settings, refresh rates, etc. (these you can find in your manual). Sunny -- Get Firefox http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&id=10745&t=85
participants (3)
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Ed Harrison
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Savant
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Sunny