Blank monitor after switching between virtual consoles
I have recently installed SuSE Linux 7.3 Professional on a system, which now behaves in a manner that I have never seen before: When the system has booted, I can log in through kdm and out again as any user on the system. If I switch to any of the virtual consoles tty1 through tty6 I can log in, but as soon as I log out again, I get a blank monitor. Trying to switch between virtual consoles or back to tty7 where X resides does nothing for me. The power-LED on the monitor is still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing. What can this be? Best regards, David List
On Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 10:16:09PM +0100, David List wrote:
I have recently installed SuSE Linux 7.3 Professional on a system, which now behaves in a manner that I have never seen before: When the system has booted, I can log in through kdm and out again as any user on the system. If I switch to any of the virtual consoles tty1 through tty6 I can log in, but as soon as I log out again, I get a blank monitor. Trying to switch between virtual consoles or back to tty7 where X resides does nothing for me. The power-LED on the monitor is still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing.
What can this be?
What video card are you using ? Are you using frame-buffer consoles ? The combination of some cards (such as the one I own a Matrox) and framebuffers don't go together well. -- Regards Cliff
Cliff Sarginson wrote:
On Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 10:16:09PM +0100, David List wrote:
I have recently installed SuSE Linux 7.3 Professional on a system, which now behaves in a manner that I have never seen before: When the system has booted, I can log in through kdm and out again as any user on the system. If I switch to any of the virtual consoles tty1 through tty6 I can log in, but as soon as I log out again, I get a blank monitor. Trying to switch between virtual consoles or back to tty7 where X resides does nothing for me. The power-LED on the monitor is still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing.
What can this be?
It's a "feature"....read on. :-) I just installed an S3 Savage 32 meg AGP video card and it gives similar behavior. On my prior system, I could hit control-alt-backspace to quickly exit X with no problem. Now, if any X apps are running and I hit the combo, I get the exact same symptoms as you, necesitating a reboot. I encounter no problem if I hit "exit" on my fvwm2 menu. Upon closer examination of the .fvwmrc file, the control-alt-backspace calls the function "Quit and save"; while the Exit button simply calls Quit. Upon looking at the console message when the problem occurs, it says something like " waiting for X server to close" --when it hangs. If I politely exit X, with the appropriate "quit button", it just says "connection to X server shut down, with no problem. So......it looks like the problem is the function used to exit X. YMMV depending on which window manager you have, but I'll bet the problem is similar. I look at it as a "feature", ;-). I was always wondering what could be done about the "insecure Xlock and Xscreensaver" problem, which would allow someone at the console, to bypass the X-screensaver lock, by hitting control-alt-backspace. The way my video works now, if someone does try to bypass my X-screensaver, it locks the system up, and a reboot just presents logon prompts. So maybe this "glitch" can be incorporated into everyone's system. to improve X-security. :-)
On Wednesday 31 October 2001 00:24, Cliff Sarginson wrote:
On Tue, Oct 30, 2001 at 10:16:09PM +0100, David List wrote:
I have recently installed SuSE Linux 7.3 Professional on a system, which now behaves in a manner that I have never seen before: When the system has booted, I can log in through kdm and out again as any user on the system. If I switch to any of the virtual consoles tty1 through tty6 I can log in, but as soon as I log out again, I get a blank monitor. Trying to switch between virtual consoles or back to tty7 where X resides does nothing for me. The power-LED on the monitor is still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing.
What can this be?
What video card are you using ? Are you using frame-buffer consoles ? The combination of some cards (such as the one I own a Matrox) and framebuffers don't go together well.
I am using a Matrox G400. I have the the line vga=normal in /etc/lilo.conf. Best regards, David List
Hi I have Matrox G450 dual-head, and had similar problem. Mine was cured by placing the vga=normal to lilo.conf. I'm not sure if I have framebuffer. If it must be enabled somewhere, the I don't have it. Just did install 7.2, updated to latest XFree-86 and KDE 3 weeks ago, and configured the system with SaX2, and everything has been working since. Jaska.
still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing.
What can this be?
What video card are you using ? Are you using frame-buffer consoles ? The combination of some cards (such as the one I own a Matrox) and framebuffers don't go together well.
I am using a Matrox G400. I have the the line vga=normal in /etc/lilo.conf.
Best regards, David List
The whole story with Matrox cards and XFree86 is weird. On one of my machines I still run Xfree86 4.0.1, and as long as I don't use too high a resolution I can use framebuffer consoles and X11. On another machine running 4.1 I cannot use framebuffers at any resolution without X clobbering console access. However with 4.01 I cannot get an AGP setting of higher than 2X without a system crash. With 4.1 I can set it to 4X without any problem. Since I don't use 3D really I will live with older versions of XFree86 since I find the framebuffers much more comfortable for my eyesight. However, some day someone will work this out no doubt. The "official" line from Suse btw is don't use frame buffers with Matrox cards. -- Regards Cliff On Wed, Oct 31, 2001 at 11:01:01AM +0300, Jaakko Tamminen wrote:
Hi
I have Matrox G450 dual-head, and had similar problem.
Mine was cured by placing the vga=normal to lilo.conf.
I'm not sure if I have framebuffer. If it must be enabled somewhere, the I don't have it. Just did install 7.2, updated to latest XFree-86 and KDE 3 weeks ago, and configured the system with SaX2, and everything has been working since.
Jaska.
still green. The monitor's power-LED is amber if the monitor lacks signal or is in suspend-mode. The system has APM disabled, so that's not disturbing.
What can this be?
What video card are you using ? Are you using frame-buffer consoles ? The combination of some cards (such as the one I own a Matrox) and framebuffers don't go together well.
I am using a Matrox G400. I have the the line vga=normal in /etc/lilo.conf.
Best regards, David List
On Wednesday 31 October 2001 09:33, Cliff Sarginson wrote: .....<snip>.....
The "official" line from Suse btw is don't use frame buffers with Matrox cards.
How can I make sure that frame buffers are not enabled in my setup? Is it all just about that single line in /etc/lilo.conf: 'vga=normal'? Best regards, David List
participants (4)
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Cliff Sarginson
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David List
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Jaakko Tamminen
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