-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Thursday 11 September 2003 15:16, Jan Elders wrote:
On Wednesday 10 September 2003 19:56, Curtis Rey wrote: // CUT
Ok, what type of monitor do you have. I have had this with sort of things happen with a monitor - mod line or v and h sync problems. So sometimes you have to tweak the X settings.
I have a laptop with a 1024x768 LCD screen.
Though the problem does seem to stem around the GLX drivers. You might try reinstalling the drivers again. Did you use the nvidia installer? Or did you use the source code.
Yes, I have used the nvidia installer, and just did it again for the 3rd time. I followed the instructions in www.suse.de/de/private/download/xfree86/index.html section “SuSE Linux 8.2 with update kernel or self-compiled kernel”. - went to runlevel 3 (by restart in Safe Mode) - did the following : cd /usr/src/linux make cloneconfig make dep cd /windows/e/Linuxdata/Downloads/nvidia/ (= my download directory) export IGNORE_CC_MISMATCH=yes sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run Thus ran the NVIDIA Installer. During the process the installer tried to contact the nvidia ftp-site (I had an Internet connection available - and working) and it told me : "No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVidia ftp site, this means the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for your kernel."
After this, I hit OK. After some processing it told me : "Installation of the NVidia Accelerated Graphics Driver for Linux-x86 (version
: 1.0-4496) is now complete. On SuSE Linux/United Linux please use SAX2 now
to enable the NVidia driver." After this, I hit OK again and the installer exits. So far this looks good to me.
Then I give the command : sax2 and ................ I have a black screen !
CTRL-ALT-DEL has no effect, so I have to cut power ! ;-(
Next, I reboot to runlevel 3. I restore my "old" XF86Config file (which I had saved before). Then I go to runlevel 5 -> all is OK (using the "old" nv driver). In Shell Konsole, I go to sax2. In Desktop I have : - Monitor = VESA 1024x768@60Hz - Graphics card = NVidia GeForce4 488 Go after "finish" it shows "nvidia" at the end of the information-bar about the configured graphics card. - Color & Resolution = Desktop 1024x768 with 16 bit - 3D accelleration is off, but I activate it. Then I do "finalize" --> "test" and ................ I have a black screen again !
This time CTRL-ALT-DEL does work (it shuts down and reboots). I boot to runlevel 3 and restore my "old" XF86Config file again. Then I go to runlevel 5 and all is OK again (but using the "old" nv driver).
If You still have troubles then try to download the drivers using the installer and then make the source package. It's covered in the nvidia README as far as options are concerned. Also there's the flag for the installer "--help" that list a set of commands, one of these is also an advanced set of commands "--adv" IIRC.
If you download the source binaries move them to /usr/src/package/SOURCES and then untar them and do a make install for the GLX drivers.
Ehh, all of the above is something I never did before. It is not totally clear to me what -exactly- I must do (e.g. how do I do a "make install for the GLX drivers ?)
If they
fail it might provide some useful output. If not then it should work and if that fails then we have some deeper digging to do. I have had a couple of instances where this happens. Sometimes you have to uninstall and reinstall the drivers.
Haven't done this yet. Do you recommed this ?
........... Just be hang in there, I know all too well how frustrating this can be.
You are so very right. I am starting to get fed-up by all this. Black screens, cutting power, unclean filesystems.
Oh and last but not by anymeans least, do an "lsmod" and see if the kernel drivers are actually loaded - I have had this happen before as well.
it should be something like:
# lsmod Module Size Used by Tainted: P snd-pcm-oss 50144 1 (autoclean) snd-mixer-oss 15704 0 (autoclean) [snd-pcm-oss] videodev 6176 0 (autoclean) agpgart 38656 3 (autoclean) ************* nvidia 1628576 11 (autoclean) *************
The ones marked "****" are often needed in conjunction with each other.
Well, if I do this then - of course - it does not show "agpgart" and "nvidia" because I am running with the "old" configuration which gives me a visible screen. I would love to do the lsmod in the black screen situation and see what is listed. Wouldn't that be a miracle ? ;-)
Ok, this sounds like the ever popular monitor fun with sax2. I unfortunately don't have as much experience with LCDs. I might suggest that you could try the command SaX2 -r This will reinit the database. sax2 --help ...[ -r | --reinit ] remove detection database and re-init the hardware database... I strongly suspect that this is all about the monitor/video card/drivers not being set up in the correct fashion (through no fault of yours). I situations like this I have had to hand modify the XF86Config file in the v-sync/h-sync do lower levels, and also at time tinker with the modelines. I am downloading some ISOs right now but should be done before too long (if the SuSE server doesn't drop the bandwidth to a lower throughput). As far as the modelines, there are a couple of ways to try to see if they're reconfiged. One is to use sax2 -x [ -x | --xmode ] use server build in Modelines The other methods is from the XF86.org site and tells how to manually probe the modeline timings for each resolution. They also have sections that explains setup and troubleshooting LCDs. LCDs can be a specific pain in the ass (nvidia readme also has a section for LCDs). You should be able to put back in the NVIDIA specific XF86Config file and at boot up in the command section (in lilo/grub) issue the command "init 3". Then you boot to a non-X mode but if the nvidia kernel driver is installed it should load the modules. You can issue the "lsmod" and see if nvidia and agpgart modules are loaded. Then you can copy the XF86config file back again. You should have two files. One with "nv" as the driver and another as "nvidia" as the driver, i.e. XF86Config-nv and XF86Config-nvidia. Then issue the command in the /etc directory "cp XF86Config-nvidia XF86Config" to replace the nv file, and "cp XF86Config-nv XF86Config" to put it back to a working config file. So you actually have 3 XF86Config files. One that is labelled XF86Config, one labelled XF86Config-nv, and a 3rd named XF86Config-nvidia. When you cp (copy) the *-nv or *-nvidia to the working XF86Config file you keep the nv/nvidia config files and just make the working file with either the nv or nvidia driver. This way you can have the nvidia driver in the X file, reboot to init 3, issue the lsmod to see if the driver is loaded, then cp the *-nv file to the working X file, issue init 5 and go to a non-3D driver and X will start without a black screen. Also you need to look in /etc/module.conf file and see if the line "alias char-major-195 nvidia". If it's not then this explains why you get a black screen. I will look on the XF86.org pages for LCD stuff when I get a chance after dl'ing my ISOs (I have access now and don't want to stop since I might have to wait another 1/2 day or more before I get another chance), and you can try the same by looking at both the NVIDIA README and on the XF86.org site to see if you can't find a fix. I really think that this is all about the LCD and something specific to the monitor. If you have the specs for the monitor (i.e. the notebook manual) with the v-sync/h-sync/refresh rates then you might be able to check this against the XF86Config file. Keep trying, we'll nail this yet. :) Curtis. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2-rc1-SuSE (GNU/Linux) iD4DBQE/YVR6iqnGhdjCOJsRAjHmAJ0e1OtRx6TB+ICCbMMDh2YsyFrWuACVH5YS YcJIoOFFMCSUIQ5U6CbbpA== =Agkq -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----