Re: Green error message box "Hz?" on SUSE 9.3 Pro LiveDVD??

Golly, gee-wizzzz! I, too, have a system that boots up and gives the
green
"HZ?" box. As background, I have been with SuSE since 6.0, the unit
in
question is my daughter's in Virginia, so I have been hampered in
getting
to the bottom of this!

The unit, as I recall, is an Athlon (not a 64), with ATI 9700 graphics
card,
500meg ram, and has run SuSE 9.1 for the past year or so. A couple of

weeks ago, I talked her through "upgrade" to 9.3 (from the CD's), and
it
ran fine until a few days ago. As you indicate, it seems to boot up
to
NEARLY the logon screen, but instead shows this moving "HZ" box. It
seems
to be a problem related to the X server, but so far haven't found anymeaningful error messages (via telephone, with her being a somewhat
"newbie"... :-(

It will accept ONE "Alt-Ctl-F2", and she can logon to a char screen.
However, she can NOT then do an "Alt-f3", etc, to get to additional
terminal screens...only the first one! Very wierd, eh?

We have then done YOU from a CD I sent current as of last Friday. We
have
also done several sessions with the "repair system" section of YAST
(booting from 9.3 cd1, then try to repair installed system). Nothing
seems
to locate the problem.

I intend to talk her through burning a cd of her /home using
command-line
tools, then try a "new install" of 9.3.

I have 9.3 running on three PC's at work, two at home, three
neighbors, and
my laptop, with absolutely NO problems!

ANY hints as to source of problem GREATLY appreciated! Well, Ma-Bellprobably enjoys this, but I surely don't...!

Thanks!

--
Tom in New Mexico

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 05:57:22 GMT
Tom <thpnalbDELETE@micro-net.com> wrote:

> Golly, gee-wizzzz! I, too, have a system that boots up and gives
the
> green "HZ?" box.

That's just the monitor's error msg that it got an out-of-range
frequency. Do the single 'Ctrl-Alt-F2' and then login as root. Run
'sax2' and enter in the correct horiz and vert frequencies (as
specified by the manufacturer). This is only for a CRT monitor; if
it's
an LCD monitor, select an LCD monitor type at the manufacturer's
recommended resolution and 60Hz.

There will be a 'Test' button, make sure to use it. If it doesn't
work,
select a lower resolution or lower color depth and try again . . .


--
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux Potpourri and a.o.l.s. FAQ -- http://www.project54.com/linux/

Open standards. Open source. Open minds.
The command line is the front line.
Linux 2.6.8-24.14-default
11:05pm up 5 days 4:08, 9 users, load average: 0.31, 0.14, 0.10

Kevin Nathan wrote:

> On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 05:57:22 GMT
> Tom <thpnalbDELETE@micro-net.com> wrote:
>
>> Golly, gee-wizzzz! I, too, have a system that boots up and gives
the
>> green "HZ?" box.
>
> That's just the monitor's error msg that it got an out-of-range
> frequency. Do the single 'Ctrl-Alt-F2' and then login as root. Run
> 'sax2' and enter in the correct horiz and vert frequencies (as
> specified by the manufacturer). This is only for a CRT monitor; if
it's
> an LCD monitor, select an LCD monitor type at the manufacturer's
> recommended resolution and 60Hz.
>
> There will be a 'Test' button, make sure to use it. If it doesn't
work,
> select a lower resolution or lower color depth and try again . . .
>
>
Boy, do I feel stooooooooopid all of a sudden...I'll bet you are
right! She
just bought a new 19" Samsung monitor... Dang, I'm usually sharper
than
this...must be old age.

I might have to have her edit xfconfig manually, tho, she couldn't
launch
sax2 earlier this evening. But at least you have led me in the rightdirection! Thanks a million!

Thanks, I'll post the results tomorrow.

--
Tom in New Mexico

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 06:58:07 GMT
Tom <thpnalbDELETE@micro-net.com> wrote:

> I might have to have her edit xfconfig manually, tho, she couldn't
> launch sax2 earlier this evening.

Try:

sax2 -l (lowercase L)

that starts sax2 in low resolution (640x480, IIRC). If that still
doesn't work, you can use 'xorgconfig' (or 'xf86config', one's a
symlink to the other).


> But at least you have led me in the right direction! Thanks a
> million!

You're welcome! Hope it works . . .


--
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux Potpourri and a.o.l.s. FAQ -- http://www.project54.com/linux/

Open standards. Open source. Open minds.
The command line is the front line.
Linux 2.6.8-24.14-default
12:16am up 5 days 5:19, 9 users, load average: 0.05, 0.07, 0.08

Kevin Nathan wrote:

>
> You're welcome! Hope it works . . .
>
>
THANKS, Kevin, you were right on the mark! If I was seeing it
first-hand, I
probably would have realized it wasn't a linux error. Your insight
was
great!

Was able to correct it with SAX, and have it now in the twm manager.
Now
just have to correct suseconfig to start kdm and kde, and all will be
right
with her world. Heck, might even convince her to use the smaller
window
managers, she was really impressed at the increased speed of Gimp andBlender... <};-)

Have a superb weekend, Kevin, thanks again.
--
Tom in New Mexico

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:03:27 GMT
Tom <thpnalbDELETE@micro-net.com> wrote:

> Was able to correct it with SAX, and have it now in the twm manager.

> Now just have to correct suseconfig to start kdm and kde, and all
> will be right with her world. Heck, might even convince her to use> the smaller window managers, she was really impressed at the
> increased speed of Gimp and Blender... <};-)
>

That's one reason why I like the smaller window managers. But, if shewants her KDE back on login, here's the quick procedure:

Your display manager (KDM) and window manager (KDE) got reset to
defaults (XDM and twm). SUSE is aware of this, I believe, but I
haven't
seen a published patch yet. In the meantime, make the following edits(as root):

/etc/sysconfig/displaymanager Line 9:
DISPLAYMANAGER="xdm", should be
DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"

/etc/sysconfig/windowmanager Line 9:
DEFAULT_WM="twm", should be
DEFAULT_WM="kde"

You can also change this in:

YaST Control Center -System -/etc/sysconfig Editor -Desktop

and then make the changes under 'Display manager' and 'Window
manager'.

Restart the X server with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace *or*:

su
(enter root password)
init 3

then:

init 5


> Have a superb weekend, Kevin, thanks again.

You're welcome -- and I hope you have a good weekend, too! :-) It's
only going to be in the high 90's this weekend, so we get a little
break from the heat . . .


--
Kevin Nathan (Arizona, USA)
Linux Potpourri and a.o.l.s. FAQ -- http://www.project54.com/linux/

Open standards. Open source. Open minds.
The command line is the front line.
Linux 2.6.8-24.14-default
1:21pm up 5 days 18:24, 8 users, load average: 0.05, 0.12, 0.16