Can't start up coz of ATI graphic card

English Hardware
1

Hi maybe it’s one of the thousands threat about difficulty of using ATI graphic card in Linux. And I am just a newbie of Linux so this question maybe very silly. I have done quite a lot of research on Linux distribution and finally I think OpenSuse is the best so I boot from a Live CD, installed it by clicking “Live Install”. After a swift installation I restarted my pc, seeing long processes going on in commandline and all of the sudden, my monitor went “Video Output Not Supported”. I am using Radeon 9600SE.

I then tried to boot from the [failsafe] mode but end up with the same result. It really freaks me out coz I can smoothly boot from the Live CD, login to desktop and the system clearly identify the card as ATI graphic card. I mean if the Live-boot OpenSuse can start up successfully why can not the installed version?

The problem is that I have the official ATI driver but if I am not able to login to OpenSuse what other ways I can install the driver?

Please help me up coz my friend told me OpenSuse is very sophisticated and worth a try.

2

You can boot into the command-line mode by simply entering 3 into the boot options in grub. Once you do this, login as root. Then run the command “sax2 -rf” and follow all of the options. Then when you return to the command line run the command “shutdown -r now” to reboot and all should work.

3

Oh I forgot, you can test the settings out with a startx command, or init 5 command to bring you back up without rebooting.

4

Yeah I was thinking to do sth with the boot option in order to avoid graphic loading. Thanks heaps!!!

5

will try this out today and see if it works :slight_smile:

6

Hi I tried typing in “3” and “init 3” as boot option in Grup but still not able to get in command-line mode. Have I done anything wrong?:frowning:

7

Hi Benny.

Basically, if I understood mniebur’s reply correctly, all you need is a terminal screen with a prompt. I believe the Grub screen calls it a FailSafe mode. Additionally you may need to su to execute that command. Although admittedly I have no idea what it does. I wish mniebur would explain it to us noobs. :confused:
I’m stuggling through the install of my own ATI card. A Radeon 8500 AIW. But no one has even replied to my thread as it seems either too old or completely unused in the Linux world. Too bad, I would have loved to ditch Windows and completely. :frowning:

Rudy

8

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:36:03 GMT
RudyG <RudyG@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote:

>
> Hi Benny.
>
> Basically, if I understood mniebur’s reply correctly, all you need is
> a terminal screen with a prompt. I believe the Grub screen calls it a
> FailSafe mode. Additionally you may need to su to execute that
> command. Although admittedly I have no idea what it does. I wish
> mniebur would explain it to us noobs. :confused:
> I’m stuggling through the install of my own ATI card. A Radeon 8500
> AIW. But no one has even replied to my thread as it seems either too
> old or completely unused in the Linux world. Too bad, I would have
> loved to ditch Windows and completely. :frowning:
>
> Rudy
>
>
Hi
Just let the system start normally, then login and run the commands
from the cosole (text) screen.

This should help;
http://en.opensuse.org/ATI

–
Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SLED 10 SP2 i586 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.23-default
up 4:34, 1 user, load average: 0.10, 0.40, 0.62
GPU GeForce Go 6600 TE/6200 TE Version: 173.14.09

9

I have a similar problem. I have an old HIS ATI Radeon 7500LE (RV 20)) dual head card. During my first few attempts to install SUSE, I don’t get any display after rebooting. I reinstall it again & this time I skipped online update during install process. Presto, display came back & detected my card correctly (RV 200). I ran live update after that & all is sweet now.

Don’t give up.

10

Thanks for the tip dreamerheman. Any chance your card has a TV tuner on it. It seems like a Spooky subject around here. Is anyone actually able to watch TV on their Linux boxes?

Rudy

11

Sorry, no tuner. Good luck in your search.

12

My problem is I don’t have internet connection at home :frowning:
But yeah I love this challenge and I really want to solve it with helps of you guys

13

I tried “failsafe” and normal mode with mniebur’s instruction. but eventually it always ends up with “Input Not Supported” and my monitor just gone black — no signal. All I need is a command-line prompt but can anyone tell me how to modify the boot option so I can login?:confused::confused: