I’m finding that after I’ve reinstalled my system with OpenSuse 11.3 (had to replace dead hard drive), I can no longer boot to OpenSuse without a hang. My system specs:
MSI K8T Neo FIS2R motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3000 CPU
1.5 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 4650 (AGP8x) video
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS PCI soundcard
Note that I’m trying to dual-boot this system with Windows XP (already installed and working perfectly) and OpenSuse 11.3 64-bit. I was only able to get the installation DVD to run at all by switching to VESA video at boot time.
Now that the system is installed, I’m unable to boot to any kind of a prompt without the system completely locking up. Locked up as in “power cycling is the only recourse”.
I’ve also tried fiddling with the 11.3 KDE LiveCD and have similar problems. I can’t even get the CD verification system to run without switching to VESA mode (it verifies fine). Most any other settings result in the boot going through its paces, but then the screen goes blank as soon as any graphics should be displayed, then the monitor turns off and it’s power-off time. That includes running with VESA mode.
I have noticed the following during the few times I can manage to see any text at boot time:
pci 0000:00:01.0: address space collision: [mem 0xce9000000-0xee8fffff pref ] conflicts with GART [mem 0xd0000000-0xd7ffffff]
pci 0000:01:00.0: no compatible bridge window for [mem 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff pref]
which seem sort of ominous for the video card, but I don’t know what to do about it. It did boot successfully there for a few times. I do seem to be able to boot into single-user mode, but that’s about the best I can do. I’ve never had this much trouble getting a linux install to even given me a prompt.
Most likely you need to add the kernel load option called nomodeset, which you can type on the options line of the default openSUSE kernel load. Here are a couple of links you should read.
I can’t even get the CD verification system to run without switching to VESA mode (it verifies fine).
I assume then that you were previously running 11. 1 or 11.2 for example. If this is the case, I would consider reinstalling that. If the only hardware changed is the hard disk, this does not cause this problem to appear. If you had 11.3 previously installed double check that md5sum.
Yes, a few things I realize that I forgot to mention in my original post.
Original drive was IDE (and it’s still on the system, but not failing), now using a SATA drive.
One change I’d also made was this new video card. I had a much older card in there (I forget what it was) and that definitely croaked.
I believe I had 11.2 on there before, but I had also noticed that after I replaced the video card, I could not boot that 11.2 installation anymore (still back on just the IDE drive). I got some text followed by a hard lock and black screen.
On the new install, I’ve tried nomodeset, irqpoll and pci=nocrs including all at once. I’ve also tried safe mode of course. I have found that the boot can hang at various points although it’s not always consistent.
On the liveCD, if I boot in text mode with safe settings, it locks at “Starting the HAL Daemon”. On the liveCD using “VESA + safe settings” or all the defaults or VESA+default kernel it shows some text, but then the screen goes black the computer locks and my monitor turns off.
On the HD boot, I’ve seen it hang many times after starting syslog. I’ve also seen it bring up the gdm page and then everything hangs there.
Some SATA drives are incompatible with IDE drives. ie if one has both in the PC then the PC won’t boot. This is NOT true for all cases, as I have an old PC with both SATA and IDE.
Some SATA drives require one very judiciously apply an appropriate setting in the BIOS for Linux to be able to work with the SATA drive.
I take it your new card is the ATI Radeon HD 4650 (AGP8x) video card. First, a silly question. Are you certain your power supply has enough power to drive this card? Note that as a PC ages, the power supply degrades and it typically falls below its rated output power.
The ATI Radeon HD 4650 (also known as an RV 730) should be supported by the openSource Radeon driver. I know this because when I type “man radeon” in my openSUSE-11.3 PC it lists that card as being supported.
Note also that some BIOS (when you change the video card ) require you go into the BIOS and tell the BIOS the new graphic card’s setting (ie if going from PCI to AGP, or possibly going from one AGP speed to another). Thats NOT true for all (only for a small number).
Hence I do not believe this to be a driver issue. I’m suspicious of a BIOS setting or of an old power supply.
The fact that winXP runs ok does suggest my assessment above may not be accurate, unless Linux is more sensitive to the BIOS settings than WinXP, which is entirely possible.
Thanks. That is the correct video card. Note that it’s an AGP 8x card and so was my old (may it rest in peace) graphics card so nothing should have changed in the BIOS. I’ve been over the settings a few times there and didn’t see anything that jumped out at my in any BIOS region that I thought needed changing, but there’s always some I don’t quite understand. Realize of course, that this is a pretty old machine (7 years, I think). This graphics card was an inexpensive chance to squeeze a bit more performance out of this dinosaur while I still can.
I don’t know how I’d know if this power supply has enough power. All I can is that it runs XP fine. I tend to use XP most of the time. In fact, after the new hard drive reinstall of XP, I hadn’t bothered with Linux for a while since at home I don’t tend to need it. Of course, now that I do really need it, I can’t get it to work :-. I also run games under XP which I would think would drive the card and P/S much harder than I’d ever do under Linux.
Also, I’ve run this system with both the old IDE and the new SATA drive attached and also with only the SATA drive attached and never seen any difference in stability.
I also went back and re-tested booting the 11.2 installation from the IDE drive (which I know worked before I had to replace the video card). I seem to get the same resulsts there.
If I boot with “nomodeset irqpoll” it shows a lot of normal booting text (it goes by too fast for me to really read much of it), then when I think it’s time for something graphical to happen, the screen goes black, the monitor turns off and the the PC is completely locked up.
If I try failsafe mode, the screen goes black almost immediately but I can hear the hard drive going for a while until it’s finally dead. In all cases, I try hitting the different virtual consoles to see if I can even get a prompt and that has never worked.
So from what I can see, essentially the same behavior with the 11.2 install on IDE as with the 11.3 install on the new SATA drive. It seems to me that it’s something about the new video card. Could that message about the memory conflict with the GART be what that’s all about? I read around on the 'net about the memory conflict message but never found any clear “change this kernel boot setting” or “disable this module” direction to overcome that.
Without electronic test equipment, it is difficult to tell.
What do the specs say for your power supply’s power output ? (noting after 7 years this value is likely not being achieved). What do the specs say for your graphic card’s power requirements?
I just tried the same steps against the 11.2 install on the IDE drive and pulled power and SATA interface connectors on the SATA drive. Same results.
I guess this doesn’t look good for the power supply. After opening things up it seems I have a Zalman ZM300A-APF (300W) power supply. I know it’s younger than this machine is, but I can’t for sure when it was purchased.
The video card’s box says “400 Watt or greater power supplies are recommended”.
I’m puzzled why there’d be no problems whatsoever under XP, but Linux consistently fails. Unfortunately, while I think this may be a problem, I’m also not convinced that if I shovel a little more cash into this machine for a new power supply that that’s going to fix this problem.