Blackscreen after 11.3 update

tjuxx · January 15, 2011, 9:03pm

Hi,

i just upgrade my system (64 bit) form 11.2 to 11.3 (via zypper).

Since the upgrade, suse boots only in text mode. I installed the ATI drivers (ATI Radeon HD4890), now i only see a backscreen after the suse bootscreen.

The system seems to boot correctly. I’m able to connect normally to the fts-server which is running on the machine.

I even can’t boot in runlevel 3, when i try to enter the bootloader, i only have a flashing coursor in the upper left corner, and a green square followed by a “Ñ” centered a few lines below.

I have no idea how to go one… i’m pleased to any help.

regards tjuxx

oldcpu · January 15, 2011, 9:35pm

I am a bit surprised you can not even boot to run level 3.

Did you read the release notes for 11.3 and follow the advice there ? For example, try the boot code (in the grub menu): nomodeset

please_try_again · January 15, 2011, 10:05pm

I bet you are in runlevel 3. Try to ssh to that computer and type

runlevel

Also, what happends if you press CTRL-ALT-F2 ?

tjuxx · January 15, 2011, 10:10pm

what is the right way to enter the grub menu??

i tried to press “3” or “shift”. In both times i only see the described coursor, the green square an the “Ñ” the boot process seems to halt.

tjuxx · January 15, 2011, 10:24pm

i already tried CTRL-ALT-F1 to F6, it happens nothing.

I’m able to connect via ssh. runlevel returns “N 5”

please_try_again · January 15, 2011, 10:50pm

You lost the console then.

So you’re in runlevel 5. runlevel 3 would work too and that’s the next thing you should try, together with nomodeset.

You can escape the gfx screen by pressing <esc>, than edit an entry before booting. But to boot in runlevel 3 and nomodeset, you just have to append “3” (preceeded by space) to the Boot Options. The same goes for “nomodeset” (append the word “nomodeset”).

oldcpu posted a nice picture somewhere …

First try “nomodeset”. If it doesn’t help, try “nomodeset 3”.

oldcpu · January 15, 2011, 10:55pm

To enter ‘nomodeset’ :
http://thumbnails33.imagebam.com/11529/60422a115289697.jpg](ImageBam)

please_try_again · January 15, 2011, 11:11pm

@tjuxx
I told you he had a nice picture.

@oldcpu, IMHO you should put this picture in a sticky howto somewhere (or maybe you did already and I don’t read the howtos.)

tjuxx · January 15, 2011, 11:27pm

in the grub menu i have the following options:

openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7 (default)
Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7 (default)
Desktop – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7
Failsafe – openSUSE 11.3 - 2.6.34.7-0.7 (desktop)
Desktop – openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.14-0.6
Failsafe – openSUSE 11.2 - 2.6.31.14-0.6

the third one is selected by default which one should i use??

glistwan · January 15, 2011, 11:39pm

The third one. You could also try the first one and if one of those works remove the other using the Yast or zypper.

Best regards,
Greg

please_try_again · January 15, 2011, 11:42pm

You can use either the first one or the third one. If you have more then 2GB on a 32bit system, the third one is better. But always use the same one - try not to switch! - or you might encounter problems (like the one you’re having now) due to missing kernel modules.

tjuxx · January 15, 2011, 11:46pm

i added nomodeset and i can see the desktop.

but the boot process is incredible slow approx. 3-5 min.

how should i go on, what does nomodeset mean? should i add it to the standard boot??

please_try_again · January 16, 2011, 12:10am

I guess the next question will be: what are the graphics card and driver used?
Please post the output of the following command:

hwinfo --gfxcard

tjuxx · January 16, 2011, 12:22am

hwinfo --gfxcard:

31: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)             
  [Created at pci.318]
  Unique ID: VCu0.M0dszmhXD+F
  Parent ID: _Znp.4xLmuLwp_n2
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/0000:01:00.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "ATI RV790 (RV770 9460)"
  Vendor: pci 0x1002 "ATI Technologies Inc"
  Device: pci 0x9460 "RV790 (RV770 9460)"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1787 "Hightech Information System Ltd."
  SubDevice: pci 0x2281 
  Driver: "fglrx_pci"
  Driver Modules: "fglrx"
  Memory Range: 0xd0000000-0xdfffffff (ro,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xfdee0000-0xfdeeffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  I/O Ports: 0xee00-0xeeff (rw)
  Memory Range: 0xfde00000-0xfde1ffff (ro,non-prefetchable,disabled)
  IRQ: 29 (21609 events)
  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
  Module Alias: "pci:v00001002d00009460sv00001787sd00002281bc03sc00i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: fglrx
  Driver Info #1:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: fglrx
    3D Support: yes
    Extensions: dri
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #10 (PCI bridge)

Primary display adapter: #31

please_try_again · January 16, 2011, 12:42am

I think the long boot time is not related. The system might be waiting for a device to respond or a service to start. Or if it takes longer occasionaly, it was just checking the filesystems integrity.
Are you using the ATI driver from the repo or did you install it from the ATI run script? Which version of the driver are you using?

rpm -qa | grep fglrx
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep fglrx | grep Version

You should append the nomodeset option to the line booting the kernel in /boot/grub/menu.lst, as you seem to need it. So you won’t have to type it every time.

tjuxx · January 16, 2011, 12:57am

thank u so mutch for the great support!!!

I installed the ATI drivers from the repository (http://www2.ati.com/suse/11.3)

rpm -qa | grep fglrx

ati-fglrxG02-kmp-desktop-8.762_k2.6.34.0_12-31.1.x86_64
ati-fglrxG02-kmp-default-8.762_k2.6.34.0_12-31.1.x86_64
x11-video-fglrxG02-8.762-33.1.x86_64

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep fglrx | grep Version

    85.740] (II) fglrx(0): VESA VBE Version 3.0
    86.515] (II) fglrx(0): EDID Version: 1.3
    86.668] (II) fglrx(0): Kernel Module Version Information:
    86.668] (II) fglrx(0):     Version: 8.76.7

please_try_again · January 16, 2011, 1:21am

So you did install the driver from the ATI repo. Some graphics cards require newer drivers and some people like to always use the latest one. If you’re not in this situation and the driver works fine for you - you don’t notice black squares for example while scrolling or moving windows - I would suggest to keep this one. However if for some reason you want to upgrade, we can show you how to proceed (I actually have a script for that).

As for the long boot delay, I would first suggest to press the escape key at the beginning of the boot process. It will close the splash screen and you might be able to see what the boot (or init) process is waiting for.

lOtz1009 · January 17, 2011, 6:58pm

Please note that the same problem is discussed in the German area too.
http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php?t=452762