How to set system to use graphics driver of first phase of 13.1 32-bit KDE installation?

crmrhm · January 11, 2014, 4:47am

I did a full installation of 13.1 32-bit KDE on a Thinkpad T23 using the DVD. This replaced 12.3, formatting both / and /home. The installation proceeded fine, but the system locks on the initial and subsequent boots, either normal or recovery. This is no doubt a graphics problem. This T23 has S3 SuperSavage graphics. They were a problem in 12.3, but there is a workaround described in https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=805380. The bug report mentions that the fix would be included in 13.1. If it is, something else is wrong.

There are more details in the thread in Installation at https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/494019-First-boot-fails-after-installing-13-1-32-bit-KDE-Thinkpad-T23-graphics-problem?highlight=t23+savage
and a bug report at https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=857141

The graphics setup used during the first phase of 13.1 installation was acceptable. I would like to use it while the bug is being fixed. The system will boot into runlevel 3. What do I do there to set the graphics parameters to what is being used during installation?

Thanks,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 11, 2014, 10:28am

If you have a non-UEFI system, just press ‘F3’ at the boot menu and select “No KMS” or even “Text Mode”.
http://files.opensuse.org/opensuse/en/6/60/Grub-installation-boot-nokms.jpg

If you don’t have that option, try pressing ‘e’ and appending “nomodeset” to the line starting with “linux”. Press F10 to boot then.
But I’m not sure if the savage driver uses KMS all. If not, this won’t help…

crmrhm · January 11, 2014, 5:39pm

The first part of installation worked fine without any special settings. Graphics were OK. On the first reboot into the newly installed system, after the boot messages get to “Started Modem Manager.” the system freezes. Same behavior with “nomodeset” or recovery mode. It will boot into runlevel 3.

I’d like the system to use the graphics driver that worked during the first part of installation. What is that, and how can I use runlevel 3 to set the graphics driver?

Thanks,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 11, 2014, 5:44pm

Well, that doesn’t really sound like a graphics driver issue then. Especially “Recovery mode” should use fbdev or vesa which would be used by the 1st part of the installation as well I guess. Also the last line would not be “Started Modem Manager” if it was a graphics driver issue I think.

Can you press Alt+F1 and login in text mode?
What does “sudo systemctl status xdm.service” give?

PS: Check that kernel-firmware is installed. Maybe do a fresh install and select that explicitely to be installed. I did read of freezes with certain network cards if it is not.

crmrhm · January 11, 2014, 7:34pm

In the GRUB2 menu, I press e, and append 3 to the end of the “linux…” line, then F10. In runlevel 3, “systemctl status xdm.service” gives

systemctl status xdm.service
xdm.service - LSB X Display Manager
   Loaded:  loaded (etc/init.d/xdm)
   Active:  inactive (dead)

but you probably knew that, since it’s runlevel 3.

When is the right time to press Alt+F1 and login in text mode? I tried a normal boot, got to the stuck point. Pressing Alt+F1 did nothing there.

In runlevel 3, I ran YaST2 and installed kernel-firmware. That did not help.

Recovery mode has nomodeset and X11failsafe appended to the “linux…” line in GRUB2 e.

Thanks,
Howard

crmrhm · January 12, 2014, 12:47am

The boot.log from a successful boot into runlevel 3 is:

Trying manual resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Invoking userspace resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
resume: libgcrypt version: 1.5.3
Trying manual resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Invoking in-kernel resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Waiting for device /dev/root to appear:  ok
fsck from util-linux 2.23.2
[/sbin/fsck.ext4 (1) -- /] fsck.ext4 -a /dev/sda5 
root: recovering journal
root: clean, 130955/1114112 files, 1097016/4456448 blocks
fsck succeeded. Mounting root device read-write.
Mounting root /dev/root
mount -o rw,acl,user_xattr -t ext4 /dev/root /root

Welcome to [0;32mopenSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (i586)[0m!

[[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Syslog Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Remote File Systems (Pre).
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Remote File Systems.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Delayed Shutdown Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on /dev/initctl Compatibility Named Pipe.
[32m  OK  [0m] Set up automount Arbitrary Executable File Formats File System Automount Point.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Journal Socket.
         Mounting Huge Pages File System...
         Mounting POSIX Message Queue File System...
         Starting Create dynamic rule for /dev/root link...
         Starting Setup Virtual Console...
         Starting LSB: Set default boot entry if called...
         Starting Journal Service...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Journal Service.
         Mounting Debug File System...
         Starting Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel...
         Starting Load Kernel Modules...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart7.device...
         Starting Remount Root and Kernel File Systems...
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on udev Kernel Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on udev Control Socket.
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart6.device...
%G         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart1.device...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart3.device...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart2.device...
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice Root Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice User and Session Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice System Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice system-getty.slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Slices.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Huge Pages File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted POSIX Message Queue File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create dynamic rule for /dev/root link.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Setup Virtual Console.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started LSB: Set default boot entry if called.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Debug File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Load Kernel Modules.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Remount Root and Kernel File Systems.
         Starting Load/Save Random Seed...
         Starting Apply Kernel Variables...
         Starting udev Coldplug all Devices...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Load/Save Random Seed.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Apply Kernel Variables.
         Starting Create static device nodes in /dev...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create static device nodes in /dev.
         Starting udev Kernel Device Manager...
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Local File Systems (Pre).
         Mounting Lock Directory...
         Mounting Runtime Directory...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Kernel Device Manager.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Lock Directory.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Runtime Directory.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Coldplug all Devices.
         Starting udev Wait for Complete Device Initialization...
         Starting Show Plymouth Boot Screen...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/Storage...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/98SE...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/XP...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Starting File System Check on /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part6...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Activating swap /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7...
systemd-fsck[332]: home: clean, 11/327680 files, 55902/1310464 blocks
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Sound Card.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/98SE.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/Storage.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started File System Check on /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part6.
[32m  OK  [0m] Activated swap /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Swap.
         Mounting /home...
         Mounting FUSE Control File System...
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /home.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/XP.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted FUSE Control File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Wait for Complete Device Initialization.
         Starting Activation of LVM2 logical volumes...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Activation of LVM2 logical volumes.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Encrypted Volumes.
         Starting Activation of LVM2 logical volumes...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Activation of LVM2 logical volumes.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Local File Systems.
         Starting Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage...
         Starting Tell Plymouth To Write Out Runtime Data...
         Starting Recreate Volatile Files and Directories...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Recreate Volatile Files and Directories.
         Starting LSB: AppArmor initialization...
         Starting Update UTMP about System Reboot/Shutdown...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Update UTMP about System Reboot/Shutdown.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started LSB: AppArmor initialization.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Show Plymouth Boot Screen.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Tell Plymouth To Write Out Runtime Data.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target System Initialization.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on CUPS Printing Service Sockets.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on PC/SC Smart Card Daemon Activation Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack Activation Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Timers.
         Starting Restore Sound Card State...
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Paths.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on D-Bus System Message Bus Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Sockets.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Basic System.
         Starting Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack...
         Starting WPA Supplicant daemon...
         Starting Name Service Cache Daemon...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Name Service Cache Daemon.
         Starting System Logging Service...
         Starting Modem Manager...
         Starting Network Manager...
         Starting Permit User Sessions...
         Starting D-Bus System Message Bus...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started D-Bus System Message Bus.
         Starting Login Service...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Restore Sound Card State.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Permit User Sessions.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started System Logging Service.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started WPA Supplicant daemon.
         Starting Authorization Manager...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Login Service.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Authorization Manager.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Network Manager.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Network.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Host and Network Name Lookups.
         Starting LSB: Network time protocol daemon (ntpd)...
         Starting /etc/init.d/boot.local Compatibility...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Modem Manager.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started /etc/init.d/boot.local Compatibility.
         Starting Terminate Plymouth Boot Screen...
         Starting Wait for Plymouth Boot Screen to Quit...
         Starting Bluetooth service...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Bluetooth service.
         Starting Hostname Service...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Hostname Service.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started LSB: Network time protocol daemon (ntpd).
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target System Time Synchronized.
         Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Postfix Mail Transport Agent.
         Starting Command Scheduler...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Command Scheduler.

The first line after “Started Modem Manager” is:

Started /etc/init.d/boot.local Compatibility.

The boot.log from a failed boot into graphic mode is in the first code box at https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/494019-First-boot-fails-after-installing-13-1-32-bit-KDE-Thinkpad-T23-graphics-problem?highlight=t23+savage. I tried to include it here, but it made the message too big. The failed graphic boot did not do “Starting /etc/init.d/boot.local Compatibility…”

Does this indicate the problem is something other than the graphics driver?

Thanks,
Howard

gogalthorp · January 12, 2014, 4:27am

Boot to run level 3 log in as root and run

init 5

show use the errors

Just noticed that you have 32 bit. I think there are issues with the 32 bit version. Be sure that you have all the updates ie as root do a zypper up

crmrhm · January 12, 2014, 8:02am

Did zypper up. It reported it would not install 7 packages (gtk3 related) then “Nothing to do”.

Boot to run level 3 log in as root and run

init 5

show us the errors
Did that. A different screen with messages very briefly appeared, then the initial text log-in screen was back. Alt+F7 gets to the message screen, but no keystrokes seem to work. The messages were like boot actions. The next to the last line was “Reached target System Time Synchronized” with OK to the left. The last line was “Starting Postfix Mail Transport Agent” with no OK.

This machine dual-boots Windows, and in it I can get to the Linux partitions. Are those messages logged somewhere? I could not find them. How can I get the messages off the screen and to you? Take a picture? Some command back at the Alt+F1 text screen?
Thanks,
Howard

crmrhm · January 12, 2014, 7:17pm

Finished the update. The Main OSS repository had not been added. The final packages installed. Booting messages were then slightly different, but still did not work. The latest boot.log is:

Trying manual resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Invoking userspace resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
resume: libgcrypt version: 1.5.3
Trying manual resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Invoking in-kernel resume from /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7
Waiting for device /dev/root to appear:  ok
fsck from util-linux 2.23.2
[/sbin/fsck.ext4 (1) -- /] fsck.ext4 -a /dev/sda5 
root: clean, 131029/1114112 files, 1110359/4456448 blocks
fsck succeeded. Mounting root device read-write.
Mounting root /dev/root
mount -o rw,acl,user_xattr -t ext4 /dev/root /root

Welcome to [0;32mopenSUSE 13.1 (Bottle) (i586)[0m!

         Starting Collect Read-Ahead Data...
         Starting Replay Read-Ahead Data...
[[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Syslog Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Remote File Systems (Pre).
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Remote File Systems.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Delayed Shutdown Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on /dev/initctl Compatibility Named Pipe.
[32m  OK  [0m] Set up automount Arbitrary Executable File Formats File System Automount Point.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Journal Socket.
         Mounting Huge Pages File System...
         Mounting POSIX Message Queue File System...
         Starting Create dynamic rule for /dev/root link...
         Starting LSB: Set default boot entry if called...
         Starting Journal Service...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Journal Service.
         Mounting Debug File System...
         Starting Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart7.device...
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on udev Kernel Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on udev Control Socket.
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart6.device...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart1.device...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart3.device...
         Expecting device dev-disk-by\x2did-ata\x2dINTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN\x2dpart2.device...
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice Root Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice User and Session Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice System Slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Created slice system-getty.slice.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Slices.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Collect Read-Ahead Data.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Replay Read-Ahead Data.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Huge Pages File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted POSIX Message Queue File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create dynamic rule for /dev/root link.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started LSB: Set default boot entry if called.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Debug File System.
         Starting Load Kernel Modules...
         Starting Remount Root and Kernel File Systems...
         Starting Setup Virtual Console...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create list of required static device nodes for the current kernel.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Load Kernel Modules.
%G[32m  OK  [0m] Started Remount Root and Kernel File Systems.
         Starting Load/Save Random Seed...
         Starting Apply Kernel Variables...
(K         Starting Create static device nodes in /dev...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Load/Save Random Seed.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Apply Kernel Variables.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Create static device nodes in /dev.
         Starting udev Kernel Device Manager...
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Local File Systems (Pre).
         Mounting Lock Directory...
         Mounting Runtime Directory...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Kernel Device Manager.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Setup Virtual Console.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Lock Directory.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted Runtime Directory.
         Starting udev Coldplug all Devices...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Coldplug all Devices.
         Starting udev Wait for Complete Device Initialization...
         Starting Show Plymouth Boot Screen...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/XP...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/Storage...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Mounting /windows/98SE...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Starting File System Check on /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part6...
[32m  OK  [0m] Found device INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP.
         Activating swap /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7...
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Sound Card.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/98SE.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/Storage.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /windows/XP.
[32m  OK  [0m] Activated swap /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part7.
systemd-fsck[340]: home: clean, 11/327680 files, 55902/1310464 blocks
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Swap.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started File System Check on /dev/disk/by-id/ata-INTEL_SSDSA1M080G2HP_CVPO012500QB080EGN-part6.
         Mounting /home...
         Mounting FUSE Control File System...
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted /home.
[32m  OK  [0m] Mounted FUSE Control File System.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started udev Wait for Complete Device Initialization.
         Starting Activation of LVM2 logical volumes...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Activation of LVM2 logical volumes.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Encrypted Volumes.
         Starting Activation of LVM2 logical volumes...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Activation of LVM2 logical volumes.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Local File Systems.
         Starting Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage...
         Starting Tell Plymouth To Write Out Runtime Data...
         Starting Recreate Volatile Files and Directories...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Trigger Flushing of Journal to Persistent Storage.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Recreate Volatile Files and Directories.
         Starting LSB: AppArmor initialization...
         Starting Update UTMP about System Reboot/Shutdown...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Update UTMP about System Reboot/Shutdown.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Show Plymouth Boot Screen.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Tell Plymouth To Write Out Runtime Data.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started LSB: AppArmor initialization.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target System Initialization.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on CUPS Printing Service Sockets.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on PC/SC Smart Card Daemon Activation Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack Activation Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Timers.
         Starting Restore Sound Card State...
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Paths.
[32m  OK  [0m] Listening on D-Bus System Message Bus Socket.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Sockets.
[32m  OK  [0m] Reached target Basic System.
         Starting Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack...
         Starting WPA Supplicant daemon...
         Starting Name Service Cache Daemon...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Name Service Cache Daemon.
         Starting System Logging Service...
         Starting Modem Manager...
         Starting Permit User Sessions...
         Starting D-Bus System Message Bus...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started D-Bus System Message Bus.
         Starting Login Service...
         Starting YaST2 Second Stage...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Restore Sound Card State.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Permit User Sessions.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started System Logging Service.
         Starting Authorization Manager...
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Login Service.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Stack.
[32m  OK  [0m] Started WPA Supplicant daemon.

Regards,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 12, 2014, 9:45pm

So it seems to hang when starting the ModemManager, since I see no “Started Modem Manager”.

Have you checked that kernel-firmware is installed?

Try to disable ModemManager:

sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service

Although I would find it strange that it would work when booting to runlevel 3.

Can you start the login manager manually when booted to runlevel 3?

sudo systemctl start xdm.service

Maybe your boot problem is caused by plymouth? (wouldn’t be the first time that this happens… )
Try disabling it by adding “plymouth.enable=0” to the boot options.

crmrhm · January 13, 2014, 12:04am

Kernel-firmware is installed. It is version 20130714git-2.5.1 from the Main Update repository.

Try to disable ModemManager:
sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service

Although I would find it strange that it would work when booting to runlevel 3.
Did that, then

init 5

with the same results described above in #8.

Can you start the login manager manually when booted to runlevel 3?

sudo systemctl start xdm.service

Did that. The system did not respond with anything. Had to Ctrl+c to end it and get the prompt back.

Maybe your boot problem is caused by plymouth? (wouldn’t be the first time that this happens… )
Try disabling it by adding “plymouth.enable=0” to the boot options.
Tried that. The booting got to a blank screen with the cursor at the top left corner, frozen. Had to hold the power button. There was no boot.log generated for this. The boot.log still contained messages from the previous shut down.

Thanks,
Howard

crmrhm · January 13, 2014, 1:36am

A photo of the screen after booting into runlevel 3, then doing “init 5” is at http://paste.opensuse.org/26644506. The screen is reached via Alt+F7. Modem Manager did start. The services that were said to be starting but did not confirm “Started” are Terminate Plymouth Boot Screen, Wait for Plymouth Boot Screen to Quit, and Postfix Mail Transport Service.
Regards,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 13, 2014, 11:01am

OK, after your previous posts it is clear that X (i.e. the savage driver most likely) freezes the machine when starting. That other services don’t start is just a consequence then.

Can you post /var/log/Xorg.0.log please?

“nomodeset” doesn’t work because the savage driver doesn’t support/use KMS apparently (not sure about that though).
Do you get a graphical system when you create a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-mydevice.conf with the following content?

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"
  Driver "fbdev"
EndSection

You could also try “vesa” instead of “fbdev” if that doesn’t work (not sure if you have xf86-video-fbdev installed).

oldcpu · January 13, 2014, 12:23pm

I’m watching this thread, trying to see what I can learn. I note on my PCs, which do NOT have the savage graphic hardware, that the xf86-video-savage graphic driver is not installed by default.

If one has savage hardware, would this driver be automatically installed as part of an openSUSE-13.1 install, or is it necessary for one to select this when installing openSUSE ? Does the OP have this installed ? < not sure if relevant >

wolfi323 · January 13, 2014, 12:33pm

Yes, i should be installed automatically if supported hardware is found in the system, like any other xf86-video-* package.

Does the OP have this installed ? < not sure if relevant >

I would say yes: if it were not installed, I wouldn’t know why X would freeze the machine.
But the Xorg.0.log should tell this as well…

crmrhm · January 13, 2014, 8:54pm

Correct, xf86-video-savage is installed, and it was done automatically during the first phase of the 13.1 installation.

The Xorg.0.log file from a failed boot is at http://paste.opensuse.org/27506550.

Now I’ll try modifying the 50-device.conf file as you suggest, and report what happens.
Thanks,
Howard

crmrhm · January 13, 2014, 11:25pm

wolfi323:

Do you get a graphical system when you create a file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-mydevice.conf with the following content?
Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"
  Driver "fbdev"
EndSection
You could also try “vesa” instead of “fbdev” if that doesn’t work (not sure if you have xf86-video-fbdev installed).

wolfi323, you did it, thanks. I modified the existing /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-device.conf as shown in your code, and I can now boot into graphics mode. I used vi to edit the file - felt like I had fallen through a time warp.

The screen response seems a bit slower than 12.3 with the savage driver, but it is lots better than runlevel 3.

Gratefully yours,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 13, 2014, 11:47pm

OK, so it’s definitely the savage driver that causes the hang.

Another way to achieve the same would be to uninstall xf86-driver-savage, you wouldn’t need that config file then.

I have no idea if you could get the savage driver to work, but I see this in your Xorg.0.log which could cause the hang:

    26.668] (EE) SAVAGE: Failed to load module "xaa" (module does not exist, 0)
    26.668] (II) SAVAGE(0): Falling back to shadowfb

    26.678] (WW) SAVAGE(0): Direct Rendering requires a tiled framebuffer -- Set Option "DisableTile" "false"

So you could try to set the options “AccelMethod” and "DisableTile:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Default Device"
  Driver "savage"
  Option "DisableTile" "false"
  Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"
EndSection

Not sure if that would help though, you might also want to try each option separately.

What could also help, is

Option "NoAccel" "true"

That would of course turn off any acceleration.

If you want to experiment, run “man savage” to get a list of all possible options.

crmrhm · January 14, 2014, 7:16am

I experimented with numerous single and combinations of options with driver “savage”, including

Option "DRI" "off"

but none of them worked. I’m back to driver “fbdev” for now. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Best regards,
Howard

wolfi323 · January 14, 2014, 1:23pm

crmrhm:

I experimented with numerous single and combinations of options with driver “savage”, including
Option "DRI" "off"
but none of them worked. I’m back to driver “fbdev” for now. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Well, “DisableTiling” was a bad idea anyway, since it was disabled on purpose per the bugreport you linked to in your first post.
Sorry for suggesting that.

But what you could try is upgrade your whole X stack to the latest version in the X11:XOrg repo. That contains a newer version of the savage driver (2.3.7 vs. 2.3.6), which contains a few fixes.
Maybe that would help?

But if you try that, make sure you upgrade all packages to the versions from that repo.
See http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Vendor_change_update#Full_repository_Vendor_change

You can always go back to the standard version by disabling the repo again and selecting “Update Unconditionally” for all packages marked in red. (Or run “zypper dup”)