new install boots only to cmd line

English Install/Boot/Login
1

New machine - new blank HD. Installed opensuse from iso image on dvd. Tested RAM OK and tested DVD image OK. 1st attempt I set BIOS to ahci. New WD Blue sata 3 500 gig. Install seemed to go OK, but I was presented several screens that were not in the instructions. Set options to autologin Created user1 and admin OK - after install it was supposed to boot into OS but booted only to cmd line. I logged in to cmd line OK. I tried startX and startkde but both failed with an error mentioning failure of x.

I retried and set bootloader to / partition instead of MBR and recieved same result. 3rd try I reset BIOS to IDE mode and bootliader to MBR and got same result. I am at a loss what to try next.
I suspect that the problem is with video driver. The graphical install screen worked OK and during the install I clicked on the system option and got a read out of the hardware detected and it correctly identified my video card and said it was vga compatible.

Any suggestions as what to do next?

2

What GPU?

You might get hints as to what the problem is by grepping EE from xorg logs:


grep -i "(EE)" /var/log/Xorg.0.log
3

“startkde” does not work at all in text mode, it needs X already running.
And “startx” only works as root.

I suspect that the problem is with video driver.

Likely.
And what exactly is your graphics card?

Try to select “Recovery Mode” in “Advanced Options” in the boot menu (should be the 2nd entry).
Does this work?

If yes, please post the file /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old .

4

The video card is an nVida GeForce GT240. After aborting 4th try install I found some info.
Video Card was detected as nVida GT215 (GeForce GT240)
Driver nouveau
Driver active Yes
modeprobe Yes
modules modprobe nouveau

Driver loaded nVida Riva/TNT/GeForce/Quadro/Tesla

I’ll try a live CD and see if I can poke around on the HD.

5

I would recommend to install the proprietary nvidia driver then:
https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers

As already mentioned, you should get to a graphical system when choosing “Recovery Mode” in the boot menu (i.e. the 2nd entry in “Advanced Options”).
Or you can install the driver in text mode as well (if you have an Internet connection), either with YaST (this has a text mode interface too) or zypper.