suse freezes while booting no matter what

English Install/Boot/Login
1

suse 11.1 32 bit with KDE 4.1 on a toshiba laptop with the dreaded ATI graphics card, i forgot it’s name, but it’s the only one which needs a special installation which didn’t work for me and no one in this forum managed to help me with installing it (or bothered to try).
today i found the update manager told me i needed to update something, so i clicked on update. i saw it did changes to my graphics driver settings and i thought “oh, finally someone has repaired the ****ed up ati driver!”. after the update the system went very slowly so i rebooted it, since then every time X should show up the screen goes black and the whole thing freezes. i saw in another thread that one needs to get into the konsole by pressing “ctrl+alt+1” but that didn’t work, the system wouldn’t budge. what can i do besides deleting all of the important information i have there and reinstalling???
there has to be a better way to access the driver configuration file and change it back to the generic driver that was before.

any help would be welcomed, the sooner the better.

2

The key combination to get the terminal is Ctrl+Alt+F1 and not Ctrl+Alt+1.

See if this can help you:
No Video on first boot - openSUSE Forums

3

–update–

i haven’t tried it because i’ve decided to use the time waiting for replies to try using an old live CD that i have to access xorg.conf. well, that i have done but it doesn’t seem as though it even uses the failed ati driver but instead next to “driver” it has “fbdev”, which is supposed to work. i’m currently comparing the xorg.conf on my hard drive and the xorg.conf on the live cd, but they seem to appear the same, no? where’s the problem, then? how can i get X to work again?

4

update so far:
i can’t do anything with the system installed on my hard drive, can’t even reach the console by pressing “ctrl+alt+F1”.
i can, however, access files by using a live cd and i can read the files on the hard drive (haven’t tried saving, though).
what’s next? i know nothing about these systems, i don’t know where to start looking.

5

add a 3 on the grub line after vga=*** i.e vga=*** 3 then boot, this will boot to gui-less environment, then from the prompt after logging in try to run startx.

Then what errors do you get? If no errors and locks up try looking in the X.0.org.log I think at /var/log

6

okay, i did that and here’s what happened: after the normal boot sequence it suddenly flooded the screen with many lines which said:

/etc/initscript: line 133: /sbin/mingetty: Input/output error
/etc/initscript: line 133: /sbin/mingetty: Success

the lines just repeated themselves with a message popping up every few lines which stated that something is respawning too fast and will be disabled for five minutes. after a few seconds of that it said there are no more processes on that run level, and surely enough 5 minutes later the screen was flushed with those messages again.

any ideas?

7

when i did it, it gave me a blank screen after typing “startx”.
when i did it under safe mode it repeatedly ran lines which stated there was some input/output error. i’ll check the log file as soon as the live cd has finished loading and i’ll post what is said there.

8

here’s what the Xorg.0.log had:

X.Org X Server 1.5.2
Release Date: 10 October 2008
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: openSUSE SUSE LINUX
Current Operating System: Linux linux-ghdq 2.6.27.21-0.1-default #1 SMP 2009-03-31 14:50:44 +0200 i686
Build Date: 27 February 2009 02:03:33PM

Before reporting problems, check [X.Org Wiki - Home](http://wiki.x.org)
to make sure that you have the latest version.

Module Loader present
Markers: (–) probed, () from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: “/var/log/Xorg.0.log”, Time: Wed May 6 13:14:50 2009
(==) Using config file: “/etc/X11/xorg.conf”
(==) ServerLayout “Layout[all]”
() |–>Screen “Screen[0]” (0)
() | |–>Monitor “Monitor[0]”
() | |–>Device “Device[0]”
() |–>Input Device “Keyboard[0]”
() |–>Input Device “Mouse[1]”
() |–>Input Device “Mouse[3]”
() Option “ZapWarning” “on”
() Option “AllowMouseOpenFail” “on”
() Option “Xinerama” “off”
(==) Automatically adding devices
(==) Automatically enabling devices
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/local” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/PEX” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/misc” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/75dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/100dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/latin2/Type1” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/latin7/75dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/baekmuk” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/japanese” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/kwintv” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/uni” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/CID” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/misc” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/75dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/ucs/100dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/misc” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/75dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/100dpi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/hellas/Type1” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory “/usr/share/fonts/xtest” does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(==) Including the default font path /usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/TTF/,/usr/share/fonts/OTF,/usr/share/fonts/Type1/,/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled.
() FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1,
/usr/share/fonts/URW,
/usr/share/fonts/Speedo,
/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic,
/usr/share/fonts/truetype,
/opt/kde3/share/fonts,
/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/TTF/,
/usr/share/fonts/OTF,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1/,
/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled
() Input device list set to “/dev/gpmdata,/dev/input/mice”
(==) ModulePath set to “/usr/lib/xorg/modules/updates,/usr/lib/xorg/modules”
(II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
(II) Loader magic: 0x81f85c0
(II) Module ABI versions:
X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
X.Org Video Driver: 4.1
X.Org XInput driver : 2.1
X.Org Server Extension : 1.1
X.Org Font Renderer : 0.6
(II) Loader running on linux
(–) using VT number 7

(–) PCI:*(0@1:5:0) unknown vendor (0x1002) unknown chipset (0x5a62) rev 0, Mem @ 0xd8000000/0, 0xd0000000/0, I/O @ 0x00009000/0, BIOS @ 0x???/131072
(II) System resource ranges:
[0] -1 0 0xffffffff - 0xffffffff (0x1) MX**
[1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX**
[2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX**
[3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX**
[4] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX**
[5] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x00000000 (0x1) IX**
(II) “extmod” will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) “dbe” will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) “glx” will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) “freetype” will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) “record” will be loaded by default.
(II) “dri” will be loaded. This was enabled by default and also specified in the config file.
(II) LoadModule: “dri”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/updates//extensions/libdri.so
(II) Module dri: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 7.4.0, module version = 1.0.0
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DRI
(II) LoadModule: “dbe”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//extensions/libdbe.so
(II) Module dbe: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: X.Org Server Extension
ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 1.1
(II) Loading extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
(II) LoadModule: “freetype”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//fonts/libfreetype.so
(II) Module freetype: vendor=“X.Org Foundation & the After X-TT Project”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 2.1.0
Module class: X.Org Font Renderer
ABI class: X.Org Font Renderer, version 0.6
(II) Loading font FreeType
(II) LoadModule: “extmod”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//extensions/libextmod.so
(II) Module extmod: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.0.0
Module class: X.Org Server Extension
ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 1.1
(II) Loading extension SHAPE
(II) Loading extension MIT-SUNDRY-NONSTANDARD
(II) Loading extension BIG-REQUESTS
(II) Loading extension SYNC
(II) Loading extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
(II) Loading extension XC-MISC
(II) Loading extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
(II) Loading extension XFree86-Misc
(II) Loading extension XFree86-DGA
(II) Loading extension DPMS
(II) Loading extension TOG-CUP
(II) Loading extension Extended-Visual-Information
(II) Loading extension XVideo
(II) Loading extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
(II) Loading extension X-Resource
(II) LoadModule: “glx”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/updates//extensions/libglx.so
(II) Module glx: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 7.4.0, module version = 1.0.0
(==) AIGLX disabled
(WW) fglrx: Force AIGLX enabled
(II) Loading extension GLX
(II) LoadModule: “record”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//extensions/librecord.so
(II) Module record: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.13.0
Module class: X.Org Server Extension
ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 1.1
(II) Loading extension RECORD
(II) LoadModule: “fbdev”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//drivers/fbdev_drv.so
(II) Module fbdev: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 0.4.0
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.1
(II) LoadModule: “kbd”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//input/kbd_drv.so
(II) Module kbd: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.3.1
Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.1
(II) LoadModule: “synaptics”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//input/synaptics_drv.so
(II) Module synaptics: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 0.15.2
Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.1
(II) LoadModule: “mouse”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//input/mouse_drv.so
(II) Module mouse: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.3.0
Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.1
(II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
(II) Primary Device is: PCI 01@00:05:0
(II) Loading sub module “fbdevhw”
(II) LoadModule: “fbdevhw”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/linux//libfbdevhw.so
(II) Module fbdevhw: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 0.0.2
ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 4.1
() FBDEV(0): claimed PCI slot 1@0:5:0
(II) FBDEV(0): using default device
(II) resource ranges after probing:
[0] -1 0 0xffffffff - 0xffffffff (0x1) MX
[1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX**
[2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX**
[3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX**
[4] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX**
[5] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x00000000 (0x1) IX**
(==) FBDEV(0): Depth 16, (==) framebuffer bpp 16
(==) FBDEV(0): RGB weight 565
(==) FBDEV(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) FBDEV(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(II) FBDEV(0): hardware: VESA VGA (video memory: 6144kB)
(II) FBDEV(0): checking modes against framebuffer device…
(II) FBDEV(0): mode “default” not found
(II) FBDEV(0): checking modes against monitor…
(–) FBDEV(0): Virtual size is 1024x768 (pitch 1024)
() FBDEV(0): Built-in mode “current”: 78.7 MHz, 59.9 kHz, 75.7 Hz
(II) FBDEV(0): Modeline "current"x0.0 78.65 1024 1056 1184 1312 768 772 776 792 -hsync -vsync -csync (59.9 kHz)
() FBDEV(0): Display dimensions: (330, 210) mm
(**) FBDEV(0): DPI set to (78, 92)
(II) Loading sub module “fb”
(II) LoadModule: “fb”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.0.0
ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(**) FBDEV(0): using shadow framebuffer
(II) Loading sub module “shadow”
(II) LoadModule: “shadow”

(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libshadow.so
(II) Module shadow: vendor=“X.Org Foundation”
compiled for 1.5.2, module version = 1.1.0
ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.4
(II) do I need RAC? No, I don’t.
(II) resource ranges after preInit:
[0] -1 0 0xffffffff - 0xffffffff (0x1) MX**
[1] -1 0 0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX**
[2] -1 0 0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX**
[3] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX**
[4] -1 0 0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX**
[5] -1 0 0x00000000 - 0x00000000 (0x1) IX**
(II) FBDEV(0): FBIOBLANK: Invalid argument (Screen blanking not supported by vesafb of Linux Kernel)
(==) FBDEV(0): Backing store disabled
() Option “dpms”
() FBDEV(0): DPMS enabled
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(II) Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
(II) Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
(II) Initializing built-in extension XEVIE************************************

9

Mmm well I can’t see any errors doesn’t seem to be any EE

Are you sure these are the same as the livecd? You could always copy it over from one to the other, I would suggest saving the original but it looks like it is borked. You choose if so just cp as new filename. Should get you up and running.

Though I can’t see fglrx being loaded and I know nothing about the framebuffer device and even had a look.

When it is running do you have?

lsmod | grep fglrx

I’m sure you seem to have it half installed, try this from gui-less

awk '/Section \"Device\"/,/EndSection/' /etc/X11/xorg.conf > driver.txt

then paste that up(use code tags makes it easier to navigate)

If copying it over doesn’t work have you tried to reset it to vesa or the free driver.

sax2 -r and try again if it allows you from gui-less or
sax2 -r -m 0=vesa which should give you the vesa module.

10

ok, you’re going to hate this but i understood about 5% of what you just wrote. i guess i need some serious studying before i can do anything technical on this machine without “suse for dummies” type of explanation. i don’t know how to do code tags, how to check is i get something while something is running, and so on.

the similar files were xorg.conf, and they seemed identical both on the live cd and on the installed system., that’s why i kinda doubt the problem is with that file itself.
which file should i copy from the live cd to the installed system?

11

Lets go for the easiest and try to copy over the working one to the none working one.

When you boot the live cd you should be able to see the files, use a file manager with su rights(Soz can’t remember the exact wording in th menu you have 2)

Once you have navigated to the file, which should be mounted or will be mounted when you click it. Then copy the one from /etc/X11/xorg.conf to the one I think at /media/???/etc/X11/xorg.conf

BUT you need a file manager with su rights. Then try a reboot, if not go back to the command prompt like you did for startx. Try startx see if the error msg is more useful.

12

thanks. here’s what happened:
i copied the xorg.conf from the live CD to the hard drive (after renaming the old file, just to be sure), restarted the machine and… black screen. well, in that case i guess the problem wasn’t xorg.conf. i tried booting into the console and logged in from there, but when i ran startx it gave me the black screen and froze. again. no error message there, just the “black screen of death”.
if i try to do it on safe-mode login then right after it trying to load “apparmor (2 of 2)” or something like that, it freezes for about a minute and then floods the screen with these repeating lines:

/etc/initscript: line 133: /sbin/mingetty: Input/output error
/etc/initscript: line 133: /sbin/mingetty: Success

13

Now I would go for yast and look at the last updated package with the command

rpm -qa --last | head -20

The above command will show you the last 20 packages updated now you could roll back them or go for the whole lot. For this you’ll need to navigate command line yast from init 3(that grub stuff from earlier). Now you’ll have to stumble through it but is relatively straight forward. You could disable all outside repo’s and update all unconditionally from the install media or if you spot one in the last 20 that could of caused it just do one/several.

Or try the install media but I don’t think the live cd has the rescue system. Might be able to launch it from the net.iso which is the smallest, if you can’t do it from the live cd. Sorry I really don’t know much about the livecd I tend to do net installs or the complete media.

Edit
mmm the error msg looks strange I suspect xorg update perhaps or something related to init but honestly I don’t know and an initial google found nothing.

14

okay, did that and there are a few updates that were made today which i’d like to roll-back. today’s updates (which are not of the repair i tried to do from the installation CD) are for:
x11-video-fglrxG01
ati-fglrx-kmp-default
ati-fglrx-kmp-pae
enscript
ghostscript-omni

the qustion is, how DO i roll-back? and for the record, i did all of my installations from an installation CD, not from a live CD which i used only to check before i installed.

15

Type yast on the command line may have to use su can’t remember thought it prompted for password.

If you really need pics I can do it but once you type yast it will start the ncurses of yast. Then you navigate with tab and alt yellow letter.

By the time I’ve sorted this out in a pics I suspect you’ll would of got there. Though this covers some of it …

Strange Issue - openSUSE Forums

16

dude, you’re a magician. it worked like a charm. i got into yast, deleted everything that had anything to do with fglrx and rebooted. it worked! after that i did an update, which started this whole mess, and it worked again! now i’m happy and can go back to doing the rapport i’ve been wroking on.

thanks! and i hope someone would fix this ati driver thing, too bad i can’t change the graphics card on this laptop.

17

I got rid of ati a long time ago I suspect it is more than feasible to fix. Taking a wild out there guess it seems to not be picking an id up for the card but… Nvidia here only ati just caused me headaches

You could try using the OSS driver some cards are 3D supported… as for what with and what wiki should have the answer if newer think less likely so.

18

on my desktop i have an Nvidia card aswell, it worked well with the suse 10.2 i had before (and can’t reinstall anything because of the optical drive dying out on me so now i’m stuck with a 7 year old XP). i don’t know which OSS driver it might be, the only ones i’ve tried were the fglrx and the generic one which came with suse. needless to say the “one click fix” didn’t work and only made things worse.

19

It was this line here it has no vendor not sure what your working xorg.conf looks like. I suspect it is using radeon but you would need to confirm that.

(--) PCI:*(0@1:5:0) unknown vendor (0x1002) unknown chipset (0x5a62) rev 0, Mem @ 0xd8000000/0, 0xd0000000/0, I/O @ 0x00009000/0, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072

If you still get that line using radeon bit baffled but that may of been unrelated but it certainly couldn’t find the vendor then or chipset.