No log-in screen

[erd_baer]

Hi, i have installed LinuxMCE on a second hard drive, because the installtion of it over kubuntu does not worked for me (cd's cant be mount).
The installation went without any problems. Then I bootet LinuxMCE. I get the kubuntu Splash Screen and after that a lot of messages. All get [ok], exceptly two things with "DHCP" or so, they get [failed]. But then, when i expected the log-in screen, my screen says "no signal".
But I use Ubuntu, not Windows, so im not a "linux-noob" and tryed to change to a console with ctrl+alt+F1. This works fine and I can log-in to LinuxMCE.
My graphiccard is an nVidia 8600GS. With ubuntu it works ootb, but why not with linuxMCE, it is based on kubuntu!
By the way, i use two screens, one is connected per VGA and has a resolution of 1280x1024 (until now primary screen for linuxMCE), and the other is connected per DVI and has a resolution of 1680x1050 (until now not used by linuxMCE). I want, of course, use the second one as primary screen, the other should be turned off.

Sorry for my bad english, im german.

[colinjones]

erd_baer

A stream of thoughts for you:

1) If at all possible, it is far better to use the DVD install. It is basically a "canned" image of a working LMCE system. It is much faster to install (40 mins vs 3+ hrs), and requires less input from the user. The draw backs are that it will completely wipe the entire drive it is pointed at (including partitions) and is slightly less tolerant of hardware variations. But if you can live with these, it is the recommended approach.

2) The 8600 card is fairly new, and although it may work with K/Ubuntu, LMCE has some specific requirements. That doesn't mean it can't be made to work though with a few minor steps.

3) Don't worry about the DHCP failure messages, this is normal.

4) It won't go to a "login screen" it is attempting to go into the LMCE AV Wizard. The AV Wizard is starting X.

5) Although your BIOS is allowing the boot sequence to find the correct output and resolution that your screen uses, the AV Wizard assumes 640x480 and VGA

First, have you more than one graphics chipset? You mention you have a card based on 8600, but is there also on board graphics? If yes, this is probably your issue as it will be confusing the AV Wizard.

Can you detail exactly which chipset each of the VGA and DVI ports on? Eg, VGA is the on board chipset, DVI is the card; or both are the card, etc?

This way I can give you the exact steps to de-confuse the AV Wizard!

[erd_baer]

Thank you for your fast answer!

1) I tryed to use the CD Installation in the past - because i had problems to mount the CDs with the installation wizard, i can't install it. But now i found a relative old HDD (80GB), and wanted to install LinuxMCE on this hard drive with the DVD installer.
2) Hm, ok, I was a bit confused because it works without problems under (K)ubuntu and apparently not with LMCE
3) Okay :-)
4) Well, i cant see anything, so i thought it is a loginscreen like gnomes gdm.
5) No, no onboard graphik, so both, VGA and DVI is on the card.

I will now try to boot again, first only with the big screen (DVI), then only the small one (VGA). I will edit my post and tell you the results.

Edit:
No difference if one screen is disconnected. But...

while booting, two things get failed:
*Mounting local filesystems...  (I hope this message is only because of my encrypted "ubuntu-hdd")
*Starting domain name service... bind

while booting, there are four sound in row, the first one the highest and the last one the lowest. It appears after the message
*Setting up console font and keymap... [ok]

when the x-server should appear, there is another sound while the screen gets no signal... something like
_-_-_ _
But its very fast, i cant realy recognize each sound.
Hope this information helps you to find out my problem

[indulis]

Hi,

Your screen may be getting a signal that is out of its range, or you may have hit the dreaded "I asked for output on VGA but got it on DVI connector" bug.  What type of display do you have?

1) Try a DVI to VGA converter cable or plug.  You may have got one with your graphics card, or you can buy or borrow one.  Or plug your screen into the DVI port (which port is your display plugged into on your graphics card?)

2) Edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to make sure your screen is getting a good signal.

Ctrl-Alt-F1 to a ocnsole screen, then

Code: [Select]

sudo su -
cd /etc/X11
cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.my_backup
nano xorg.conf

(I hope nano is installed by default, I think it is, I use vi)
Go down until you see a line which starts with "modeline", put a # at the front of the line to comment it out.
The lines below should say something about scan rate. Set the figures to something like this if you have a CRT (TV tube) display.  Otherwise change 88 to 62 for an LCD display.

Code: [Select]

        HorizSync    30-107
        VertRefresh  48-88

Also, take a look at your /var/log/xorg.0.log and post it here for us to have a look at if neither of those 2 work.

Hope this helps you out!

[erd_baer]

It is already happened to me in other cases, that the screen was getting a "wrong" signal. But the screen(s) differences between "no signal" and "bad signal", and appearently there is realy NO signal. Both are TFT screens (Acer AL2216Wd and AL1916).
1) I already tryed:
Both connected, VGA and DVI (VGA -->AL1916, the small one with 1280x1024)
Only the big one (1680x1050) per DVI
Only the small one per VGA

Everytime with the same result.

2) I think its okay when i use my Ubuntu system and edit the file with a graphical texteditor (gedit) instead of using nano/vi
So, the original values under "Modeline" were

Code: [Select]

HorizSync 20-500
VertRefresh 59-61I changed it like you said, I wonder why the numbers are so different...never mind

I think it does only make sense, when i first reboot now before posting the log file. So, see you later, I will edit my post...

EDIT:
Hm, same as before... here the logfile:
http://paste.ubuntuusers.de/392096/

[Zaerc]

...
EDIT:
Hm, same as before... here the logfile:
http://paste.ubuntuusers.de/392096/

Is it me, or did you "forget" to mention you were running under vmware?

[erd_baer]

I don't know why there is "VMware" in the log files. I have not installed it into a VM. I installed it with the DVD on an entire HDD.

[colinjones]

Well that is the first question to answer, obviously! If you look at the first few lines of this Xorg.0.log file you will see that it was generated last year. I have never looked at the existing one in a DVD install before the first time X has started, but I can only assume that this is the log file from the captured install image and X has never started yet, so it hasn't been over written...

Can you please double check that this is definitely the correct file from /var/log/Xorg.0.log? Also, do an ls -al /var/log/Xorg.0.log so we can see the date stamp...

[tschak909]

that's probably the X log from the original builder pass.

-Thom

[erd_baer]

Can you please double check that this is definitely the correct file from /var/log/Xorg.0.log? Also, do an ls -al /var/log/Xorg.0.log so we can see the date stamp...

Yes, definitely... here the timestamp (don't wonder about "/media/disk", i use my ubuntu system...)

Code: [Select]

me@ubuntu:~$ ls -al /media/disk/var/log/Xorg.0.log
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 27833 2007-11-01 18:00 /media/disk/var/log/Xorg.0.log


when the x-server should appear, there is another sound while the screen gets no signal... something like
_-_-_ _
But its very fast, i cant realy recognize each sound.

If you want to i can capture the boot-process, it's a bit difficult to describe a sound 

Btw.:
There are two other files, Xorg.1.log and Xorg.2.log. Both are from yesterday, my screen "Acer AL2216W" and "nVidia Corporation NVIDIA Default Card" are in this logs, too.
Xorg.1.log
Xorg.2.log

[Zaerc]

So how exactly did you install and which versions of what were used?

[erd_baer]

which version of what were used?

I used the disk that i burned the 1. may 2008. I tryed in the paste to install it with this dvd, but i have not knewn that i need an entire HDD, so i stored the disk.
I don't know which version this is exactly, but it should be the one, which was the latest at the 1. may 2008. In the GRUB menu i can see that it uses kubuntu 7.10.

So how exactly did you install

Insert the disk above, setting bios to boot from cd/dvd, choose "install on /dev/sdb", and then wait...
After copying it asked for the general settings like passwort for the user "linuxMCE" etc. Then i wanted to boot it, but the x-server does not start... see above