Messages

1

Installation issues / Re: White screen after MD boots?

« on: December 14, 2009, 05:57:13 pm »

OK, I'm posting this even though it makes me feel stupid.  Hopefully it will help someone.

I got BOTH laptops up and running over the weekend.  The issue was painfully simple, yet completely overlooked by myself for hours while I messed around.

The AV Wizard was defaulting to the EXTERNAL VGA connector, (which had no monitor connected) rather than the internal display.  This makes no sense to me, but it IS what was happening.

Connecting a monitor to the VGA plug showed the AV wizard on both laptops, and selecting "VGA-2" as my default connector pushed it back to the internal display.

Another note is that the default refresh rate appears to be 50Hz, which is incompatible with both the internal displays on both laptops (possibly the reason why the external VGA was activated?)  Even my external monitor (a cheap 15" analog LCD) displayed the AV-Wizard but had a warning on the screen "Input signal out of range, please correct".  Once I changed the refresh (I went to 75Hz) everything was happy, and the internal display was selectable on VGA-2.

So hopefully this silly issue helps someone, maybe just because it's now documented in the forums.

-Jim

2

Installation issues / Re: PCHDTV-5500 not detected?

« on: December 11, 2009, 06:24:43 pm »

I would be glad to help.  Let me know when you are ready to work on it.

3

Installation issues / Re: White screen after MD boots?

« on: December 11, 2009, 01:39:03 am »

OK, Further info...

I've now tried PXE booting two different laptops as MDs.  The newer one (my wife's) is also a Toshiba, but it's newer and has GeForce 5200 graphics onboard.

On the newer laptop, I'm getting the same problem (I think) except it manifests itself slightly different.  When the machine is done booting, and the AV Wizard is supposed to come up, the screen just goes off.  It's like it went into power saving mode and the display was turned off.

I've tried the number buttons, and I can hear the beep telling me they are responding, but the display never comes back up.

Now I think the older laptop (1st post) is actually doing the same thing, except the backlight is staying on for some reason.  I believe the display is just getting powered down for some odd reason.

Now that this problem is repeatable, maybe a closer look is in order?

4

Installation issues / Re: PCHDTV-5500 not detected?

« on: December 11, 2009, 12:23:30 am »

Thank You very much.  That tutorial looks like everything I need.

I would be happy to work out the device template, if someone could teach me how this is done!

-Jim

5

Installation issues / PCHDTV-5500 not detected?

« on: December 10, 2009, 04:09:36 am »

I just got my 8.10b2 Core up and running, and everything on the core appears to be working as intended EXCEPT my HD tuner card is not being detected.  This card is a working pull from a previous Mythdora system, so I'm confident it is not bad.  Can anyone point me in the proper direction to debug this?

Thanks.

6

Installation issues / White screen after MD boots [SOLVED]

« on: December 10, 2009, 04:05:59 am »

I've seen all the posts about the black screen after installing.  This issue is a little different.

I have my core up and running, and I've plugged my first diskless MD into the switch and booted it PXE.  It's an older Toshiba laptop, P4-2.0 with Geforce 4 onboard graphics.  The machine boots, but when the AV wizard is supposed to come up, the entire LCD screen turns white, like every pixel slowly fades from black to white over about 5 seconds.

I've tried the number keys, and the machine responds with a little beep, then tosses me back out to the console for a couple seconds, then the screen goes black and begins fading to white again.

I believe this is a problem with the Nvidia driver, though I'm unclear how to diagnose or troubleshoot it without being able to see the screen.

For the record, there is nothing wrong with the laptop.  It has Fedora 12 on the hard drive and runs beautifully with the restricted driver enabled (96.x Legacy).  This is only a problem when booting the diskless image.

By the way, this is a 8.10b2 installation.

Please help?

7

Installation issues / Re: Failed to fetch pre-install-from-repo

« on: November 29, 2009, 08:19:12 pm »

Just an update to this post.

I tried the internet install again, this time pluggin ETH0 directly into my cable modem (bypassing my Clarkconnect box and transparent web proxy) and this time installation suceeded.  Now I just have the same "black screen" problem that everyone else is struggling with, but the box is up and running, and I can connect to it and access the web admin page.

8

Installation issues / Re: Failed to fetch pre-install-from-repo

« on: November 20, 2009, 09:13:57 pm »

I left it sit overnight with the black screen and mouse cursor.  It never resolved.

I have also rebooted it several times (about 4) to see if anything changed.  Again, nothing but a black screen and cursor.

9

Installation issues / Re: Failed to fetch pre-install-from-repo

« on: November 19, 2009, 05:17:35 pm »

Last night I tried again, from scratch, to complete the install of 8.10b.  I used the internet install method, as recommended on this forum.  I was very careful to follow instructions to a T.  I even rebooted Kunbuntu after installing all the updates just to be certain that I was starting with a clean, working OS.

I got thru the pre-install script, no problem.  About 2/3 of the way thru the install script I get this:

E: Broken packages
#### Package pluto-orbiter failed (/tmp/tmp.DyXny10491) - We wait
10sec and tryagain - to stop retrying press Ctrl-C.

After waiting for awhile for it to get past it, I eventually killed it, and restarted the script.  The second run went thru without error, just like the first time I tried this.  After completing the script, and running the post-install I rebooted.  After reboot I get the AVWizard, then a bunch of software installation occurs.

After that, I get a black screen with a mouse cursor.  Nothing else.  F7 does nothing, the machine just sits.

I really think this issue needs to be looked into a little more closely.  There are too many reports of black screens for other reasons that the developers are lumping this one into the same category and not giving it any attention.

10

Installation issues / Re: Failed to fetch pre-install-from-repo

« on: November 17, 2009, 06:24:25 pm »

I also had this problem, and eventually CTRL-C'ed out of it (after waiting overnight for it to loop 10sec re-attempts) and re-ran the script.  The second run appeared to go thru smoothly, but after re-booting and running thru the AV Wizard my install is a black screen with only a mouse cursor.  So I guess what I'm saying is, this issue is not isolated, nor is it getting the proper attention.

11

Installation issues / Re: Another "black screen after install" post, except different

« on: November 16, 2009, 04:26:56 pm »

Yes, Thank You Mike!  That is exactly what happened to me.  When the internet install script was running, I got the same error telling me it couldn't find that package you mentioned, and it was caught in an endless loop trying every 10 seconds to get it again.  I thought maybe a repo was down, so I let it go all night thinking if the repo came back up, the error would self-correct and install would continue.  But in the morning, I finally gave it CTRL-C, killed the script, and re-launched it.  When I relaunched install.sh it, it appeared to run clean, and I then ran the post-install.sh and rebooted without further errors.

And yes, we were both doing the same thing, setting up a test system to poke around and learn before trying to build something serious.  I currently have a ClarkConnect home server as my gateway, and MythDora 10.21 on a different machine serving MythTV backend.  I like the idea of LinuxMCE because it would eliminate one server, but I want to understand it before taking my perfectly functional system down.

So just to wrap up, my machine will not go past the black screen with mouse cursor.  If I sit and watch it, every so often it will pop up text on the screen telling me it's trying to install "Pluto.Nvidia.Orbiter" or something like that (going from memory), but nothing ever happens, and the F7 key does nothing.  I'm starting to think the error I saw during install.sh was an indication that the local orbiter was never fully installed, and now I'm seeing the outcome of that.

12

Installation issues / Re: Another "black screen after install" post, except different

« on: November 14, 2009, 01:34:35 am »

Sorry Guys, No dice. 

I rebooted it a few minutes before my last post, and let it sit and go thru it's bootup again.  All I get is a black screen with a mouse cursor (which moves, so I know I'm not locked up).

I suspect this may have to do with LinuxMCE trying to install the latest Nvidia driver, which I don't believe is compatible with my Geforce4 onboard video.  I believe I need the "Legacy" drivers, not 190.x.  How can I correct this?  Actually, since this is a test platform anyway, and would only be a dedicated Core, I could also use the nv or vesa drivers, since I don't need the hardware acceleration, OpenGL or 3d abilities.

13

Installation issues / Re: Another "black screen after install" post, except different

« on: November 14, 2009, 12:00:14 am »

Thanks for the replies.

I downloaded the DVD and used it to install Kubuntu.  But rather than run the script on the desktop, I then switched to the internet instructions and ran from there.  I got thru all 3 scripts and rebooted, got thru the AV Wizard and into the giant text telling me packages were being installed.  That is were is appears to hang.

I did just reboot it, per the above tips, so we'll give it some time and see where it goes.

14

Installation issues / Another "black screen after install" post, except different

« on: November 13, 2009, 01:35:30 am »

I searched the forums for information on the "black screen after reboot" problems.  What I see are 3-5 completely different problems, all being treated as the same 1 problem for which there is a fix.  But there really are several distinctly different descriptions in the threads, and I think a closer look is in order.

For example, I had no problem getting the AV Wizard to come up after reboot.  That is the 1 issue I see documented with an explanation and a fix.

My problem is that after the AV Wizard completes, the machine begins installing packages.  During this time I get a black screen with giant (30 point) font telling me package after package is being installed.  So I wait patiently and watch, but eventually the giant text stops showing up on the screen and the machine just sits idle with only a mouse cursor.  I've waited over an hour after this point and still nothing.

Now, the specific issue here is what should I be expecting?  What should I be doing at this point?  Documentation is not good after AV Wizard is complete, so new users (I had 7.10 for awhile) have no idea what should be going on.  Should I kill it and try rebooting?  Should I re-install?  Are there some logs of files I should be looking in?  Who knows.

My hardware (don't laugh, it's for testing the Beta) is an older Toshiba Laptop.  It's a P4 2.0 Ghz with 768MB of Ram, a 60GB hard drive, onboard sound, modem and NIC, and a PCMCIA NIC card added for the internal network.  It runs an Nvidia Geforce 4 mobile video card.  I like this as a test unit because it also has built-in Bluetooth and wireless (disabled at this time).  I don't believe there are any hardware problems with this machine.

So if someone could give me a push in the right direction, I'd appreciate it!

15

Installation issues / Re: Pulling my hair out after a weekend of failed attempts

« on: February 03, 2009, 05:51:20 pm »

you might want to update the Display Driver page in the wiki.

Please don't.

I wouldn't think of it.  To me, this was a fluke, and hardly something that should be added to the wiki.  I think having it documented in the forums is probably good enough, as anyone with a similar issues would (hopefully) find it by searching.