Still having problem with black screen at startup

[greg613]

When I start my system after install it just goes to black screen. The only way that I can get past the black screen is to hit ESC. I have tried everything listed in the previous postings, Numbers 1-4 for output, pressing shift during startup screen and nothing will load the audio/video setup.  I found out a few things about what could be the problem.  I noticed that once i logged into the KDE that the maximum screen resolution I could get is the 680 x 480 or whatever it is.  Also when the screen loads it says DCEROUTER login :              then the whole line is blank.  I noticed that a couple said there was text further down the line? Is there anything else I can try to get this setup? Possibly update my nvidia drivers? Is there anyway I can fix the startup so it selects the right input everytime.  I did have the beta version working great with UI2 blending but then I changed over to this one.  I installed off the DVD. Should I download the CD's and try to install that way?

Thanks for any information you can provide to me!
Greg

My video card is a Nvidia 7600gs

[ddempsey3]

I am having the same problem.  I did a fresh install of Kubuntu then followed the guide on installing from two CDs. (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Installation_Guide)

As a note, I choose to use the Nvidia proprietary drivers instead of the opensource drivers during the install of LinuxMCE.

Video Card: Nvidia 6600GT

[greg613]

Hmm I'm going to install using the two cd's because with the Dvd I never got an option too which drivers linuxmce was going to use.

[dopey]

It saying DCERouter login: and nothing else is normal. That is the console login screen and it doesn't have anything after that because you haven't entered a user name or anything yet. You only want to use that console if you really know what you're doing or if X died...

I also remember getting the black screen when the orbiter loads. I ended up switching to UI1 just to get it to work, so I can fix other issues first. That was with the beta though. With the current version I have even stranger issues. On first install it worked fine, but no transapency. Then, without changing anything else, I changed out the monitor and rebooted. That caused my X configuration to be overwritten and transparency got enabled... This would be a good thing except the transparency isn't working right (uses all CPU power just to sit there) and I can't seem to disable it...

[ddempsey3]

I was able to get around the 640x480 resolution by manually editing the xorg.conf to add the correct screen resolutions my monitor supports.

I still have to hit escape twice to get to the graphical login. 

Anybody have an idea where to start looking for the problem?  What else can prevent the login screen from appearing?

[dopey]

Having to hit escape twice for a graphical login prompt doesn't make sense to me. I think I'm missing something. Could you take me step by step what happens during boot (just before and after this issue)?

I have had some issues with Linux in general not bringing up X for graphical login, but those issues are usually because either X crashed or an error was displayed on one of the rc scripts (the first scripts that run during boot). If the later happens then correcting the problem mean correcting whatever rc error popped up and/or you can press alt+f7 to get back to X.

[kir]

Can you please login when you see command-line prompt and do the following:

grep "^(WW)\|^(EE)" /var/log/Xorg.0.log

This will print any Xorg errors/warnings. If possible, post them here (by intermediate copying the output to some other box e.g.)

[roblopes]

I noticed when the installation boot happens, there's a call to plutohome.com for a new installation script and NTP, which both fail. After a while, the screen just goes black. I didn't try the esc+esc to get to the graphical user interface like the others.

I can't get to anything.plutohome.com from several physical locations. Not sure how important that new installation script is to the install. One would think it would contain a script to figure out what language the installation should be (not sure what language I saw for the login prompt just before the screen went black), sound card detection, video card information from modprobe on the install???

I don't know, I do know it looks very promising and I'd be tickled to get this up and running in 4 hours :-)

[webpaul1]

Can you see if you're getting any image out the VGA port?  That's the defualt active port when AVWizard starts.

[ckoester]

Similar problem here...

I have tried both the DVD and CD install.  The DVD install leaves me with a black screen that I cannot get past.  I have tried pressing number keys 1-0.  A couple of the number keys briefly show me a console logon and then I immediately get a black screen again.

The CD install is even worse.  After rebooting I get stuck in an endless loop.  I am shown a console logon briefly and then another screen that displays something about a helper script.  These 2 screens continue to loop without any intervention from me.

After both installations - when I see the console logon screen, I see the following message:

mdadm: No devices listed in /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

Both installations have left me dead in the water...

System Specs:
Pentium 4
2 gigs of RAM
Nvidia GE Force 6600 GT

[pinio]

Similar problem here...

I have tried both the DVD and CD install.  The DVD install leaves me with a black screen that I cannot get past.  I have tried pressing number keys 1-0.  A couple of the number keys briefly show me a console logon and then I immediately get a black screen again.

The CD install is even worse.  After rebooting I get stuck in an endless loop.  I am shown a console logon briefly and then another screen that displays something about a helper script.  These 2 screens continue to loop without any intervention from me.

After both installations - when I see the console logon screen, I see the following message:

mdadm: No devices listed in /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf

Both installations have left me dead in the water...

System Specs:
Pentium 4
2 gigs of RAM
Nvidia GE Force 6600 GT

Hi I had the same problem, to fix that (create workaround)
I had to boot into single user mode to change the root password
after that I reboot to normal mode, login as root and change the xorg.conf
to use regular vesa drivers instead of nvidia it means that there will bo no alpha blending
but for now it works

Best Regards

btw my its GE 6800 GT

[dopey]

You don't need to change to VESA drivers to fix this. You can still use UI2 with the Nvidia drivers and 3D acceleration, but alpha-blending most likely won't work. See my thread "X, Transparency, and CPU Usage" for details.

[GoManutd]

BTW, if you, like me, went into the hardware settings via the KDE system settings and tried changing your video adapter only to find X wouldn't start...

Here's a quick fix...

Reboot the machine.  When Grub is counting down hit ESC and select the system restore option.  This is equivalent to Windows safe mode except it drops you into a command line.

Run: cd /etc/X11

Run: ls -l xorg.conf*.*

You should see a xorg.conf, xorg.conf.1, etc.

xorg.conf.1 is the backup of your prior xorg.conf file

cp xorg.conf.1 xorg.conf

then reboot...