Start-up to a black screen with mouse pointer

[millesm]

I've done the install but get a black screen with a mouse pointer on it...

I've tried Ctl-Alt-F7 but that also opens to a blank screen.

How do I reset the video mode of my PC to something low?

I have tried to connect via another PC to the web admin page, but it can't find it at http://191.168.10.12 which is the address of the computer with everything installed on it.

Everything appeared to be working until that final reboot after installation was complete...

thanks

[sharlee_angelo]

if you can open a terminal on the linuxmce computer, login as root and type screen -r. then paste the output here.

[millesm]

I can't open a terminal window as I cannot see anything other than my mouse pointer.

The screenshot would be a complete black screen with a movable mouse pointer on it.

I can ctl-alt-F1 - F6 for cmd line sessions, but that ain't much good unless I can change the config from the command line.

What is the URL for the web admin? 

[totallymaxed]

I can't open a terminal window as I cannot see anything other than my mouse pointer.

The screenshot would be a complete black screen with a movable mouse pointer on it.
http://82.77.255.214/kubuntu-linuxmce.iso
I can ctl-alt-F1 - F6 for cmd line sessions, but that ain't much good unless I can change the config from the command line.

What is the URL for the web admin? 

If you open a console with ctl-alt-F1 - F6 then login... once your logged in type 'screen -r' <return> and then copy the text output back here then one of us can see what causing your problem :-)

[PorcelainMouse]

Okay, I think this thread is the best match for my symptoms.  On boot, after the second set of beeps, I expect to see the MCE interface, but instead, I see a blank (black or empty) screen with a (working) mouse pointer in the middle.  It's as if you loaded XWindows without any window manager and the desktop was solid black.

If I login to console 1 (Ctrl-F1) and run 'sudo screen -r' I get a this:

Code: [Select]

There are several suitable screens on:
        10160.XWindowSystem     (02/12/2009 01:00:59 PM)        (Detached)
        8983.SambaRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:52 PM)        (Detached)
        8971.StorageStatusRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:52 PM)        (Detached)
        8740.SambaRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:50 PM)        (Detached)
        8111.BkgSS-UpdateMediaDaemon.sh (02/12/2009 01:00:46 PM)        (Detached)
        6301.VoiceMailMonitor   (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
        6284.NewMDinteractor    (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
        6276.DhcpdPlugin        (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
Type "screen [-d] -r [pid.]tty.host" to resume one of them.
I can quit whatever is running on virtual console 7 with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, like X.  I can then restart KDE or re-run the AVwizard (which works perfectly well) with the appropriate script in the /usr/pluto/bin directory.  But, the latter doesn't seem to have any effect on my symptoms.

The system was working, previously, but video was a little choppy.  So, I installed the nVidia proprietary driver.  (I tried to install it before running the RC2 scripts on top of my fresh KUbuntu install, according to the instructions.  But, the KDE tool is a little funky and I didn't do it right.)  Since that was the last thing (I remember) tweaking before it stopped working, I uninstalled the proprietary driver, but that didn't fix it.

Any thoughts on where to go from here?  What is screen telling me?

[totallymaxed]

Okay, I think this thread is the best match for my symptoms.  On boot, after the second set of beeps, I expect to see the MCE interface, but instead, I see a blank (black or empty) screen with a (working) mouse pointer in the middle.  It's as if you loaded XWindows without any window manager and the desktop was solid black.

If I login to console 1 (Ctrl-F1) and run 'sudo screen -r' I get a this:

Code: [Select]

There are several suitable screens on:
        10160.XWindowSystem     (02/12/2009 01:00:59 PM)        (Detached)
        8983.SambaRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:52 PM)        (Detached)
        8971.StorageStatusRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:52 PM)        (Detached)
        8740.SambaRadar (02/12/2009 01:00:50 PM)        (Detached)
        8111.BkgSS-UpdateMediaDaemon.sh (02/12/2009 01:00:46 PM)        (Detached)
        6301.VoiceMailMonitor   (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
        6284.NewMDinteractor    (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
        6276.DhcpdPlugin        (02/12/2009 01:00:28 PM)        (Detached)
Type "screen [-d] -r [pid.]tty.host" to resume one of them.
I can quit whatever is running on virtual console 7 with Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, like X.  I can then restart KDE or re-run the AVwizard (which works perfectly well) with the appropriate script in the /usr/pluto/bin directory.  But, the latter doesn't seem to have any effect on my symptoms.

The system was working, previously, but video was a little choppy.  So, I installed the nVidia proprietary driver.  (I tried to install it before running the RC2 scripts on top of my fresh KUbuntu install, according to the instructions.  But, the KDE tool is a little funky and I didn't do it right.)  Since that was the last thing (I remember) tweaking before it stopped working, I uninstalled the proprietary driver, but that didn't fix it.

Any thoughts on where to go from here?  What is screen telling me?

You could try running the AVwizard again... but this time select UI1 and see if the Orbiter manin menu displays. Also look in your xorg.conf and see if your actually running the 'nvidia' driver... you might be running 'nv'.

Hope this helps

Andrew

[PorcelainMouse]

Hi Totallymaxed,

     Thank you!  I tried using the AVwizard to select "lightweight" UI first, and then "medium." (I assume UI1 is the lightweight one), but no joy.  I tried using xorg.conf.failsafe to start over (since it has Driver "vesa" and not much else) and then ran AVwizard again, but that also didn't fix it.  I tried switching back to Driver "nvidia", but X failed to load (error was something like couldn't load module nvidia, does not exist).  So, I started KDE using the nv driver, ran the GUI for proprietary hardware drivers, re-installed the nVidia stuff (which gave a SIGABRT right near the end, BTW).  Now Xorg.conf has Driver "nvidia" and X starts, but I still get blank screen with mouse pointer in the middle.  I even ran AVwizard twice more to try the two different UI options again.  So weird.
     I have to think it's something simple, despite all the evidence to the contrary.  Any ideas?

[totallymaxed]

Hi Totallymaxed,

     Thank you!  I tried using the AVwizard to select "lightweight" UI first, and then "medium." (I assume UI1 is the lightweight one), but no joy.  I tried using xorg.conf.failsafe to start over (since it has Driver "vesa" and not much else) and then ran AVwizard again, but that also didn't fix it.  I tried switching back to Driver "nvidia", but X failed to load (error was something like couldn't load module nvidia, does not exist).  So, I started KDE using the nv driver, ran the GUI for proprietary hardware drivers, re-installed the nVidia stuff (which gave a SIGABRT right near the end, BTW).  Now Xorg.conf has Driver "nvidia" and X starts, but I still get blank screen with mouse pointer in the middle.  I even ran AVwizard twice more to try the two different UI options again.  So weird.
     I have to think it's something simple, despite all the evidence to the contrary.  Any ideas?

Hmmm... ok what is the hardware your using... motherboard/hraphics card or GPU etc etc... all the details would be useful.

Andrew

[PorcelainMouse]

Totallymaxed,

     Thank you again for your help!  Here are the specs for my system:

CPU: AMD Athlon (can't remeber the model, but it's an older one, single core)
Motherboard: ECS K7S5A (SiS 735 and 85C503)
GPU: nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 (hey, isn't this an AGP card?)
RAM: 512MB
Kernel: 2.6.27-1 i686
Distro: Ubuntu 8.10

Again, thanks!  (And thanks to lshw!)  It's so weird that it would just start doing this after it was working.  Doing this exercise, though, I wonder if the AGP "stuff" got messed up?  I vaguely recall strange issues having to do with AGP settings in the beginning.  But, I don't have the foggiest recollection of what kinds of AGP settings exist or where to find them.  X says AGP rate: 4X.  This card probably doesn't do more than that.

[totallymaxed]

Totallymaxed,

     Thank you again for your help!  Here are the specs for my system:

CPU: AMD Athlon (can't remeber the model, but it's an older one, single core)
Motherboard: ECS K7S5A (SiS 735 and 85C503)
GPU: nVidia GeForce4 MX 440 (hey, isn't this an AGP card?)
RAM: 512MB
Kernel: 2.6.27-1 i686
Distro: Ubuntu 8.10

Again, thanks!  (And thanks to lshw!)  It's so weird that it would just start doing this after it was working.  Doing this exercise, though, I wonder if the AGP "stuff" got messed up?  I vaguely recall strange issues having to do with AGP settings in the beginning.  But, I don't have the foggiest recollection of what kinds of AGP settings exist or where to find them.  X says AGP rate: 4X.  This card probably doesn't do more than that.

Take a look at this thread; http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=7185.0

Andrew

[PorcelainMouse]

Totallmaxed,

     Again, thanks for your help.  I tried a few things mentioned in that thread, but they didn't have any effect on my symptoms.  I know this card is pretty old.  When I upgrade my main system's video card, I'll pass it over to this linuxMCE box.  So, I'm ready to bag it.
     I tried changing the output connector setting from "CRT" to "CRT-0", but that had no effect.  There is an S-Video output on this card, too, no idea if that's relevant to my issue.  I haven't hooked it up to anything, so can't say if it's hot.
     Since it's not much work to babysit an new install, I think I'll try that.

Cheers

[totallymaxed]

Totallmaxed,

     Again, thanks for your help.  I tried a few things mentioned in that thread, but they didn't have any effect on my symptoms.  I know this card is pretty old.  When I upgrade my main system's video card, I'll pass it over to this linuxMCE box.  So, I'm ready to bag it.
     I tried changing the output connector setting from "CRT" to "CRT-0", but that had no effect.  There is an S-Video output on this card, too, no idea if that's relevant to my issue.  I haven't hooked it up to anything, so can't say if it's hot.
     Since it's not much work to babysit an new install, I think I'll try that.

Cheers

Well my recommendation is just order yourself a nVidia 7300GT or if you want a card that is more future proof an nVidia 9400GT. We use both types of card and they just work.

All the best

Andrew