Another "black screen after install" post, except different

[caddywhompus]

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!

[Rukus]

CaddyWhompus,

How are you performing your 8.10B install? Are you using the DVD install, or the Internet Installation process documented in the following link? I would give that internet install a try and see if that helps at all.

http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LinuxMCE-0810_beta

[mythtified]

I have experienced this same problem and I was installing from the internet.  After waiting for an extended period of time I finally rebooted the machine.  The pc would reboot and start the next stage of configuration.  Any way, just do a couple of reboots and it will eventually come up normally.  I have had a couple of different hardware configurations install the same way.  One was an intel based mb and the other was an nvidia based mb, so I don't think that the problem is the hardware.

[colinjones]

The internet based install can take a Very long time, and is susceptable to the repositories not being available and your internet connection. The DVD install is a point-in-time image which isn't the current latest version. Rebooting or restarting the install could get you past that point, or you could try the DVD for a much faster experience.

[caddywhompus]

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.

[caddywhompus]

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.

[nosilla99]

caddywhompus,

If you have a cursor then the X drivers have loaded.

Try hitting F7 whilst at the black screen, this forces the orbiter to display the menu

NOS

[mkbrown69]

Just to add to the list of people with a black screen on Internet install.

My install went ok till the point where it tried to "install" pluto-orbiter (packages were already installed).  I end up with the same black screen on the core with white mouse pointer.
 F7 doesn't do anything.  Core appears fully functional otherwise, but I wouldn't trust it as being properly installed. I'm not sweating it at this point, as I'm just kicking the tires right now, and plan to burn it down and rebuild later as I'm sure I'll be making lots of mistakes as I poke around under the hood.

Host: Debian Sid/Squeeze  Kernel 2.6.30-1-686-bigmem via KVM, AMD64 processor
Guest: KVM VM, default Cirrus Logic virtual graphics adapter, Kubuntu 8.10 install from CD, LinuxMCE install via Internet.

Installed via instructions here: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LinuxMCE-0810_beta  problems occurred at the step ./mce-install.sh  I didn't get the actual output, but it basically kept trying to install the pluto-orbiter package every 30 seconds.

Hope that helps!

/Mike

[caddywhompus]

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.