Blank screen after switching from X to console

[magesing]

Hi all,

The Problem:
-when I try to switch from TTY7 (CTRL-ALT-F7) to a console (CTRL-ALT-F1) all I get is a complaint from my monitor: "no signal detected."

-the system does not freeze, the output to my monitor is just wrong when I try to switch to the console, if I am carefull, I can type blindly to log in and issue commands in the console.

-The problem started after I upgraded my graphics drivers from the 2d only nv driver to the nvidia driver from nvidia's website.

Any help is very appreciated. I would prefer not to go back to the nv. drivers as I like to have 3d capabilities.

pertinant system info:
-Debian Sarge with kernel 2.6.8-2-686
-Intel P4 2Ghz
-Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti 4400, being run with the latest drivers from the nvidia site
-BENQ FP937s 19" LCD monitor, hor. freq. 57-82, ver. freq. 60-77, max res. 1280x1024

I'm including my XF86Config-4 file in case the problem is there:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder3)  Wed Dec 14 16:39:22 PST 2005

# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the XF86Config-4 manual page.
# (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root:
#
#   cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
#   md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
#   dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "Files"
			# local font server
	# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
    FontPath        "unix/:7100"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "bitmap"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "ddc"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "int10"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "speedo"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver         "keyboard"
    Option         "CoreKeyboard"
    Option         "XkbRules" "xfree86"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc104"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Configured Mouse"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "CorePointer"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "___:ffff"
    HorizSync       57.0 - 82.0
    VertRefresh     60.0 - 77.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Generic Video Card"
    Driver         "nvidia"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Default Screen"
    Device         "Generic Video Card"
    Monitor        "___:ffff"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       1
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       4
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       15
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

[magesing]

since then, I have upgraded my system,

currently I am using a GeForce 7600 GT video card, and the problem dissapeared.

Before I upgraded, the stop-gap measure I was using was simply to use the "nv" driver when I didn't need to render things in 3D, allowing me to switch into and out-of X properly, and when I did need 3D capabilities I switch to the "nvidia" driver.

This can be accomplished most easily by first setting up your system so that X does not start by default This simplifies switching display drivers, and ensures that no matter what you do, you will always have dispay at startup (depending on your distro, change the default init levle to 3 in inittab, or for debian based distros remove your display manager, xdm, kdm, or gdm). When you start your computer you will have to run startx or xinit to start the X server and bring up your window manager of choice. To switch drivers simply switch to the virtual terminal from which you issued startx (usually CTRL-ALT-F1) and use CTRL-C to stop the X server then with su or sudo to get root privalages edit the x confiruration file in /etc/X11/ depending on which server you use this will be xorg.conf or something else (I don't remember the exact filename of the other one as I am running the xorg server now) and changing the line

Driver "nv"
to
Driver "nvidia"

then as your normal user startx again with the nvidia drivers. To switch back to the "nv" drivers you have to change the x configuration file first, then restart your system.