SLES 11 - Blank Screen at Hardware Configuration

[MikeH30]

I recently installed SLES 11 ( GNOME) on my test box - which happens to be a desktop machine ( Dell Dimension E310). Everything went fine until the very end when the setup proceeded with hardware configuration. The set up program began probing my graphics card and all seemed usual ( like past SUSE installations - both OpenSUSE and SLES) but when it was finished I was left with a black screen and the white mouse cursor. I could move the mouse around the screen and that is all. The only way for me to exit was to power off. I had the box attached to a CRT monitor (NEC MultiSync 4FG).

I decided to try and install a second time with a newer monitor (Samsung Syncmaster 2253 BW). Once I reached the hardware configuration to probe my graphics card I was met with the black screen and white mouse cursor. Again it was frozen at this state - I could not continue the installation. So I powered off my test box and turned it back on. I got a warning that said the installation did not complete. It seemed to continue from where it left off. So I tried it again and encountered the same problem at hardware configuration of the graphics card.

I had to power off and restart and the install continued where it left off. When prompted to continue where it left off ( I can't remember the exact message box), I just chose "No" and the installation surprisingly finished.

Does anyone know if these are the symptoms of a bad graphics card?

I currently have SLES 11 running on my test box with a CRT monitor hooked up and the images and x windows look good.

Thanks.

-Mike

[devils casper]

Which Graphics Card do you have? It looks like installer is not configuring Graphics Card correctly. Is Suse booting up fine now?

[MikeH30]

Sax2 GUI shows "Intel 915 G".

SLES11 seems to be booting up fine now. I had a thread a few weeks ago here where I suddenly lost my Xwindows one day (on SLES10-SP2). So I wasn't sure if it was due to my hardware.

Also, since installing SLES 11 I have been accessing it via my workstation through VNC. I tried to answer your question regarding which graphics card I had by trying to access SAX2 in Yast via VNC. Nothing happened when I clicked the SAX2 icon via VNC. So I went over to my test box to access SAX2 in Yast and noticed I was at a command prompt. I logged in and typed "init 5" and then got back to a GUI.

I have only had issues with Xwindows on this text box ( 32 bit Dell Dimension E310 desktop) when testing SLES10 and now SLES11.

Thanks.

-Mike

[devils casper]

Check the contents of /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. Which driver is it using? "intel", "i810" or "vesa".

[MikeH30]

It looks like VESA (I am new to examining Xorg files). I included the contents of the xorg file as configured by SLES11 set up.


# generic XFree86 4.x configuration file

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/uni/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"
Option "BlankTime" "0"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "kbd"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbKeycodes" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 25-40
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "Initial"
VendorName "Initial"
VertRefresh 47-75
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "800x600" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
Modeline "640x480" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 # 6. Try
Modeline "640x480" 31.5 640 680 720 864 480 488 491 521 # 5. Try
Modeline "640x480" 28 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 # 4. Try
Modeline "640x480" 28.32 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 # 3. Try
Modeline "640x480" 25.18 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 # 2. Try
Modeline "640x480" 25.175 640 664 760 800 480 491 493 525 # 1. Try
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 28-33
Identifier "Monitor[vmware]"
ModelName "Initial"
VendorName "Initial"
VertRefresh 43-72
UseModes "Modes[vmware]"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[vmware]"
Modeline "800x600" 29.38 800 816 896 992 600 601 604 617
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 31-48
Identifier "Monitor[vesa]"
ModelName "VESA"
VendorName "VESA"
VertRefresh 50-60
EndSection

# Screen Section for module X support
# -------------------------------------
Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

# Screen Section for fbdev support
# vesafb defaults to 16bit
# others default to 8bit, force a higher colordepth
# on Apple onboard controllers, remove the default #207338
# changes for DefaultDepth have to be made in /usr/lib/YaST2/startup/YaST2.call as well
# ----------------------------------
Section "Screen"
#@DefaultDepth@
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[fbdev]"
Identifier "Screen[fbdev]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

# Screen Section for vesa support
# ----------------------------------
Section "Screen"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[vesa]"
Identifier "Screen[vesa]"
Monitor "Monitor[vesa]"
EndSection

# Screen Section for vmware support
# ----------------------------------
Section "Screen"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[vmware]"
Identifier "Screen[vmware]"
Monitor "Monitor[vmware]"
EndSection

# Device Sections...
# -------------------
Section "Device"
#BusID "1:0:0"
Driver "ChangeMe"
Identifier "Device[0]"
# device_options
Option "sw_cursor" "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Driver "fbdev"
Identifier "Device[fbdev]"
# fbdev_options
EndSection

Section "Device"
Driver "vesa"
#Option "DefaultRefresh"
Option "ModeSetClearScreen" "no"
Identifier "Device[vesa]"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Driver "vmware"
Identifier "Device[vmware]"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[fbdev]"
EndSection

[MikeH30]

I don't get it. I performed two more clean installs on the same test box and there were no problems at hardware configuration. Everything went smoothly.

I have only had trouble with SLES 10 and SLES 11 on this test box ( a Dell Desktop machine - Dimension E310, P4, 2GB RAM).

[devils casper]

Rename xorg.conf file and generate new using sax2 -m 0=vesa command.

sax2 -m 0=vesa