Blank Screen After Boot

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 00:09:50

(Not very clear) video @ post #19.

Hey guys! I'm a little new to Arch, but I've done my research. I followed the Official Install Guide as well as the Beginner's Guide, and almost everything went smooth. The problem is that after Arch boots up, the root login flashes, and the screen goes blank. Eventually the LED on my monitor flashes to orange and acts as if it isn't plugged in. I've tried "nomodeset"... same thing. I've searched around, but I can't seem to find the problem or the solution.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Last edited by DStevens5833 (2011-04-20 03:58:10)

skunktrader · 2011-04-16 01:04:01

If your machine has an intel video card, try appending

video=SVIDEO-1:d

to the grub boot line

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 01:29:28

I forgot to post information regarding my system. I apologize.

        CPU
            AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+    39 ∞C
            Windsor 90nm Technology
        RAM
            1.0GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 250MHz (4-4-4-12)
        Motherboard
            ASUSTeK Computer INC. M2V-TVM (CPU 1)    37 ∞C
        Graphics
            VE228 (1920x1080@60Hz)
            256MB GeForce 7600 GS (XFX Pine Group)    53 ∞C
        Hard Drives
            78GB Western Digital WDC WD800JB-00JJC0 ATA Device (PATA)    41 ∞C
            117GB Western Digital WDC WD1200AB-22DYA0 ATA Device (PATA)    30 ∞C
        Optical Drives
            ASUS DRW-1608P2S ATA Device
            JLMS XJ-HD166S ATA Device
        Audio
            Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 17:10:52

Bump.

Snowknight · 2011-04-16 17:31:34

Did this start happening after you first booted into your new installation? If so, you might try using the LiveCD again to chroot into your new installation. With a network connection you could update the new installation, and newer packages might have fixed some bug that exists now. If not, can you please provide logs; /var/log/messages.log and, if applicable, any recent Xorg logs might help. An Xorg driver (nouveau, perhaps) might also have set the wrong video mode when starting X.

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 18:36:21

Ok, I'll try to update! Thanks for the tip.

sdb1 = /boot
sdb2 = swap
sdb3 = /
sdb4 = /home

mount /dev/sdb3 /mnt
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot
mount -t proc none /mnt/proc
mount -t sysfs none /mnt/sys
mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev
chroot /mnt

Correct?

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 21:20:04

Ok, I chrooted into my installation and updated, but to no avail.

Here's part of /var/log/messages.log:

[drm] nouveau: Detected an NV40 generation card (0x04b200a2)
[drm] nouveau: Attempting to load BIOS image from PRAMIN
[drm] nouveau: ... appears to be valid
[drm] nouveau: BIT BIOS found
[drm] nouveau: Bios version 05.73.22.25
[drm] nouveau: TMDS table version 1.1
[drm] nouveau: TMDS table script pointers not stubbed
[drm] nouveau: BIT table 'd' not found
[drm] nouveau: Found Display Configuration Block version 3.0
[drm] nouveau: Raw DCB Entry (1-4)
....
[drm] nouveau: Detected 256MiB VRAM
[drm] nouveau: 512 MiB GART (aperture)
[drm] nouveau: Saving VGA fonts
[drm] Supports vblank timestamp caching Rev 1 (10.10.2010)
[drm] No driver support for vblank timestamp query
[drm] nouveau: Setting dpms mode (1-4)
[drm] nouveau: allocated 1920x1080 fb: 0x49000, bo ffff88003ca50400
[drm] nouveau: 0xD06D: Parsing digital output script table
[drm] nouveau: Setting dpms mode 0 on tmds encoder (output 1)
[drm] nouveau: Output DVI-I-1 is running on CRTC 0 using output A
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 240x67
fb0: nouveaufb frame buffer device
drm: registered panic notifier
[drm] Initialized nouveau 0.0.16 20090420 for 0000:02:00.0 on minor 0

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-16 22:33:53

I noticed how nouveau detects my 7600GS as an NV40 card, which includes: GeForce 6800 (Ultra, GT, GS, XT, LE)(AGP-Version). My card is PCI, not AGP. It should fall under NV4B(G73), which includes (GeForce 7300 GT, 7600(GS, GT, Go, Go GT), 7700 Go. Could this have something to do with my issue?

EDIT: Disregard this post, I think it's loaded as an NV40 generation card, not the NV40 itself.

Last edited by DStevens5833 (2011-04-16 23:04:00)

beroal · 2011-04-17 13:22:37

It seems that you are booting into X11. Switch to:

# Boot to console
id:3:initdefault:

in "/etc/inittab". Does it work?

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-17 21:35:04

That's what it's set to. I haven't messed with xorg; this is just a base install.

hokasch · 2011-04-18 00:38:34

In the past those "black screen after boot" problems often were related to KMS, you could try forcing another resolution (its trying to set 1920x1080) and/or output. Alternatively, try installing the proprietary nvidia drivers from chroot.

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-19 02:02:12

I installed the proprietary nvidia drivers, and it still isn't working. I tried forcing another resolution as well, but that didn't work either.

jwbirdsong · 2011-04-19 02:38:29

post entire /var/log/Xorg.0.log after failed boot

beroal · 2011-04-19 05:38:17

DStevens5833 wrote:

That's what it's set to. I haven't messed with xorg; this is just a base install.

If so, then the Xorg server should not start at all. Your Linux starts with the framebuffer video driver, like, black screen, white letters, the "${hostname} login:" line. Then Xorg's logs and drivers are not relevant at all. Not that this helps, just in case you did not know...

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-19 06:04:01

Yeah, I knew the Xorg logs weren't relevant; however, I didn't know if installing the nVidia drivers would allow them to take over. To be honest, I didn't really think about it!

I should have been more clear. It's literally a base install; as in, it finished installing, rebooted, and here we are. I haven't messed with any window managers, desktop managers, etc. Once it boots up, I see the black screen and login line for a split second. It flashes and turns to a fully black screen with no lettering at all. That's my issue.

Last edited by DStevens5833 (2011-04-19 06:04:48)

beroal · 2011-04-19 09:27:23

try uvesafb

jwbirdsong · 2011-04-19 13:17:52

sorry missed the 'not messed w/ xorg line"

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-20 01:41:35

Well.. uvesafb didn't prove much use either. In fact, I didn't even make half the distance before my monitor threw a "DVI - No Signal".

EDIT: I placed "nomodeset" in the kernel options, and it made up for the "DVI - No Signal". However, I ended up in the same place as before. I make it to the login only for my screen to go blank.

Last edited by DStevens5833 (2011-04-20 01:54:22)

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-20 02:15:43

Here's a video.
You can see the login flash @ ~0:46.

messages.log uvesafb snippet:
uvesafb: NVIDIA Corporation, G73 Board - p345h0, Chip Rev, OEM: NVIDIA, VBE v3.0
uvesafb: VBIOS/hardware doesn't support DDC transfers
uvesafb: no monitor limits have been set, default refresh rate will be used
uvesafb: scrolling: redraw
Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x48
uvesafb: framebuffer at 0x40000000, mapped to 0xffffc90010580000, using 10240k, total 262144k
fb0: VESA VGA frame buffer device

Last edited by DStevens5833 (2011-04-20 03:49:05)

beroal · 2011-04-20 10:31:55

Your videocard has 3 outputs: D-Sub, DVI-I, S-video. Maybe it just delivers a signal to another output?

fphillips · 2011-04-20 19:08:16

@beroal: it has no reason to switch outputs because he's not using X.

This is the point where the daemons have finished loading and it switches to tty1 (runlevel 3) or X (runlevel 5). Can you switch ttys ("ctl + alt + (F1-F7)") ? If you do ctl+alt+del, do you see hard disk activity (shutting down) then reboot?

I'm trying to figure out if it has panicked or just a framebuffer display problem.

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-20 19:50:31

When I switch ttys, it remains blank. To be honest, I can't even tell if it is switching, but I'm sure it is. Ctl + Alt + Del doesn't bring up any text at all. It simply stays blank until post.

DStevens5833 · 2011-04-22 00:58:58

I finally said screw it, chrooted into my installation, and installed X11. Even though I can't see what I type when I boot into my install, a quick login and "startx" brings me right into X11; I can see the windows and type just fine. However, the black background received my attention. If I'm not mistaken, the background should load up as a grayish color, not black... correct? Anyways, I'm not sure what this means. I can't see my terminals before I "startx"... but X11 will load, display, and work just fine.

loljacks · 2011-04-22 01:07:34

x11 starts with a black background afaik. It changes to gray if you run openbox-session after installing openbox

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-16 00:09:50

Blank Screen After Boot

#2 2011-04-16 01:04:01

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#3 2011-04-16 01:29:28

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#4 2011-04-16 17:10:52

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#5 2011-04-16 17:31:34

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#6 2011-04-16 18:36:21

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#7 2011-04-16 21:20:04

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#8 2011-04-16 22:33:53

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#9 2011-04-17 13:22:37

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#10 2011-04-17 21:35:04

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#11 2011-04-18 00:38:34

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#12 2011-04-19 02:02:12

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#13 2011-04-19 02:38:29

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#14 2011-04-19 05:38:17

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#15 2011-04-19 06:04:01

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#16 2011-04-19 09:27:23

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#17 2011-04-19 13:17:52

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#18 2011-04-20 01:41:35

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#19 2011-04-20 02:15:43

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#20 2011-04-20 10:31:55

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#21 2011-04-20 19:08:16

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#22 2011-04-20 19:50:31

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#23 2011-04-22 00:58:58

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

#24 2011-04-22 01:07:34

Re: Blank Screen After Boot

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