Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

dedhart · 2009-04-18 00:16:39

After the last upgrade, all I get is a black flashing screen, I tried Ctrl-Alt-F1, Ctrl-Alt-F2, and Ctrl-Alt-Backspace but all I can get is a black screen with a cursor, not even a login prompt. I think I screwed myself here since I disabled booting from CD and I thought i was being all secure by setting a password on my Bios, unfortuneately my Bios login screen is not recognising my password. This is beyond frustrating, I have no idea where to go from here, am I gonna have to get into my laptop case if I want to recover?

Please someone help!

.:B:. · 2009-04-18 01:39:18

Edit your grub entry and add a 3 at the end of the kernel line. Boot, and you'll be greeted by a login prompt.

Enjoy the recovery.

dedhart · 2009-04-18 10:28:37

kinda hard to edit anything right now, I think I see the login for a split second before the slim login manager tries to comes up, from there the screen flashes in various shades of black, couldn't get Ctrl-Alt-F1 to work, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace stops the screen from flickering as slim keeps trying to load, but I can't get into a terminal to edit anything, just a blank screen with a single white cursor at the top, can't log on, can't do anything.

Whats really annoying is I can't seem to change my Bios settings for some reason, I'm sure I remember my password yet it comes up incorrect. I think I'm gonna have to crack the case to remove the cmos battery, I was just hoping someone knew another way, as I really don't feel too comfortable doing that to my laptop.

rwd · 2009-04-18 14:27:39

don't know about this particular problem but you can always boot from the arch cd live environment, mount your drive and fix things.

.:B:. · 2009-04-18 14:34:26

dedhart wrote:

kinda hard to edit anything right now, I think I see the login for a split second before the slim login manager tries to comes up, from there the screen flashes in various shades of black, couldn't get Ctrl-Alt-F1 to work, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace stops the screen from flickering as slim keeps trying to load, but I can't get into a terminal to edit anything, just a blank screen with a single white cursor at the top, can't log on, can't do anything.
Whats really annoying is I can't seem to change my Bios settings for some reason, I'm sure I remember my password yet it comes up incorrect. I think I'm gonna have to crack the case to remove the cmos battery, I was just hoping someone knew another way, as I really don't feel too comfortable doing that to my laptop.

Well, sir, it seems you are unaware of the fact you can edit the Grub entries on the fly.

At the boot screen - the Grub screen - press e and it will show you the full entry (kernel line, initcpio line, etc). Use the arrow keys to select the kernel line, press e again, and you'll be able to change the line. Go to the end, add a 3. Press Esc. Press b.

Enjoy.

dedhart · 2009-04-18 16:21:57

well thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately I set grub to boot immediately, so no matter how fast I type that e, it doesn't seem to work.

.:B:. · 2009-04-18 16:25:24

Hmmm... That sucks. It's the reason why I keep a 2 second delay .

I guess your only option is boot from the installation CD (or whatever live CD you like to use).

rwd · 2009-04-18 16:53:10

See also the wiki for rolling back to previous kernel version using a live cd.

dedhart · 2009-04-18 17:31:38

I can't boot from a live CD until I change my Bios settings. I can't change my Bios settings because the password I type doesn't work. I'm sure the password was adminpasswd but it won't log me in. I called lenovo's support number, they said my only option was to replace the motherboard.

.:B:. · 2009-04-18 17:47:24

There has to be a battery somewhere on the motherboard. Take it out for a few minutes and the CMOS should reset. You might need to disassemble the laptop though...

Procyon · 2009-04-18 17:54:55

What happens if you hold an arrow key while booting, will grub still finish immediately?

You could also try pressing F8 for a boot priority menu, that is usually the key.

dedhart · 2009-04-19 00:08:36

Procyon wrote:

What happens if you hold an arrow key while booting, will grub still finish immediately?
You could also try pressing F8 for a boot priority menu, that is usually the key.

Yeah that doesn't seem to work either.

B wrote:

There has to be a battery somewhere on the motherboard. Take it out for a few minutes and the CMOS should reset. You might need to disassemble the laptop though...

Yeah I'm afraid thats my only option at this point. If that doesn't work I'll have to price the motherboard.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-18 00:16:39

Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#2 2009-04-18 01:39:18

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#3 2009-04-18 10:28:37

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#4 2009-04-18 14:27:39

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#5 2009-04-18 14:34:26

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#6 2009-04-18 16:21:57

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#7 2009-04-18 16:25:24

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#8 2009-04-18 16:53:10

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#9 2009-04-18 17:31:38

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#10 2009-04-18 17:47:24

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#11 2009-04-18 17:54:55

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

#12 2009-04-19 00:08:36

Re: Upgrade = Black screen of death, now what?

Board footer