Arch Linux

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I occasionally use ctl alt f# to switch to a terminal for various reasons.  For some reason, that stopped working for me.  When I press ctl alt f1, the terminal appears, kinda.  The top half of the screen is an ugly assortment of colored squares (this might be a grossly distorted font or something).  Just as an experiment, I tried logging in (even though the screen was completely unreadable) and it worked.  I still couldn't read the screen, but the colored squares seemed to have changed.  If I hold down the "enter" button, the colored squares start to occupy more of the screen.  Then I typed "clear" just to see what would happen, and most of the squares dissappeared. 

Has this happened to anyone else?  Does anybody have an idea what could be causing it?  When booting up, there doesn't seem to be a problem, it is only after X starts up.

edit:  Decided to add some more details.

X is started automatically by KDM, have a nvidia 6600 gt graphics card that works perfectly.

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

Lone_Wolf

Forum Moderator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 11,961

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

Do you have vga=xxx  in your boot line ?

When switching between X and console the nvidia driver only seems to works good with standard 80x25 console mode.

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Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

(A works at time B)  && (time C > time B ) ≠  (A works at time C)

Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I have vga=0x31b in combination with the nvidia driver... works great for me, though.

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You like cheese? You like peas? You'll love cheezy peas!

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I have vga=0x31b in combination with the nvidia driver... works great for me, though.

hmm, That kind of solved the problem, but only because it told me that it was an unsupported option and resorted back to the defualt vga size.  I guess nvidia doesn't like my old vga=773 setting.  I wonder why that would change all of the sudden.  nvidia released some buggy drivers?

I'm considering this a temporary solution, because I really hate how ugly my terminals are now!  I'm not sure if I should change the title of this thread to include "resolved" or not.

Anyway, thanks for your responses.   It certainly works better now.

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

jaboua

Member

Registered: 2005-11-05

Posts: 634

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I have vga=0x31b in combination with the nvidia driver... works great for me, though.

hmm, That kind of solved the problem, but only because it told me that it was an unsupported option and resorted back to the defualt vga size.  I guess nvidia doesn't like my old vga=773 setting.  I wonder why that would change all of the sudden.  nvidia released some buggy drivers?

I'm considering this a temporary solution, because I really hate how ugly my terminals are now!  I'm not sure if I should change the title of this thread to include "resolved" or not.

Anyway, thanks for your responses.   It certainly works better now.

AFAIK vga=0x31b is for vesafb-tng (driver used in ArchCK), while vga=773 is for vesafb (driver used in stock kernel)

geekner

Member

From: Mesa, AZ

Registered: 2006-01-12

Posts: 16

Website

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I use this for gensplash (archck kernel):

video=vesafb:1024x768-16@75,mtrr,ywrap

in /boot/grub/menu.lst:

title  ArchLinux 2.6.15-ArchCK
root   (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26archck root=/dev/hda2 ro video=vesafb:1024x768-16@75,mtrr,ywrap splash=verbose,theme:darch
initrd /boot/initramfs-2.6.15-archck.img

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

I've been using the arch kernel for some time now.  I wonder why vesa-tng options are not recognized if by default vesa-tng is used by the arch kernel.  how did i screw that one up?!  If I switched to vesa-tng, could that solve the problem?

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

ok, I am looking at the kernel sources that came with my default arch kernel right now, and don't see vesa-tng under deviceDrivers>graphicsSupport.  I see VESA, which is selected as <*> , nvidia and a bunch of other drivers that have nothing to do with me.  Maybe if I switched from Vesa to NVidia, the problem would go away?  Please someone stop me if you happen to know that running the nvidia FB driver is bad in combination with the nvidia 3d drivers.

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

To avoid any confusion here: vesa-tng is not included in the standard Arch kernel. It is, however, included in the ArchCK kernel, as mentioned by jaboua and geekner.

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

To avoid any confusion here: vesa-tng is not included in the standard Arch kernel. It is, however, included in the ArchCK kernel, as mentioned by jaboua and geekner.

oh, shoulda read closer.

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

Convergence

Member

Registered: 2005-07-02

Posts: 377

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

Problem solved!  I just had to switch to the archck kernel.

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It's a very deadly weapon to know what you're doing
---  William Murderface

Sander

Member

Registered: 2006-02-26

Posts: 138

Re: Once X is started, I can't leave it! (RESOLVED)

also, vga=0x31b is regular vesafb syntax, not vesafb-tng. It's just hex notation instead of decimal.

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You like cheese? You like peas? You'll love cheezy peas!