Enhanced Machine Controller

>>> Got myself a industrial pc, pIII 800MHz, will get 512 MB ram or more. It >has VIA chipset. 
Is that a VIA video system, too?  If so, it may not be compatible with 
real time.  Or, it may work a
lot better if you use a different driver, perhaps a generic VGA driver.  
(That may limit
the available resolution choices, however.)  So, you may want to put in 
a generic VGA
card and see if that works better.  I have done that on some systems 
with Intel i810 chipsets
that have similar problems.  I'm not sure that has totally fixed the 
problem, but it did help
on a couple systems.

Jon

You might try doing a Stock Ubuntu install.  Stuart Stevenson mentioned in
one email string that is his preffered install method since "stock Ubuntu"
has much better driver support to get peripherals up and running.  Once the
computer works fine, then use the "Stock Install" method noted on the wiki.

http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Installing_EMC2#On_Stock_Ubuntu

Worth a try.

Jon

> 
> >>> Got myself a industrial pc, pIII 800MHz, will
> get 512 MB ram or more. It >has VIA chipset. 
> Is that a VIA video system, too?  
No it is not, it is actually a chips an technologies 2MB card

> If so, it may not be
> compatible with 
> real time.  Or, it may work a
> lot better if you use a different driver, perhaps a generic
> VGA driver. 
I believe, the framebuffer fbvesa is one of these or not?
 
> (That may limit
> the available resolution choices, however.)  So, you
> may want to put in 
> a generic VGA
> card and see if that works better.  I have done that
> on some systems 
> with Intel i810 chipsets
> that have similar problems.  I'm not sure that has
> totally fixed the 
> problem, but it did help
> on a couple systems.
I tried a Matrox nd a trident pci card. still the same problem, although I explicitly set pci card to be initiated first.

Actullay my true intent *is* to have that built in lcd with touch to run emc. Should be possible or not?

Anyway, thanks for your suggestions, the same c&t f69000 was used in presario notebooks among others. I do not think this is a realtime issue. I use the alternative install 8.04 cd-rom and get same problem.


greets 

chris
> 
> Jon
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal
> Reports 2008 30-Day 
> trial. Simplify your report design, integration and
> deployment - and focus on 
> what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's
> new with
> Crystal Reports now.  http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
> 

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Dear Brian

> You might try doing a Stock Ubuntu
> install.  Stuart Stevenson mentioned in
> one email string that is his preffered install method since
> "stock Ubuntu"
> has much better driver support to get peripherals up and
> running.  Once the
> computer works fine, then use the "Stock Install" method
> noted on the wiki.

Thanks for the hint. Currently getting 6.06 and 7.10 iso's to burn and test. I did already run a test using 8.04 alternative installl w/o success so far. So I guess, my quest seems to be to find the right ubuntu version prior or euqal to 8.04 to start off with.

 
> 
> http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?Installing_EMC2#On_Stock_Ubuntu
> 
> Worth a try.

Sure true, I'll be back

thx and greets chris


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Chris Epicier wrote:

>Thanks for the hint. Currently getting 6.06 and 7.10 iso's to burn and test. I did already run a test using 8.04 alternative installl w/o success so far. So I guess, my quest seems to be to find the right ubuntu version prior or euqal to 8.04 to start off with.
>  
>
You might try going the other way instead - get stock 9.04 or 9.10, and 
then install some of the experimental EMC2 packages from 
<http://www.linuxcnc.org/experimental>.

They aren't well organized, but if you look in the Karmic directory 
there, you'll see kernels and EMC2 packages for 9.10.

Note the word "experimental" in the URL ;)

- Steve

Hi Steve
> 
> >Thanks for the hint. Currently getting 6.06 and 7.10
> iso's to burn and test. I did already run a test using 8.04
> alternative installl w/o success so far. So I guess, my
> quest seems to be to find the right ubuntu version prior or
> euqal to 8.04 to start off with.
> >  
> >
> You might try going the other way instead - get stock 9.04
> or 9.10, and 
> then install some of the experimental EMC2 packages from 
> <http://www.linuxcnc.org/experimental>.
> 
> They aren't well organized, but if you look in the Karmic
> directory 
> there, you'll see kernels and EMC2 packages for 9.10.
> 
> Note the word "experimental" in the URL ;)

I tested he following ubuntu versions 
6.06 installs OK, remains emc stuff to be added
7.10 installs OK, but fails upgrade to 8.04, so as emc stuff is not avilable for this version, no go
8.04 fails install
9.10 fails install

I am pretty sure now, that it is a bug hat entered in 8.04. I think it is this one:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/console-setup/+bug/73955

I am willing to compile a module, do some testing etc. I only need clues as where or how to start on this. 

Alternatively: is there still a 6.06 live cd available (been looking for it in vain)?

greeets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

> Alternatively: is there still a 6.06 live cd available (been looking for 
> it in vain)?

You can find it here:
http://www.linuxcnc.org/iso/emc2.2.2-1-ubuntu6.06-desktop-i386.iso

or on my mirror:
http://dsplabs.cs.upt.ro/~juve/emc/

Regards,
Alex

>
>
> I tested he following ubuntu versions
> 6.06 installs OK, remains emc stuff to be added
> <snip>
> Alternatively: is there still a 6.06 live cd available (been looking for it
> in vain)?
>
> At this point since you are successfully able to install 6.06 stock, why
then mess with the Live CD for 6.06?  You are likely to encounter similar
monitor problems.  Simply get all your peripherals tweaked with the stock
install, then follow the brief instructions to install EMC and you are done
(hopefully).

My $0.02 of course....

Good Luck.

Brian

Hi all

I managed to get the machine up on 6.06 with emc 2.3.4.1, touchscreen and all is OK. 

Thank you all for the hints, clues etc. 

I am happy for the time  being - almost.


The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is, that I cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10. 8.04 emc live cd boots but the screen is garbled, it finally shows an interlaced screen with the typical brown colour  of the desktop and as mentioned before, If I move the mouse, there is a grey pattern moving correspondingly to the mouse moves. I conclude: X11 is up but ill configured. That's for the live cd.

On stock 8.04.1 and later, I could not observe this yet ill but running live cd. As mentioned before, I can boot 7.10, Knoppix 5.1 and 6.2, all into GUI directly. This makes me sure that it is not really a kernal or X11 issue. I guess it has to do with how the initrd is put together. Somehere ther is an error. I am sure it will show in other systems too for ubuntu. So, I am determined in getting this solved. Any clues regarding how I can follow up where exactly the initrd fails? Particularly I am now looking for debig messages on the serial port.

greets chris


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

On Tue, 2009-11-24 at 15:16 +0000, Chris Epicier wrote:
> Hi all
> 
> I managed to get the machine up on 6.06 with emc 2.3.4.1, touchscreen
> and all is OK. 
> Thank you all for the hints, clues etc. 
> I am happy for the time  being - almost.

> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is, that I cannot boot or
> install ubuntu past 7.10. 8.04 emc live cd boots but the screen is
> garbled, it finally shows an interlaced screen with the typical brown 
... snip

Sorry if this has be covered already.

I have had very little luck in having Ubuntu automatically set up
monitors. I often have to edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf with gedit. I do a
search for the particular monitor that is connected to the PC to find
the horizontal and vertical frequency settings. Then I edit xorg.conf to
look something like this:
"
...
Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
	Driver		"vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
        Horizsync       30-66
        Vertrefresh     50-130
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
	Defaultdepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes   "800x600" "1024x768"
	EndSubSection
EndSection
...
"

The above is not from a working file, so yours will be different and may
not need some of the settings. The key here is to find the real data
that matches your monitor and video card capabilities and use those
numbers in your xorg.conf . Make a backup copy of your current xorg.conf
so you can fall back to it if necessary. I have several different
versions saved from different setups. I often crash the X11 screen and
need to Alt-F1 to the command line in order to log in as a super-user to
use sudo vi or sudo pico to edit a bad xorg.conf. Then I
Ctl-Alt-Backspace to reboot X-11 to test the new config file. You may
need to do this several times to get a file that works well.

When I get a working configuration, I write (Sharpie) the monitor data
on a piece of cellophane tape and stick it to the monitor, so I have it
for next time.

Reference link:
http://www.ubuntux.org/screen-resolution 
-- 
Kirk Wallace
http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/
http://www.wallacecompany.com/E45/index.html
California, USA

Chris Epicier wrote:
> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is, that I cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10. 8.04 emc live cd boots but the screen is garbled, it finally shows an interlaced screen with the typical brown colour  of the desktop and as mentioned before, If I move the mouse, there is a grey pattern moving correspondingly to the mouse moves. I conclude: X11 is up but ill configured. That's for the live cd.
>   
This is clearly a video driver problem, not specifically X11, but 
obviously the video driver affects what
X shows on the screen.
> On stock 8.04.1 and later, I could not observe this yet ill but running live cd. As mentioned before, I can boot 7.10, Knoppix 5.1 and 6.2, all into GUI directly. This makes me sure that it is not really a kernal or X11 issue. I guess it has to do with how the initrd is put together. Somehere ther is an error. I am sure it will show in other systems too for ubuntu. So, I am determined in getting this solved. Any clues regarding how I can follow up where exactly the initrd fails? Particularly I am now looking for debig messages on the serial port.
>   
Compare the video driver used on the 8.04 that works against the EMC 
live that doesn't.  You may have
to net into the system to be able to read log files, etc.  The file 
/var/log/Xorg.0.log is the most recent log
of the X11 system starting up, and should show the drivers used.  It is 
unfortunately awfully verbose.

initrd has nothing to do with X11 and the video driver.  initrd reads 
and uncompresses the kernel file
and starts it, but has nothing to do with other drivers.  You probably 
will have no true "debug messages"
as your symptoms of something moving on the screen when you move the 
mouse indicate X11 is
running and THINKS it has produced a proper display.

Jon

Dear Jon

> > The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is, that I
> >  cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10. 8.04 emc live cd
> > boots but the screen is garbled, it finally shows an
> > interlaced screen with the typical brown colour  of the
> > desktop and as mentioned before, If I move the mouse, there
> > is a grey pattern moving correspondingly to the mouse moves.
> > I conclude: X11 is up but ill configured. That's for the
> > live cd.
> >   
> This is clearly a video driver problem, not specifically
> X11, but 
> obviously the video driver affects what
> X shows on the screen.
OK, I agree, as soon as X11 is -up- it is a video driver problem of some sort. If I was able to ssh into the 8.04 live cd, I could read out the config it has setup automagically there and see what's wrong. SSH into it via one of my SuSE and windose/putty boxes failes as connection is refused, although i specified ssh on grub boot options. So how can I do that? 

> > On stock 8.04.1 and later, I could not observe this
> > yet ill but running live cd. As mentioned before, I can boot
> > 7.10, Knoppix 5.1 and 6.2, all into GUI directly. This makes
> > me sure that it is not really a kernal or X11 issue. I guess
> > it has to do with how the initrd is put together. Somehere
> > there is an error. I am sure it will show in other systems
> > too for ubuntu. So, I am determined in getting this solved.
> > Any clues regarding how I can follow up where exactly the
> > initrd fails? Particularly I am now looking for debig
> > messages on the serial port.
> >   
> Compare the video driver used on the 8.04 that works
The working install is 6.06 not 8.04 though ...

> against the EMC 
> live that doesn't.  You may have
> to net into the system to be able to read log files,
> etc.  The file 
> /var/log/Xorg.0.log is the most recent log
> of the X11 system starting up, and should show the drivers
> used.  It is 
> unfortunately awfully verbose.
As above: not possible to get ssh connection. so how can I 'net' into the live cd booted box?

 
> initrd has nothing to do with X11 and the video
> driver.  initrd reads 
> and uncompresses the kernel file
> and starts it, but has nothing to do with other
> drivers.  

Please consider that I wold love to actually *install* the 8.04 system, if ever possible in textmode since when initrd is read the screen goes black and I see nothing anymore. I had a 8.04 install done on another box and moved the hd to my f69000 problem box. When this transplanted install boots on the f69000 problembox, it gets to initrd and then the screen goes black, no garble X11 or whatsoever. I will try this agian though and copy the X11 settings from the 6.06 install to the transplanted 8.04 install. I'llm be back ... :-)

> You probably 
> will have no true "debug messages"
> as your symptoms of something moving on the screen when you
> move the 
> mouse indicate X11 is
> running and THINKS it has produced a proper display.

can't I get all the bootmessages copied to the serial port somehow?

greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

> can't I get all the bootmessages copied to the serial port somehow?

http://znark.com/tech/serialconsole.html

Regards,
Alex

Chris Epicier wrote:
>
> OK, I agree, as soon as X11 is -up- it is a video driver problem of some sort. If I was able to ssh into the 8.04 live cd, I could read out the config it has setup automagically there and see what's wrong. SSH into it via one of my SuSE and windose/putty boxes failes as connection is refused, although i specified ssh on grub boot options. So how can I do that? 
>   
Dumb me, how can you set up the network address, etc. on a live CD install.
But, you should still be able to rig a null modem cable and get in via the
serial port.
>   
>>> On stock 8.04.1 and later, I could not observe this
>>> yet ill but running live cd. 
>>>       
>> Compare the video driver used on the 8.04 that works
>>     
> The working install is 6.06 not 8.04 though ...
>   
I thought the stock Ubuntu was an 8.04 and did work, it was only the EMC 
version
of 8.04 that did not work.
>   
>
>
> Please consider that I wold love to actually *install* the 8.04 system, if ever possible in textmode since when initrd is read the screen goes black and I see nothing anymore. I had a 8.04 install done on another box and moved the hd to my f69000 problem box. When this transplanted install boots on the f69000 problembox, it gets to initrd and then the screen goes black, no garble X11 or whatsoever. I will try this agian though and copy the X11 settings from the 6.06 install to the transplanted 8.04 install. I'llm be back ... :-)
>
>   
>> You probably 
>> will have no true "debug messages"
>> as your symptoms of something moving on the screen when you
>> move the 
>> mouse indicate X11 is
>> running and THINKS it has produced a proper display.
>>     
>
> can't I get all the bootmessages copied to the serial port somehow?
>   
When the system is booted up, and you log in via serial port, you can 
read the
boot-time messages in /var/log, such files as "messages", "syslog", "dmesg"
and so on.  "Xorg.0.log" is also in that directory.

I know of no way to make the boot messages get copied to the serial port
live while it is booting.  That doesn't mean it isn't possible, though.

Jon

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Dear Jon
>
>   
>>> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is, that I
>>>  cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10. 8.04 emc live cd
>>> boots but the screen is garbled, it finally shows an
>>> interlaced screen with the typical brown colour  of the
>>> desktop and as mentioned before, If I move the mouse, there
>>> is a grey pattern moving correspondingly to the mouse moves.
>>> I conclude: X11 is up but ill configured. That's for the
>>> live cd.
>>>    
>>>       
>> This is clearly a video driver problem, not specifically
>> X11, but 
>> obviously the video driver affects what
>> X shows on the screen.
>>     
> OK, I agree, as soon as X11 is -up- it is a video driver problem of some sort. If I was able to ssh into the 8.04 live cd, I could read out the config it has setup automagically there and see what's wrong. SSH into it via one of my SuSE and windose/putty boxes failes as connection is refused, although i specified ssh on grub boot options. So how can I do that?
Ubuntu 6.06 never configured a monitor correctly for me. Maybe it is a 
video driver problem, but the description you give was typical of what I 
experienced many times with an incorrectly configured xorg.conf.

I have found Midnight Commander (a visual file manager) to be a very 
useful tool. It doesn't need x to run.

http://www.midnight-commander.org/

With this you can navigate to and edit your .conf. To install (from 
memory I think this will work - but it may be in the universe 
repository) sudo aptitude install mc (to subsequently launch at the 
command line type mc).

Richard

2009/11/25 Jon Elson <elson@...>:

> I know of no way to make the boot messages get copied to the serial port
> live while it is booting.  That doesn't mean it isn't possible, though.

It might be a BIOS option. My CNC/EMC2 computer can do it, but it was
designed as a server and I don't know how widespread the  facility is.


-- 
atp

Dear Richard 

I guess many of you good guys are getting me wrong somehow:
   
> >>> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is,
> that I
> >>>  cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10.
> 8.04 emc live cd
> >>> boots but the screen is garbled

I cannot *work* with the live cd in any way!

> I have found Midnight Commander (a visual file manager) to
> be a very 
> useful tool. It doesn't need x to run.

I know mc and appreciate it as you do, every where I go it gets installed, but I cannot install. So thanks for the hint.

The tip I will be testing next, is to use a serial console, which will hopefully get more light into this.

best regards chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Jon and Andy
> 
> > I know of no way to make the boot messages get copied
> to the serial port
> > live while it is booting.  That doesn't mean it isn't
> possible, though.
> 
> It might be a BIOS option. My CNC/EMC2 computer can do it,
> but it was
> designed as a server and I don't know how widespread
> the  facility is.

I do indeed hope I can get the output there, so I can really pin at what stage the textmode output while booting gets blacked out. I do not have enough time now but will have soon. I'll be back :-)

thx for the tips

best regards chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

I wonder if staring with a "stock Ubuntu 6.06" install and fiddle with
peripherals, upgrade to stock 8.04 correcting any peripheral issues.  Once
Stock 8.04 is working this way, only then installing EMC.

Not sure if this is a viable route.  I know upgrading Ubuntu 6.06 with EMC
is a deal breaker, but doing a Stock upgrade first before loading EMC might
work???

Just a thought.

Brian

2009/11/25 BRIAN GLACKIN <glackin.brian@...>:
>
> I wonder if staring with a "stock Ubuntu 6.06" install and fiddle with
> peripherals, upgrade to stock 8.04 correcting any peripheral issues.  Once
> Stock 8.04 is working this way, only then installing EMC.

Probably doable. Neo_the_user put together this how-to for me that
worked (building a custom kernel then compiling in-situ)

Though one would really hope for a less extreme solution.

http://neo-technical.wikispaces.com/emc2-ubuntu

-- 
atp

Chris,

Did you try burning a second CD?  The first CD I burned two months ago 
would not install no matter what I did.  I went back and burned a second 
CD (on a windows machine using Nero, using the ISO I downloaded) and my 
problems vanished.

I figured I had a bad CD, however the live CD seems to be fairly 
sensitive during it's loading.  Have you tried a different CD drive?   
Can you swap out the one you have for another?

Dave

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Dear Richard 
>
> I guess many of you good guys are getting me wrong somehow:
>    
>   
>>>>> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is,
>>>>>           
>> that I
>>     
>>>>>   cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10.
>>>>>           
>> 8.04 emc live cd
>>     
>>>>> boots but the screen is garbled
>>>>>           
>
> I cannot *work* with the live cd in any way!
>
>   
>> I have found Midnight Commander (a visual file manager) to
>> be a very 
>> useful tool. It doesn't need x to run.
>>     
>
> I know mc and appreciate it as you do, every where I go it gets installed, but I cannot install. So thanks for the hint.
>
> The tip I will be testing next, is to use a serial console, which will hopefully get more light into this.
>
> best regards chris
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
> http://mail.yahoo.com 
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day 
> trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on 
> what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with
> Crystal Reports now.  http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>
>

Brian

> I wonder if staring with a "stock
> Ubuntu 6.06" install and fiddle with
> peripherals, upgrade to stock 8.04 correcting any
> peripheral issues.  Once
> Stock 8.04 is working this way, only then installing EMC.
> 
> Not sure if this is a viable route.  I know upgrading
> Ubuntu 6.06 with EMC
> is a deal breaker, but doing a Stock upgrade first before
> loading EMC might
> work???

I did this with ubuntu 7.10. Stock 7.10 installs nicely. I then upgraded to stock 8.04 and again, no X11, black screen after starting to process initrd, thus loading the kernel. Going this way, I still sit on the very same Problem.

thx for the tip

greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Sorry, I hadn't understood that graphics were failing before X was starting.

I know booting in safe graphics is sometimes ignored.
However I found this:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EdgyKnownIssues/59618
I just tried it with my EMC2 8.04 disc and I am able to open the 
xorg.conf (so you can at least play with the settings), but I don't know 
if your graphics problem will allow you to get this far.

Richard

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Dear Richard 
>
> I guess many of you good guys are getting me wrong somehow:
>    
>   
>>>>> The part that lets me stay unsatisfied is,
>>>>>           
>> that I
>>     
>>>>>   cannot boot or install ubuntu past 7.10.
>>>>>           
>> 8.04 emc live cd
>>     
>>>>> boots but the screen is garbled
>>>>>           
>
> I cannot *work* with the live cd in any way!
>
>   
>> I have found Midnight Commander (a visual file manager) to
>> be a very 
>> useful tool. It doesn't need x to run.
>>     
>
> I know mc and appreciate it as you do, every where I go it gets installed, but I cannot install. So thanks for the hint.
>
> The tip I will be testing next, is to use a serial console, which will hopefully get more light into this.
>
> best regards chris
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
> http://mail.yahoo.com 
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Let Crystal Reports handle the reporting - Free Crystal Reports 2008 30-Day 
> trial. Simplify your report design, integration and deployment - and focus on 
> what you do best, core application coding. Discover what's new with
> Crystal Reports now.  http://p.sf.net/sfu/bobj-july
> _______________________________________________
> Emc-users mailing list
> Emc-users@...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
>
>
>

On Thu, 2009-11-26 at 05:56 +0000, Chris Epicier wrote:
... snip
> I did this with ubuntu 7.10. Stock 7.10 installs nicely. I then
> upgraded to stock 8.04 and again, no X11, black screen after starting
> to process initrd, thus loading the kernel. Going this way, I still
> sit on the very same Problem.
> 
> thx for the tip
> 
> greets chris

Just to verify, Control-Alt-F1 does not bring up the text mode console?
-- 
Kirk Wallace
http://www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/
http://www.wallacecompany.com/E45/index.html
California, USA

Warning: This is a rather long message. I hope the list moderator has nothing against it.

Richard


> Sorry, I hadn't understood that
> graphics were failing before X was starting.

well I probably did not really stress that properly...

> I know booting in safe graphics is sometimes ignored.
> However I found this:
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EdgyKnownIssues/59618
> I just tried it with my EMC2 8.04 disc and I am able to
> open the 
> xorg.conf (so you can at least play with the settings), but
> I don't know 
> if your graphics problem will allow you to get this far.

I tried that, but it failed too: black screen when enterng initramfs

So I retried an install of 8.04 on another box, verfied that ssh was installed (I normally use SuSE, there ssh is installed by default which is not true for ubuntu and cost me probably a couple of hairs) and the is box accessible from the net. Then I moved the hd to my f690000er problem box, booted up and let it roll. I found the ip in my dhcpleases file, pinged it and can confirm the box is alive. SSH into the box now works! Still, the screen is black although there is an X11 running somehow.

Next I tried:
# ps -ef | grep gdm
root      4591     1  0 17:16 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root      4593  4591  0 17:16 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/gdm
root      4607  4593  0 17:16 tty7     00:00:02 /usr/bin/X :0 -br -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/gdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt7
gdm       4799  4593  0 17:16 ?        00:00:06 /usr/lib/gdm/gdmgreeter
root      5067  4952  0 17:37 pts/0    00:00:00 grep gdm
// proof: gdm is up and probably waiting for me to log in, but blind flight as screen is still black

# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C693A/694x [Apollo PRO133x] (rev 44)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C598/694x [Apollo MVP3/Pro133x AGP]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 ISA [Mobile South] (rev 23)
00:07.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 10)
00:07.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 11)
00:07.3 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C596 Power Management (rev 30)
00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 (rev 08)
00:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: Chips and Technologies F69000 HiQVideo (rev 64)

# sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting possibly-customised configuration
   file; backup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.20091126173538
FATAL: Module battery not found.
# cat xorg.conf
# xorg.conf (X.Org 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 xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "ch"
        Option          "XkbOptions"    "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Configured Video Device"
        Option          "UseFBDev"              "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
EndSection

# killall gdm
# ps -ef | grep gdm
root      5073  4952  0 17:40 pts/0    00:00:00 grep gdm
# gdm

// screen is still black, I now started fondling with the xorg.conf by merging the one I have from the 6.06 install:

# cp /media/cnc606/etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11
# nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# cat xorg.conf
# xorg.conf (X.Org 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 xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc105"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "ch"
        Option          "XkbOptions"    "lv3:ralt_switch"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "i2c"
        Load    "bitmap"
        Load    "ddc"
        Load    "dri"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "freetype"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "type1"
        Load    "vbe"
EndSection

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

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Chips and Technologies F69000 HiQVideo"
        Driver          "chips"
        BusID           "PCI:0:13:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Standardbildschirm"
        Option          "DPMS"
        HorizSync       28-51
        VertRefresh     43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Chips and Technologies F69000 HiQVideo"
        Monitor         "Standardbildschirm"
        DefaultDepth    16
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           1
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           4
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           8
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           15
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           16
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

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

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

#cat /var/log/
...snip...
(II) Module vgahw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 0.1.0
        ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 2.0
(II) Loading sub module "vbe"
(II) LoadModule: "vbe"
(II) Reloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libvbe.so
(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libint10.so
(II) CHIPS(0): initializing int10
(II) CHIPS(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE Version 2.0
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 2048 kB
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE OEM: CHIPS 69000 Super VGA
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: Chips & Technologies, Inc.
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: 69000 Display Controller
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 2
(**) CHIPS(0): Depth 16, (--) framebuffer bpp 16
(II) CHIPS(0): vgaHWGetIOBase: hwp->IOBase is 0x03d0, hwp->PIOOffset is 0x0000
(==) CHIPS(0): RGB weight 565
(==) CHIPS(0): Default visual is TrueColor
(==) CHIPS(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(WW) CHIPS(0): Acceleration is disabled by default on C&T 69000 as it has been reported
to be broken: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=74841
You can turn it on by adding Option "NoAccel" "false" to the Screen
section of your xorg.conf file
(**) CHIPS(0): Acceleration disabled
(==) CHIPS(0): Using HW cursor
(**) CHIPS(0): Enabling linear addressing
(--) CHIPS(0): base address is set at 0xD5000000.
(==) CHIPS(0): IOAddress is set at 0xD5400000.
(**) CHIPS(0): Using MMIO
(--) CHIPS(0): VideoRAM: 2048 kByte
(II) Loading sub module "ddc"
(II) LoadModule: "ddc"(II) Module "ddc" already built-in
(II) CHIPS(0): VESA VBE DDC not supported
(II) Loading sub module "i2c"
(II) LoadModule: "i2c"(II) Module "i2c" already built-in
(II) CHIPS(0): I2C bus "DDC" initialized.
(II) CHIPS(0): Probing for DDC1
(--) CHIPS(0): TFT probed
(--) CHIPS(0): LCD/CRT

// this is definetely wrong, the panel IS 1024x768x18 :
(--) CHIPS(0): Display Size: x=640; y=480


(--) CHIPS(0): PCI Bus
(--) CHIPS(0): Using programmable clocks
(--) CHIPS(0): Dot clock 0:  25.255 MHz
(--) CHIPS(0): Dot clock 1:  25.172 MHz CRTclk
(--) CHIPS(0): Dot clock 2:  33.409 MHz FPclk
(--) CHIPS(0): Probed memory clock of  26.488 MHz
(==) CHIPS(0): Min pixel clock is   3.000 MHz
(--) CHIPS(0): Max pixel clock is  74.166 MHz
(II) CHIPS(0): Standardbildschirm: Using hsync range of 28.00-51.00 kHz
(II) CHIPS(0): Standardbildschirm: Using vrefresh range of 43.00-60.00 Hz
(II) CHIPS(0): Clock range:   3.00 to  74.17 MHz
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "640x350" (vrefresh out of range)
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "320x175" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)

...snip...
// lots of lines with Not using default mode "axb"

(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "800x600" (exceeds panel dimensions)
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "400x300" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)


...snip...
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using default mode "1024x768" (bad mode clock/interlace/doublescan)
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using mode "1024x768" (no mode of this name)
(II) CHIPS(0): Not using mode "800x600" (no mode of this name)
(--) CHIPS(0): Virtual size is 640x480 (pitch 640)
(**) CHIPS(0): *Default mode "640x480": 25.2 MHz, 31.5 kHz, 59.9 Hz
(II) CHIPS(0): Modeline "640x480"x59.9   25.18  640 656 752 800  480 490 492 525 -hsync -vsync (31.5 kHz)
(==) CHIPS(0): DPI set to (96, 96)
(II) Loading sub module "fb"
(II) LoadModule: "fb"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules//libfb.so
(II) Module fb: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org ANSI C Emulation, version 0.3
(II) Loading sub module "ramdac"
(II) LoadModule: "ramdac"(II) Module "ramdac" already built-in
(II) do I need RAC?  No, I don't.
(II) resource ranges after preInit:
        [0] 0   0       0xd5000000 - 0xd5ffffff (0x1000000) MS[B]
        [1] -1  0       0x00100000 - 0x3fffffff (0x3ff00000) MX[B]E(B)
        [2] -1  0       0x000f0000 - 0x000fffff (0x10000) MX[B]
        [3] -1  0       0x000c0000 - 0x000effff (0x30000) MX[B]
        [4] -1  0       0x00000000 - 0x0009ffff (0xa0000) MX[B]
        [5] -1  0       0xd6000000 - 0xd60fffff (0x100000) MX[B]
        [6] -1  0       0xd6100000 - 0xd6100fff (0x1000) MX[B]
        [7] -1  0       0xd0000000 - 0xcfffffff (0x0) MX[B]O
        [8] -1  0       0xd5000000 - 0xd5ffffff (0x1000000) MX[B](B)
        [9] 0   0       0x000a0000 - 0x000affff (0x10000) MS[B](OprD)
        [10] 0  0       0x000b0000 - 0x000b7fff (0x8000) MS[B](OprD)
        [11] 0  0       0x000b8000 - 0x000bffff (0x8000) MS[B](OprD)
        [12] -1 0       0x0000ffff - 0x0000ffff (0x1) IX[B]
        [13] -1 0       0x00000000 - 0x000000ff (0x100) IX[B]
        [14] -1 0       0x0000e800 - 0x0000e83f (0x40) IX[B]
        [15] -1 0       0x0000e400 - 0x0000e41f (0x20) IX[B]
        [16] -1 0       0x0000e000 - 0x0000e00f (0x10) IX[B]
        [17] 0  0       0x000003b0 - 0x000003bb (0xc) IS[B]
        [18] 0  0       0x000003c0 - 0x000003df (0x20) IS[B]
(==) CHIPS(0): Write-combining range (0xd5000000,0x200000)
(--) CHIPS(0): 1482752 bytes off-screen memory available
(==) CHIPS(0): Backing store disabled
(**) Option "dpms"
(**) CHIPS(0): DPMS enabled
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Setting vga for screen 0.
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension XAccessControlExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(II) Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
(II) Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
(II) Initializing built-in extension XEVIE
(II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable
(II) Loading sub module "GLcore"
(II) LoadModule: "GLcore"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libGLcore.so
(II) Module GLcore: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) GLX: Initialized MESA-PROXY GL provider for screen 0
(**) Generic Keyboard: always reports core events
(**) Option "Protocol" "standard"
(**) Generic Keyboard: Protocol: standard
(**) Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
(**) Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbRules: "xorg"
(**) Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbModel: "pc105"
(**) Option "XkbLayout" "ch"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbLayout: "ch"
(**) Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbOptions: "lv3:ralt_switch"
(**) Option "CustomKeycodes" "off"
(**) Generic Keyboard: CustomKeycodes disabled
(**) Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
(**) Configured Mouse: Device: "/dev/input/mice"
(**) Configured Mouse: Protocol: "ExplorerPS/2"
(**) Option "CorePointer"
(**) Configured Mouse: always reports core events
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
(**) Configured Mouse: Emulate3Buttons, Emulate3Timeout: 50
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) Configured Mouse: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) Configured Mouse: Buttons: 9
(**) Configured Mouse: Sensitivity: 1
(**) Option "CoreKeyboard"
(**) Generic Keyboard: always reports core events
(**) Option "Protocol" "standard"
(**) Generic Keyboard: Protocol: standard
(**) Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
(**) Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbRules: "xorg"
(**) Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbModel: "pc105"
(**) Option "XkbLayout" "ch"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbLayout: "ch"
(**) Option "XkbOptions" "lv3:ralt_switch"
(**) Generic Keyboard: XkbOptions: "lv3:ralt_switch"
(**) Option "CustomKeycodes" "off"
(**) Generic Keyboard: CustomKeycodes disabled
(II) evaluating device (Generic Keyboard)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Generic Keyboard" (type: KEYBOARD)
(II) evaluating device (Configured Mouse)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Configured Mouse" (type: MOUSE)
(II) evaluating device (Generic Keyboard)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Generic Keyboard" (type: KEYBOARD)
(II) Configured Mouse: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded

My conclusions:
- X is set up and running
- However the panel size is recognised wrong
- probabaly there is also the refresh mode and other X relevant stuff wrong

How can I fix this?
(**) CHIPS(0): DPMS enabled
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Setting vga for screen 0.
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension XAccessControlExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(II) Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
(II) Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
(II) Initializing built-in extension XEVIE
(II) AIGLX: Screen 0 is not DRI capable
(II) Loading sub module "GLcore"
(II) LoadModule: "GLcore"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions//libGLcore.so
(II) Module GLcore: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0.90, module version = 1.0.0
        ABI class: X.Org Server Extension, version 0.3
(II) GLX: Initialized MESA-PROXY GL provider for screen 0
(**) Generic Keyboard: always reports core events
(**) Option "Protocol" "standard"
(**) Generic Keyboard: Protocol: standard
(**) Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"



 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Warning: This is a rather long message. I hope the list moderator has nothing against it.
>
> Richard
>
>   
>> Sorry, I hadn't understood that
>> graphics were failing before X was starting.
>>     
>
> well I probably did not really stress that properly...
>   
Well, this is quite odd.  Note that later Ubuntu versions start the 
graphics screen quite early
to get their "splash screen" up.  If X can't properly control the 
screen, no surprise the Ubuntu
splash screen doesn't work, either.  I'm pretty sure there is a grub 
option at boot time that
just disables the graphics entirely.  That would at least get the 
machine booted and the
keyboard-screen system working.  You can then try stuff a lot more 
easily with the startx
command, and possibly needing to do ctrl-alt-backspace to crash it.  If 
X is running normally
but you just can't see the display, then ctrl-alt-F1 should drop into a 
TTY screen with
basic VGA-only access, without killing X.  But, I'm wondering if this is 
actually a MONITOR
problem.  X reads the screen's capabilities through the DDC pins, but 
some monitors
produce info that confuses some drivers, or just the timing of the 
interchange causes one
or the other to malfunction.  With an older nVidia driver, it would 
scramble my ViewSonic
LCD screen, and I had to pull the plug and power it back on 
(powering-off by the panel button
did not work) to get a usable screen.  Later drivers have fixed this.  
So, I would try the
problem system with some other monitors to see if that sheds any light.

Jon

Jon Elson wrote:
> Chris Epicier wrote:
>   
>> Warning: This is a rather long message. I hope the list moderator has nothing against it.
>>
>> Richard
>>
>>   
>>     
>>> Sorry, I hadn't understood that
>>> graphics were failing before X was starting.
>>>     
>>>       
>> well I probably did not really stress that properly...
>>   
>>     
> But, I'm wondering if this is 
> actually a MONITOR
> problem.  X reads the screen's capabilities through the DDC pins, but 
> some monitors
> produce info that confuses some drivers, or just the timing of the 
> interchange causes one
> or the other to malfunction.  With an older nVidia driver, it would 
> scramble my ViewSonic
> LCD screen, and I had to pull the plug and power it back on 
> (powering-off by the panel button
> did not work) to get a usable screen.  Later drivers have fixed this.  
> So, I would try the
> problem system with some other monitors to see if that sheds any light.
>
>   

I guess as other distros have been run okay, it still seems like 
configuration to me. If X is reading the monitor wrong, generate a modeline.

Richard

Kirk

> Just to verify, Control-Alt-F1 does not bring up the text
> mode console?

Good point that I probably also did not emphasize enough so far: No, no textconsole be it Alt-F1/2/3/4/5/6 is responding. The screen stays black. However, if I switch from F7 (X11) to one of the consoles forth and back, it changes somehow. This is verifyable and reproducible.

greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Jon

Since I have net access now, I can see all xorg logs. 

  
> Well, this is quite odd.  Note that later Ubuntu
> versions start the 
> graphics screen quite early
> to get their "splash screen" up.  If X can't properly
> control the 
> screen, no surprise the Ubuntu
> splash screen doesn't work, either.  I'm pretty sure
> there is a grub 
> option at boot time that
> just disables the graphics entirely. 

I -believe- I did try them all: No success (see here http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.distributions.emc.user/17610 )


> That would at
> least get the 
> machine booted and the
> keyboard-screen system working.  You can then try
> stuff a lot more 
> easily with the startx
> command, and possibly needing to do ctrl-alt-backspace to
> crash it.  If 
> X is running normally
> but you just can't see the display, then ctrl-alt-F1 should
> drop into a 
> TTY screen with
> basic VGA-only access, without killing X.  But, I'm
> wondering if this is 
> actually a MONITOR
> problem.  X reads the screen's capabilities through
> the DDC pins, but 
> some monitors
> produce info that confuses some drivers, or just the timing
> of the 
> interchange causes one
> or the other to malfunction.  With an older nVidia
> driver, it would 
> scramble my ViewSonic
> LCD screen, and I had to pull the plug and power it back on
> 
> (powering-off by the panel button
> did not work) to get a usable screen.  Later drivers
> have fixed this.  
> So, I would try the
> problem system with some other monitors to see if that
> sheds any light.

the board has an lvds connector and an external vga. I'll try that, did not think of it so far, strange, since I used to 'repair' some compaq desktops by massageing the chips on the mobo manually with success :-).

mean while I could find out the board ID: it is a JUKI-3711P. I will also get behind the manuaul and see if the lvds is connected correctly. I should also be able to get a windows install either tomorrow or next week that runs on the same hardware.

I'll be back


greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Dear Dave


> Did you try burning a second CD?  The first CD I
> burned two months ago 
> would not install no matter what I did.  I went back
> and burned a second 
> CD (on a windows machine using Nero, using the ISO I
> downloaded) and my 
> problems vanished.

I had two CD's, each one of the was checked and also installed to other boxes suxssfully.

> I figured I had a bad CD, however the live CD seems to be
> fairly 
> sensitive during it's loading.  Have you tried a
> different CD drive?   
> Can you swap out the one you have for another?

Also this was done. I usually exchange a cd-rom against a DVD drive as I found these read more reliable. As mentioned in other earlier posts, I was finally able to verify that an install to hd in another box, then brought back to my surdy but stubbern problem box boots succesfully apart from blanking the screen at readining initrd.

So, also thank you very much for these tips, it is true sometimes the very obvious gets looked over.

greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Hi all

I have X11 now up and running. these two options in xorg.conf helped:

Section "Device"
        ...

        Option     "UseModeline"                "true" 

        Option     "FixPanelSize"               "true" 
        ...
EndSection

Issues remaining are that the bootscreen still blanks out as soon as initialising the graphics card. I can live with that. However someone else might not, when running into the same problem as I: lack of console/X11 when installing is a killer. I got over it as follows:

- Install to the target hard disk on an another box, known working.
- set a distinct hostname, you will need it for sshing into that box
- make sure you have ssh installed, configured and verfied working (was not obvious to me as I normally work with non ubuntu flavours of linux, where ssh is up by default)
- transfer the target hd to the target box
- boot and wait, check your lan's dhcpd and/or named
- note ip given by dhcp and ping the host by IP or name, once successful:
- ssh into the box and play with xorg.conf until it works

Regarding the still not working boot console: this is a ubuntu problem beginning from 8.04 and up. i tried all falfours of ubuntu that I could get reasonably get hold of past and including 8.04. None of them worked. I also tried random distros I know. Knoppix 5.01, 6.2 worjked straight way, boot console and X11, so did Damnsmallinux and SuSe 9.3. SuSe 11.1 had the boot console but x didi not automagically work. I did not iterate on Suse 11.1 as I had console access via ssh in the mean time to emc 8.04. Based on my long time knowledge with Suse, and the now won knowledge I would guess the same xorg.conf options or others could probably solve this. 

Leaving the situation with the boot console is bitter, but I cannot afford more time into this matter as of now. Actually, My deadline was tonite, if no solution I would have baught another dustproof box and ditched the one now working.

Thanks all for the great hints. The hreally helped me a great deal.

chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I have X11 now up and running. these two options in xorg.conf helped:
>
> Section "Device"
>         ...
>
>         Option     "UseModeline"                "true" 
>
>         Option     "FixPanelSize"               "true" 
>         ...
> EndSection
>
> Issues remaining are that the bootscreen still blanks out as soon as initialising the graphics card. I can live with that. However someone else might not, when running into the same problem as I: lack of console/X11 when installing is a killer. I got over it as follows:
>
>   
The problem is that grub sets up a simple graphical screen as soon as 
the kernel boots.  It
is having the same problems as X had with this graphics chip.  I'm 
pretty sure there is
an option to the boot line in grub that will tell it to not do that.  It 
would be something
like "no-vga" or "no-graphics" or maybe "no-splash-screen".
> - Install to the target hard disk on an another box, known working.
> - set a distinct hostname, you will need it for sshing into that box
> - make sure you have ssh installed, configured and verfied working (was not obvious to me as I normally work with non ubuntu flavours of linux, where ssh is up by default)
> - transfer the target hd to the target box
> - boot and wait, check your lan's dhcpd and/or named
> - note ip given by dhcp and ping the host by IP or name, once successful:
> - ssh into the box and play with xorg.conf until it works
>
> Regarding the still not working boot console: this is a ubuntu problem beginning from 8.04 and up. i tried all falfours of ubuntu that I could get reasonably get hold of past and including 8.04. None of them worked. I also tried random distros I know. Knoppix 5.01, 6.2 worjked straight way, boot console and X11, so did Damnsmallinux and SuSe 9.3. SuSe 11.1 had the boot console but x didi not automagically work. I did not iterate on Suse 11.1 as I had console access via ssh in the mean time to emc 8.04. Based on my long time knowledge with Suse, and the now won knowledge I would guess the same xorg.conf options or others could probably solve this. 
>   
I would do some web searching on your graphics card and "linux" or 
"ubuntu" and see what comes
up.  There is an absolutely astounding amount of support list chatter on 
these sorts of issues.  You
may have to read 20 or 30 threads before you find one by somebody that 
actually fixed the
problem and gives the exact syntax and how to do it.
> Leaving the situation with the boot console is bitter, but I cannot afford more time into this matter as of now. Actually, My deadline was tonite, if no solution I would have baught another dustproof box and ditched the one now working.
>   
Well, glad you got it.  It is unfortunate that device support is so 
scattered and messy.  I did some
work in this area some years ago, back before EMC2, and was ASTOUNDED to 
find out that
many of these Taiwan graphics card manufacturers changed the 
combinations of chips
(memory, main gfx controller, ramDAC) every TWO WEEKS!  So, the poor 
driver writers
needed to modify their code every two weeks, and had to support perhaps 
50 combinations
of chips on a board that supposedly had the same model number!  No 
wonder MicroSoft
had 50,000 employees at one time, and the Linux community is struggling 
to keep up.

Jon

Jon

> > I have X11 now up and running. these two options in
> xorg.conf helped:
> >
> > Section "Device"
> >         ...
> >
> >         Option 
>    "UseModeline"       
>         "true" 
> >
> >         Option 
>    "FixPanelSize"       
>        "true" 
> >         ...
> > EndSection
> >
> > Issues remaining are that the bootscreen still blanks
> out as soon as initialising the graphics card. I can live
> with that. However someone else might not, when running into
> the same problem as I: lack of console/X11 when installing
> is a killer. I got over it as follows:
> >
> >   
> The problem is that grub sets up a simple graphical screen
> as soon as 
> the kernel boots.  It
> is having the same problems as X had with this graphics
> chip.  I'm 
> pretty sure there is
> an option to the boot line in grub that will tell it to not
> do that.  It 
> would be something
> like "no-vga" or "no-graphics" or maybe
> "no-splash-screen".

Grub is a possibility. I did not consider so far that Grub might be the culpit. Does ubuntu use a special flavour / version of grub?

I'll cross check that with the various distros I have meanwhile on my c&t69000er box, would be too good to have it all up.

Might take some time, but I'll be back.

greets chris

greets chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com

Chris Epicier wrote:
> Jon
>
>   
>>> I have X11 now up and running. these two options in
>>>       
>> xorg.conf helped:
>>     
>>> Section "Device"
>>>          ...
>>>
>>>          Option 
>>>       
>>    "UseModeline"       
>>         "true" 
>>     
>>>          Option 
>>>       
>>    "FixPanelSize"       
>>        "true" 
>>     
>>>          ...
>>> EndSection
>>>
>>> Issues remaining are that the bootscreen still blanks
>>>       
>> out as soon as initialising the graphics card. I can live
>> with that. However someone else might not, when running into
>> the same problem as I: lack of console/X11 when installing
>> is a killer. I got over it as follows:
>>     
>>>    
>>>       
>> The problem is that grub sets up a simple graphical screen
>> as soon as 
>> the kernel boots.  It
>> is having the same problems as X had with this graphics
>> chip.  I'm 
>> pretty sure there is
>> an option to the boot line in grub that will tell it to not
>> do that.  It 
>> would be something
>> like "no-vga" or "no-graphics" or maybe
>> "no-splash-screen".
>>     
>
> Grub is a possibility. I did not consider so far that Grub might be the culpit. Does ubuntu use a special flavour / version of grub?
>   
Grub sets all sorts of boot-time parameters for the kernel, including
the video mode for the first screen when the kernel takes control.
There are often a couple lines of parameters for each kernel choice.
See /boot/grub/menu.lst
to see how yours is set up.  They have changed the way grub
works, so I don't really understand all that is going on it there
now.

Jon

Jon


> > Grub is a possibility. I did not consider so far that
> Grub might be the culpit. Does ubuntu use a special flavour
> / version of grub?
> >   
> Grub sets all sorts of boot-time parameters for the kernel,
> including
> the video mode for the first screen when the kernel takes
> control.
> There are often a couple lines of parameters for each
> kernel choice.
> See /boot/grub/menu.lst
> to see how yours is set up.  They have changed the way
> grub
> works, so I don't really understand all that is going on it
> there
> now.

Should be possible to follow up on what they have changed and where. By the way, I have  already tried the usual suspect opions like nosplash, vga=xxxx etc. But I will try to get behind all options vga related for grub soon.

chris

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Sie sind Spam leid? Yahoo! Mail verfügt über einen herausragenden Schutz gegen Massenmails. 
http://mail.yahoo.com