Linux installation troubles - no GUI

983 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by esocid, Mar 7, 2009

bomfunk

Discussion Starter · Mar 6, 2009

I've tried installing both OpenSUSE and Fedora on sig rig, but for some reason, I can't get a GUI... with Fedora, I couldn't even get a graphical installer (it came up with some kinda error message about failing to initialize X). With OpenSUSE, I got a fully-working graphical installer, but right after the automatic configuration at the end, all I got was the console. Now, the console has this background image (bitmap) and it reads "openSUSE" in the top-left corner in a nice non-console font which leads me to believe that the graphical subsystem or w/e is working (also, the text appears much smaller than in "normal DOS-looking console"). I've already wiped it clean and re-installed once, but still the same.

Default runlevel is 5 (graphical multi-user yaddayadda, correct?) and a console message at the startup says it's entering runlevel 5.

I'm intending to have openSUSE on this computer, anyone know how I can get this working?

Oh and also... Ubuntu and Mint LiveCDs worked fine on this machine.

EDIT: Also, just before th login prompt, it came up with this message "Skipped services in runlevel 5: nfs"

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thiussat

· #2 · Mar 6, 2009

So this is happening with the LiveCD? When you insert the LiveCD it kicks you to a shell, correct?

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esocid

· #3 · Mar 6, 2009

Sounds like a similar problem I'm having. They either don't support your video card "out of box," or X isn't configured with the right drivers.

For now I'd say install with the text based installer and boot up to the command line.

Quote:

su -
rpm -Uvh http://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfr...ble.noarch.rpm http://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/...ble.noarch.rpm
yum --enablerepo=rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-testing install akmod-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx xorg-x11-drv-fglrx-libs.i386

If it's a 64bit version, do this next, if not skip.

Quote:

rm -f /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so
ln -s /usr/lib64/dri/fglrx_dri.so /usr/lib/dri/fglrx_dri.so
ldconfig

Quote:

su -
yum install system-config-display

run system-config-display and don't change anything. Just press ok to create xorg.conf

Quote:

su -
aticonfig --initial -f

su -
gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you've never used gedit, just look up a how-to. If it doesn't work, use vim instead.

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Add this at the bottom:

Quote:

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AIGLX" "on"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

Add this in device section

Quote:

Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"

Backup initrd

Quote:

su -
mv /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img.backup
mkinitrd -v /boot/initrd-`uname -r`.img `uname -r`

Edit grub the same way as xorg.conf

Quote:

su
gedit /boot/grub/grub.conf

Or use vi.

Add nopat at the end of the kernel arguments.

Reboot

If that doesn't work at all, revert using

Quote:

su -
rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/rpmfusion-nonfree-updates-9.repo
rm -f /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora9.repo
sed -i -e 's|^exclude.*||' /etc/yum.repos.d/fedora*
yum clean all
yum update libdrm

I'll be trying a similar thing to try and get my nvidia drivers working. Re-post your results.

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bomfunk

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 6, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by thiussat

So this is happening with the LiveCD? When you insert the LiveCD it kicks you to a shell, correct?

No. I'm using the 64-bit installation DVD. Installation goes all fine and dandy, and after the last step (automatic config), it kicks me in the shell and asks for login.

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thiussat

· #5 · Mar 6, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomfunk

No. I'm using the 64-bit installation DVD. Installation goes all fine and dandy, and after the last step (automatic config), it kicks me in the shell and asks for login.

Try logging in with the shell and then once logged in type "startx"

See if that will get you into a GUI. If not, it looks like the guy above me has some more thorough advice.

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bomfunk

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 6, 2009

esocid - I tried, but I don't get the net on my sig rig for some reason

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bomfunk

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 6, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by thiussat

Try logging in with the shell and then once logged in type "startx"

See if that will get you into a GUI. If not, it looks like the guy above me has some more thorough advice.

done:

Quote:

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

Also, I caught this in the myriad lines of console output:

Quote:

(EE) RADEONHD(0): RandR: No valid modes. Disabling RandR support.
(EE) RADEONHD(0): Failed to detect a connected monitor

EDIT: Would I be just be better off installing a NVIDIA card? I have a spare 8500GT lying around, that should be good enough for Compiz and most Linux OGL games, correct?

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esocid

· #8 · Mar 7, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by bomfunk

esocid - I tried, but I don't get the net on my sig rig for some reason

You can try booting up with the install disk, and selecting "Repair [something or other]."
It will boot up and should ask you if you would like to activate your network interface(s). Mark your eth device and continue. It should give you a message about storing your installation in /mnt/sysimage
Type chroot /mnt/sysimage to get into your F10 installation and proceed with those earlier instructions.

Quote:

Would I be just be better off installing a NVIDIA card? I have a spare 8500GT lying around, that should be good enough for Compiz and most Linux OGL games, correct?

I didn't have a problem with my 8 series Nvidia card. So that's totally up to you. If you really want the higher performance I'd give the ATI a shot.

Hope it works for you.

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The Hundred Gunner

· #9 · Mar 7, 2009

That "nice-looking Terminal" actually is a terminal; X is not running; you have no GUI.

I've had problems like that before... I can't remember what I did to fix it. I think I had to go into the CLI YAST, configure the monitor or something.... Then I downloaded Suse drivers off nVidia's site.

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bomfunk

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 7, 2009

Well, the 4670 is back to its package; I dug up my old 8500GT and now everything is working fine.

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esocid

· #11 · Mar 7, 2009

Good to hear, sucks you couldn't get the nicer card working though.

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