Blank screen when moving from X to console

tsnoam

Hi!
I have this wierd problem that after I start X I can't return to console mode any more. (I'm talking here even on a minimal X - aka. running: "X")
If I try to do "CTRL+ALT+F?" I will see just a blank screen. But the keyboard will respond though (I can do a login and run stuff only by typing my commands "blind").
Now, If I'll just kill the X (CTRL+ALT+BackSpace) It won't help.
I'll just be stuck without X and nothing I can see on the console.

I have an NVIDIA Geforce2 using the "nvidia-glx" and "nvidia-kernel" I got with the help of emerge(1).

I'm not sure that its connected, but in order to make X start I had to put this line in the "Device" section of /etc/X11/XF86Config:
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
This in order to force the X to find my geforce.
I use gentoo 1.4 compiled with gcc 3.2 with optimizations for athlon.

10x,
Noam

joshua

i've had that too, a long long time ago, in a distant galaxy, when i used suse.
i've read in the nvidia-docs that this problem (blank screen, freeze) happens when using nvidia drivers AND framebuffer support for the console at the same time.

did you enable framebuffer support in the kernel? try to compile your kernel without ("Console drivers" => "Frame-buffer support"), sure, the console will look a bit ugly, but, well, you will get used to it.

anyway, that solved that problem for me.

vers_iq · Apprentice Joined: 18 May 2002 Posts: 264

joshua · Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2002 4:04 pm Post subject:

that makes me happy!

thanks a lot, i love that console-framebuffer-stuff, and i did not know that, thanks for information!

tsnoam · Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2002 5:19 pm Post subject:

Ye... I wish that was the problem...
But I do not use Frame Buffer in my linux.... Never liked it.
a console should look like a console ;-)

anyway, does any1 has other ideas?

10x,
Noam

iwasbiggs · Apprentice Joined: 17 Jan 2003 Posts: 203

theJPster · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 2:58 pm Post subject: Me too!

tsnoam: I have exactly the same problem.

When I hit Ctrl-Alt-F1 to switch to a console and I've got a text mode console underneath, both displays (TV and Monitor in TwinView's dual-X-screen mode) go blank.

If I do the same thing, but have video=vesa:mtrr,ywrap and vga mode 315 (1024x768) then the monitor goes garbled but the TV looks OK. Even the colour works (it's connected on S-Video). Not on my monitor though...

Perhaps it's relevant that I swapped the screen settings over in my XF86Config to get Video Overlay support on my monitor (mmm, full screen movies never looked so good!).

Anyone got any suggestions? Am just about to e-mail nVidia to see what they say ...

JP
_________________
theJPster

Axiom · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2003 5:23 pm Post subject:

I've got a similar problem, but it only occurs randomly and not very often. If I switch the monitor off and on, it shows the console again.