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[SOLVED] Black screen on bootup

Posted: 26 Oct 2015, 13:50
by jeop
I apologize in advance if this has already been addressed. It does seem like the kind of problem that should have been solved a long time ago. However, I have searched the forum and can't seem to find the solution.

I want to use Porteus LXQT (I gather that Razor has been decommissioned?) on my HP Mini 1000 which uses GMA 950 graphics adaptor ... or something. I have tried the standard, nVidia, nVidia Legacy and AMD versions, all with the same result: bootup goes fine for a while, I get the linux-live message, then the screen immediately goes black. It seems like a video hardware problem IMHO.

This guy seems to have had the same problem on a similar HP netbook with the same GMA:
viewtopic.php?f=81&t=4774
but I can't understand what the final solution was.

Text mode does nothing except give me a black screen.
Using debug I can press Ctrl+D five times and after the sixth time the screen goes out.
I have tested the OS on other computers and it starts up fine with no issues except the brightness being a little low (but that's another topic of course -- I doubt it has any connection?).

Here's the pastebin of the debug commands:
http://pastebin.com/urEsiixf

Re: Black screen on bootup

Posted: 26 Oct 2015, 23:47
by Bogomips
Welcome to Porteus jeop. The solution is in this post. If you have difficulty following, maybe Ed will be able to take you through it.

Re: Black screen on bootup

Posted: 31 Oct 2015, 11:24
by jeop
It took me a while to find the time I needed to try out the things in the post and of course to reply satisfactorily about the solution. To me, the whole point of doing this is to find a solution that others can benefit from so care should taken in explaining the steps clearly.

I learned that kernel 3.0.1 works without a problem for Intel Graphics so I simply downloaded and am using Porteus 3.0.1 from this site's archives here: http://dl.porteus.org/i486/archive/Porteus-v3.0.1/ . There are instructions available about switching the kernel on the iso but I found that personally unnecessary.

Re: [SOLVED] Black screen on bootup

Posted: 31 Oct 2015, 13:20
by francois
@jeop:

Welcome to porteus community.

From your last post, I understand that:
1) with 3.0.1 porteus your are able to boot with a functional X or graphic environment.
2) You running presently from a fat32 usb device.
3) you are happy with 3.0.1 version.

Porteus 3.0.1 is not up to date. However, if you are happy with it, you needs are fulfilled. But some people might want the most recent installation. Porteus 3.0.1 is no longer maintained.

If you want to go further with porteus 3.1 and porteus 3.0.1 kernel:
Essentially, to be able to work with porteus v 3.1 with the porteus v 3.0.1 kernel, you have to pick the 000-kernel.xzm from the 3.0.1 iso and install it on a 3.1 usb installation.

Additional necessary useful information would be:
Would you mind booting from a linux filesystem instead of a fat32 filesystem? You must know that as windows run better on windows, linux runs better on linux. Would you like to benefit from persistent mode or automatic saving of the changes to your system? Are you working with 32 or 64 bit architecture?

Do you intend to install porteus directly on you hdd eventually? If this is the case. What bootloader do you intend to use? What kind of installation do you have on your computer presently? Windows only? Or do you have multiboot already installed with grub2?

What is you linux knowledge level?

Do you have one or two usb key to do that?

Re: [SOLVED] Black screen on bootup

Posted: 04 Nov 2015, 13:13
by jeop
I have been using Linux for about five years or so I think (mostly Ubuntu and various others like Linux Mint). I consider myself past the novice stage (intermediate I guess). I can follow instructions at the very least.

I am interested in using Porteus on my system. Since it's my wife's computer, the decision depends on her, too. I am still evaluating the OS on this particular computer so for that, the simple fat32 usb 3.0.1 setup is sufficient. I still can't decide which desktop I prefer hehehe. Kde is too visually complex for me. I'll probably stick with LXQT. If all goes well, yes, I would like to install it on the computer's 16gb SSD. One thing I want to investigate is the possibility of setting up different user accounts. I suppose I would have to do that with separate .dat files and adjusting the boot screen file? I'll search around for more info on that. I did try to set up the iso on an ext fs on my usb but I ran into some trouble with that, got a little frustrated and so I went with "standard" fat32 with a .dat file. For now, I am satisfied. Thank you very much for the follow-up. ;)

Re: [SOLVED] Black screen on bootup

Posted: 04 Nov 2015, 13:14
by jeop
Oh and about one or two usb keys: yes, I could use more than one if necessary.

Re: [SOLVED] Black screen on bootup

Posted: 16 Dec 2015, 13:11
by jeop
UPDATE: I have since tried the 3.0.1 kernel switched into the version 3.1 by downloading the archive from http://dl.porteus.org/i486/archive/Porteus-v3.0.1/ of LXDE and replacing vmlinuz and the kernel file. So far so good!