getting back from a black screen

[Bill Davidsen]

Tim Evans wrote:
> On 04/08/2013 01:41 PM, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>> Tim Evans wrote:
>>> On 04/08/2013 11:24 AM, Tim wrote:
>>>> Allegedly, on or about 08 April 2013, Richard Vickery sent:
>>>>> In the case where you have sensitive information that you don't want
>>>>> people looking at it, or children deleting it, how does one get back
>>>>> from this screen without rebooting and losing ones work?
>>>>
>>>> As soon as you go for the mouse or keyboard, a logon prompt appears for
>>>> you to type in the password.
>>>>
>>>> If that's not happening, then it's not a screensaver lockout that you're
>>>> facing.  But most likely a graphics crash.  Sometimes that's caused by a
>>>> screensaver, some of them are just not that well written, and crash when
>>>> they're fired up.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Don't mean to take this too OT, but this is now sounding like the regular
>>> "graphics crash" I have whenever I wake my laptop up from
>>> hibernation.  Happens
>>> consistently with all 3.8.x kernels so far; not with the last 3.7.x
>>> kernel.
>>
>> If you have an ATI/Radeon video setup and are using the stock kernel
>> driver instead of the vendor driver, I've seen this before. There are
>> two ways to attack this:
>> 1 - install the vendor driver for your kernel
>>      (I have not had any problems doing this but your computer will be
>> impure)
>> 2 - you can try adding "nomodset" to the kernel command via editing at boot
>>      time (in case it totally screws up your video). I have had this work
>>      in about 30% of the machines I tested.
>>
>> Like any advice regarding kernel command options and/or vendor drivers,
>> use your own judgement, this is history of my experience, not advice.
>
> Nvidia/Nouveau drivers here.
>
> # lspci -s 01:00.0 -k
> 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G86 [Quadro NVS 140M] (rev
> a1)
>      Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T61
>      Kernel driver in use: nouveau
>
> I have filed bug https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=949666

I wish you luck in that, and hope you get your system working without the vendor 
driver. You also might just use the VESA driver, if you're not a gamer it may be 
fast enough to be useful.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen at tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot