FC2 AMD64 install error!

[Ram Kumar]

I am a newbie to Linux. 12+ years of development experience in Mac +
Windows.

I have recently assembled myself an AMD 64 bit Athlon on MSI
motherboard, 512 MB Kingston RAM, 120 GB Seagate Hard Disk, Samsung
SyncMaster 793s monitor.

- I downloaded Fedora Core 2 x86 64
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/x86_64/iso/FC2
-x86_64-disc1.iso
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/x86_64/iso/FC2
-x86_64-disc2.iso
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/x86_64/iso/FC2
-x86_64-disc3.iso
http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/2/x86_64/iso/FC2
-x86_64-disc4.iso

- When installing it does not initialize the X window system
- I tried installing in text mode, then switching to X Windows, but it
fails
- When at text login prompt, it keeps refreshing the display in an
attempt to start X Windows system
  - Gives some error related to VESA driver & says 'unable to start X
Windows system'
- I installed my last copy of RedHat 9, which works beautifully on the
same system
  - Checked the settings from this install for VESA driver, monitor
type, display frequency, etc... & applied to FC2 x86 64, but it still
does not start X Windows

I am zapped about what to do.
Can any expert help me here?

Regards, Ram

[Peter Boy]

Am Di, den 31.08.2004 schrieb Ram Kumar um 8:49:
> When installing it does not initialize the X window system
> I tried installing in text mode, then switching to X Windows, but it
>
> fails
> When at text login prompt, it keeps refreshing the display in an
>
> attempt to start X Windows system

To avoid the flashing you may do the following:

After turning on your machine at the first screen you see grub and a
list of operating systems, in your case may be just on: Fedora. Move the
selection bar to the Fedora line and press
   a
Now you can edit the startup parameters. Add the letter
   S
to the end of the line. Your system will startup in single user mode,
which is a traditional text mode console.

You may edit the file /etc/inittab and change the line
  id:5:initdefault:   into   id:3:initdefault:

So the normal startup procedure will not start the xwindow system but
just a text console login.

Now you can try to fix the xwindow system without flickering. You can
try to start xwindows by the command
   startx
> Gives some error related to VESA driver & says 'unable to start X
>
> Windows system'
> I installed my last copy of RedHat 9, which works beautifully on the
>
> same system
> Checked the settings from this install for VESA driver, monitor
>
> type, display frequency, etc... & applied to FC2 x86 64, but it still
> does not start X Windows

As a first step you may try to automatically configure your graphics
subsystem by
  system-config-display  --reconfig

It is a second try, maybe there went something wrong during
installation.  You can test your effort by the comand
  startx

It it doesn't help, you should inspect the xwindow log file using less
   less /var/log/Xorg.0.log
or may be additionally
   less /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old

for error messages. Usually you get a clue what to change. Otherwise
post it here together with information about your graphics hardware.

Additionally you may compare the xwindows configuration files of your
Fedora system and your RedHat system.
Fedora:
   less  /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Red Hat
   less  /etc/X11/XF86config

(the Red Hat file name my be a little bit different, I just can't
remember exactly, but you will recognise it).

Good luck

Peter

[Ram Kumar]

Many thanks Peter,

This looks like a great set of details for beginner like me!
I will check this today & post the feedback

Regards, Ram
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail] 
> [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Peter
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 3:25 PM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: FC2 AMD64 install error!
>
> Am Di, den 31.08.2004 schrieb Ram Kumar um 8:49:
> > When installing it does not initialize the X window system
> > I tried installing in text mode, then switching to X
>
> Windows, but it
> > fails
> > When at text login prompt, it keeps refreshing the display in an
> >
> > attempt to start X Windows system
>
> To avoid the flashing you may do the following:
>
> After turning on your machine at the first screen you see 
> grub and a list of operating systems, in your case may be 
> just on: Fedora. Move the selection bar to the Fedora line and press
>    a
> Now you can edit the startup parameters. Add the letter
>    S
> to the end of the line. Your system will startup in single 
> user mode, which is a traditional text mode console.
>
> You may edit the file /etc/inittab and change the line
>   id:5:initdefault:   into   id:3:initdefault:
>
> So the normal startup procedure will not start the xwindow 
> system but just a text console login.
>
> Now you can try to fix the xwindow system without flickering. 
> You can try to start xwindows by the command
>    startx
> > Gives some error related to VESA driver & says 'unable
>
> to start X
> > Windows system'
> > I installed my last copy of RedHat 9, which works
>
> beautifully on the
> > same system
> > Checked the settings from this install for VESA driver, monitor
> >
> > type, display frequency, etc... & applied to FC2 x86 64,
>
> but it still
> > does not start X Windows
>
> As a first step you may try to automatically configure your 
> graphics subsystem by
>   system-config-display  --reconfig
>
> It is a second try, maybe there went something wrong during 
> installation.  You can test your effort by the comand
>   startx
>
> It it doesn't help, you should inspect the xwindow log file using less
>    less /var/log/Xorg.0.log
> or may be additionally
>    less /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old
>
> for error messages. Usually you get a clue what to change. 
> Otherwise post it here together with information about your 
> graphics hardware.
>
> Additionally you may compare the xwindows configuration files 
> of your Fedora system and your RedHat system.
> Fedora:
>    less  /etc/X11/xorg.conf
> Red Hat
>    less  /etc/X11/XF86config
>
> (the Red Hat file name my be a little bit different, I just 
> can't remember exactly, but you will recognise it).
>
> Good luck
>
> Peter
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Markku Kolkka]

Ram Kumar kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika tiistai, 31. 
elokuuta 2004 09:49):
> I have recently assembled myself an AMD 64 bit Athlon on MSI
> motherboard, 512 MB Kingston RAM, 120 GB Seagate Hard Disk,
> Samsung SyncMaster 793s monitor.

You forgot the most important hardware configuration item when 
reporting X problems: _what is your display card_ ?

[Ram Kumar]

That is built into MSI motherboard that I have. I will check the
detailed specifications today & post.

Regrads, Ram
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail] 
> [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Markku Kolkka
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 5:24 PM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: FC2 AMD64 install error!
>
> Ram Kumar kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika tiistai, 31. 
> elokuuta 2004 09:49):
> > I have recently assembled myself an AMD 64 bit Athlon on MSI 
> > motherboard, 512 MB Kingston RAM, 120 GB Seagate Hard Disk, Samsung 
> > SyncMaster 793s monitor.
>
> You forgot the most important hardware configuration item when 
> reporting X problems: _what is your display card_ ?
>
> -- 
>  Markku Kolkka
>  [e-mail]
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Sam Varshavchik]

Ram Kumar writes:
> That is built into MSI motherboard that I have. I will check the
> detailed specifications today & post.

If, as you say, you can boot RH 9, boot it and run 'lspci -vvx' and 'lspci 
-n'.

[Ram Kumar]

Moreover, RedHat 9 is working fine on the same card, Windows XP also.
Why just Fedora Core2 should have a problem?

I have also downloaded Gentoo to check if that works. With the help from
this list, I have many tests to perform today on this installation. I
will post the results tomorrow.

Regards, Ram
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail] 
> [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Markku Kolkka
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 5:24 PM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: FC2 AMD64 install error!
>
> Ram Kumar kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika tiistai, 31. 
> elokuuta 2004 09:49):
> > I have recently assembled myself an AMD 64 bit Athlon on MSI 
> > motherboard, 512 MB Kingston RAM, 120 GB Seagate Hard Disk, Samsung 
> > SyncMaster 793s monitor.
>
> You forgot the most important hardware configuration item when 
> reporting X problems: _what is your display card_ ?
>
> -- 
>  Markku Kolkka
>  [e-mail]
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Ram Kumar]

Greetings,

I tried to add 'S' to startup script by..
- clicking "Fedora.." in the grub screen
- clicking 'a' to go to init arguments
- appending 'S' to the existing script.
It reported a fatal error. Totally stopped running.
Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I do not understand what.
Can I find some e-Book or web site which can explain me the startup
process, X Windows etc...?

Here is the display details from 'system information' in windows XP

System Information report written at: 09/01/04 10:30:00
System Name: ATHLON64
[Display]

Item	Value	
Name	VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics	
PNP Device ID
PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_74101462&REV_01\4&83D6234&0&0008	
Adapter Type	VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics, VIA/S3 Graphics, Inc.
compatible	
Adapter Description	VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics	
Adapter RAM	64.00 MB (67,108,864 bytes)	
Installed Drivers	vtdisp.dll	
Driver Version	6.14.10.0103-16.94.35.04	
INF File	oem1.inf (viagfx section)	
Color Planes	1	
Color Table Entries	4294967296	
Resolution	1280 x 1024 x 60 hertz	
Bits/Pixel	32	
Memory Address	0xC8000000-0xCBFFFFFF	
Memory Address	0xCE000000-0xCEFFFFFF	
IRQ Channel	IRQ 16	
Memory Address	0xA0000-0xBFFFF	
I/O Port	0x000003B0-0x000003BB	
I/O Port	0x000003C0-0x000003DF	
Driver	c:\windows\system32\drivers\vtmini.sys
(6.14.10.0103-16.94.35.04, 130.50 KB (133,632 bytes), 8/20/2004 9:21 PM)

Regards, Ram
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [e-mail] 
> [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Markku Kolkka
> Sent: Tuesday, August 31, 2004 5:24 PM
> To: [e-mail]
> Subject: Re: FC2 AMD64 install error!
>
> Ram Kumar kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika tiistai, 31. 
> elokuuta 2004 09:49):
> > I have recently assembled myself an AMD 64 bit Athlon on MSI 
> > motherboard, 512 MB Kingston RAM, 120 GB Seagate Hard Disk, Samsung 
> > SyncMaster 793s monitor.
>
> You forgot the most important hardware configuration item when 
> reporting X problems: _what is your display card_ ?
>
> -- 
>  Markku Kolkka
>  [e-mail]
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Peter Boy]

Hi,

Am Mi, den 01.09.2004 schrieb Ram Kumar um 8:03:
> I tried to add 'S' to startup script by..
> clicking "Fedora.." in the grub screen
> clicking 'a' to go to init arguments
> appending 'S' to the existing script.
>
> It reported a fatal error. Totally stopped running.
> Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I do not understand what.

Sounds very strange. Don't know what do you mean by clicking (on my
machines there is no mouse avail at this stage), but I suppose you use
the keyboard.

After pressing a a new window with the following line should appear:
  grub append> ro root=....

which is the kernel parameter line for the selected kernel which is
contained in /boot/grub/grub.conf

May be there went something badly wrong during your installation.

If the command line does not work, you should boot from the first CD and
start the rescue system (use 
  linux rescue 
at the first screen or use the various function key to obtain more
information). That system will try to mount your installed system in to
a directory so you can make the previously described changes to inittab.

Follow the on screen instructions of the rescue system.
> Can I find some e-Book or web site which can explain me the startup
> process, X Windows etc...?

You may check the info at

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/os.html#OSBOOT
> Here is the display details from 'system information' in windows XP
>
> System Information report written at: 09/01/04 10:30:00
> System Name: ATHLON64
> [Display]
>
> Item	Value	
> Name	VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics	
> PNP Device ID
> PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3108&SUBSYS_74101462&REV_01\4&83D6234&0&0008	
> Adapter Type	VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics, VIA/S3 Graphics, Inc.

I don't now if one of the xorg drivers directly supports the onboard
chip. You should try to port the RH9 configuration file. You may post
that file here to ask for the details.

Peter

[Markku Kolkka]

Peter kirjoitti viestissään (lähetysaika keskiviikko, 1. 
syyskuuta 2004 13:38):
> > Name VIA/S3G UniChromeII Graphics
>
> I don't now if one of the xorg drivers directly supports the
> onboard chip.

The Via K8M800 chip should be supported in X.org 6.7, see 
http://freedesktop.org/~xorg/X11R6.7.0/doc/via.4.html or "man 4 
via".

[James Wilkinson]

Ram Kumar wrote:
> I tried to add 'S' to startup script by..
> clicking "Fedora.." in the grub screen
> clicking 'a' to go to init arguments
> appending 'S' to the existing script.
>
> It reported a fatal error. Totally stopped running.
> Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I do not understand what.
> Can I find some e-Book or web site which can explain me the startup
> process, X Windows etc...?

Make sure you add that to the line that has /boot/vmlinuz-... in it (I
can't remember whether that starts /boot/vmlinuz... or kernel...

Make sure there's a space between what's already there and the S.

Try adding a 3, not an S.

James.