Issues starting graphical install!

[kmoore134]

Ok, guys and gals,

Its time to get some installation bugs fixed here :)

First - I need to get any issues loading the X interface ironed out. When you choose installation from the text menu, and it doesnt bring up the graphical installer, I need to know why. Please reply to this thread with the following information:

Graphics Card / Monitor Info

Output of the "startx" command. What error is returned?

Does reseting the XF86Config file to "vesa" allow the interface to come up?

If you did find a solution, I want to hear it! I'm going to be taking some time off from new development and instead trying to quash some of these basic installation bugs.

[allantm]

Well this is what I get when I try to install:
Computer: Averatec AV3250HS laptop
Graphics: Via S3G Unichrome
Monitor: 12inch active matrix lcd
Output of startx:
ERROR: NO SCREENS FOUND
EE: VESA(0) NO MATCHING MODES
EE: SCREEN FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION

Resetting to VESA does the same thing. After failing, I'm dropped into a root prompt.

[djchem]

I had the same problem as described in this thread

http://www.pcbsd.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=745

i.e. the install dumped me to a command prompt root@pcbsd

I took the advice of decke as i also have a EPIA M10000 mini-itx board.
i.e i entered the following:

Xorg -configure
cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/XF86Config
startx

This worked to a degree as the machine was obviouslt doing something, unfortunately i couldn't see anything as my monitor was just displaying an out of range message. I therefore rebboted and repeated the process but then changed the refresh rates in XF86Config. The graphical install started fine after this.

Unfortunately i still couldn't install as the installer couldn't cope with the way my already installed linux partitions were configured, it wanted to delete someof them even though there was 20 GB free, ho hum, i'll just have to wait until i wipe the machine I guess.

Frank

[sblevin]

Well this is what I get when I try to install:
Computer: Averatec AV3250HS laptop
Graphics: Via S3G Unichrome
Monitor: 12inch active matrix lcd
Output of startx:
ERROR: NO SCREENS FOUND
EE: VESA(0) NO MATCHING MODES
EE: SCREEN FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION

Resetting to VESA does the same thing. After failing, I'm dropped into a root prompt.

I've read about the place that some VIA chipsets either don't do vesa, or at least don't work with the vesa generic driver.

There IS a VIA generic driver, which can be manually set by changing the Driver line in XF86Config to:

Driver "via"

but that doesn't help at boot time.

1) I wonder if the chip detector is NOT detecting an ATI chipset for video, and just defaulting to VESA anyway?

2) I wonder if the "ati" generic driver works with that chipset? It 'claims; to support "VIA CLE266 (CLE3122, CLE3022) chipset video and the VIA KM400/K8M800 VT3204/5/7204/5 " (page 3 from http://www.users.on.net/~mpollock/toxic ... /index.htm (http://www.users.on.net/~mpollock/toxicity/makeitgo/index.htm) which is a utility I was working on, but can't test as I don't have a VIA chipset).

[raid517]

The issue described in the first post is exactly the issue I have. I get to a text set up/boot screen then the CD boots - then I get a kind of bootsplash screen, then I get another text set up screen.

Now the thing is if I even try to move my mouse at this stage - without even as much as selecting any other options, I get all kinds of weird vesa type glitches. The mouse cursor on the console starts to jump about all over the place and is totally uncontrollable.

If however I completely ignore the mouse and select graphical install, X crashes. I can't copy all of the text as there is quite a lot of it - and also the PC becomes highly unresponsive at that stage. I can't for example, do cbtrl, alt F2/F3/F4 to get to another console. Indeed the only key sequence that does work is ctrl, alt and delete - to reboot the computer.

This might not be such a terrible issue if first I could prevent vesa/the framebuffer loading when the CD boots (which I presume is needed for the bootsplash?) as then moving my mouse wouldn't cause any problems - and second if perhaps I could try a different driver other than vesa for my graphics card when the graphical install tries to start.

I section to specify a graphics driver might help - or some kind of automatic script that tests what kind of hardware you have like Knoppix does would be cool. Also an easy to use small text editor like Pico or Nano installed by default on the CD would be neat - as if all else failed I could always try editing my XF86Config file myself. (I always had better luck with the radeon driver rather than with Vesa). I don't know what editing tools are included on the CD. I think VI is, but I have no clue at all how to use that. Also a completely non graphical install for when all the other options are exhaused would be useful. (Also a no framebuffer option from the boot menu would be cool too).

As a workaround I thought about copying a working xorg.conf file from my Debian install and seeing if I could use that - but as I have no idea how to mount floppies, or harddisk partitions from the freeebsd CLI, it wasn't at all clear to me how to do this either.

My hardware is as follows:

MSI Neo platinum 2 motherboard,
Athlon X86/64 3800+ CPU
512MB RAM,
Radeon X800 pro graphics card
1.2TB Hardrive space. (60% free)

I hope this helps.

[raid517]

Xorg -configure
cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/XF86Config
startx

I did this and at least this time X started. (Which makes me wonder, why don't you write a small script to do this auomaticayfrom the CD before trying to start X? (If I'm not mistaken this is what knoppix does - and I have never known Knoppix to fail me).

However there are still big graphcal gltches with the installer. First my screen is cut in half with what looks like two instances of the installer - with one sitting on top of the other. Second my mouse is still unusable - and is pretty much trapped (or stuck) on the extreme right side of my screen. Moving it causes things to go a bit nuts, with the fluxbox menu rappidly popping up and vanishing and a lot of flickering in general. again I'm not sure - but it sounds like it could be related to framebuffer issues. (Or at least it would be if it was Linux).

GJ

[xiong25]

I also have a VESA Via UniChromwell Graphics card and I tried most of the solutions mentioned above, including:

Xorg -configure
cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/XF86Config
startx

And I just got the same error mesage they did:

ERROR: NO SCREENS FOUND
EE: VESA(0) NO MATCHING MODES
EE: SCREEN FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION

Resetting to VESA does the same thing. After failing, I'm dropped into a root prompt.

It sure would be nice it this bug could be fixed, if that's what iti s. I fear it's simply no driver has been included/written for this graphics card, in which case we are all SOL. :cry:

[raid517]

Which graphics card? At least give the guy your configuration.

GJ

[xiong25]

I bellieve he did give you the card name:

" a VESA Via UniChromwell Graphics card and I tried most of the solutions mentioned above, including:

Xorg -configure
cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/XF86Config
startx

And I just got the same error mesage they did:

ERROR: NO SCREENS FOUND
EE: VESA(0) NO MATCHING MODES
EE: SCREEN FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION

Resetting to VESA does the same thing. After failing, I'm dropped into a root prompt.

I have the same card and the same exact problem.

It would be nice to know there are any plans to include this driver or if those of us who have it are simply SOL.

Xiong

[xiong25]

To answer my own post, a little research has revealed that Source Forge is working with VIA on a driver for Linux, anyway....can this be ported to BSD?

See: http://unichrome.sourceforge.net/ for more info.

Hope this helps BSD developers and, in the long run, us users!
:D
xiong

[teilhk]

My graphics card is a rather old S3 Savage 4
My monitor is a Compaq MV 720 (17")
When I run "startx" I get two errors: (EE) No drivers found and a fatal error: "no screens found".

Whe I make Xorg -configure I do not get a xorg.conf.new. I get: "unable to locate/open config file "/root/xorg.conf.new" However, I have a file /etc/X11/XF86Config.

I could do more tests, like modifying the file XF86Config, but the filesystem is read only for me.

When I run "Xorg -configure", I can see there is a Savage driver, but I doubt what is in the file XF86Config is a right specification of what is the driver to seek.

Teilhard.

[oreo_masta]

I just thought I'd leave some feedback seeing as I had problems installing PC-BSD 1.0rc2. Here's my system:

2.4GB P4
1GB RAM
ATI X800 Pro - graphics card

When I first tried installing it went fine through the flower screen, then the blue text menu came up with all my options. Graphical Installer did not work (and no varients of trying 800x600, loading VESA, etc worked). It would try to load up /etc/X11/XF86Config and then would bomb out afterward. That was the last line on my screen. X would never start. I looked in the forums and saw this section, thankfully it got me thinking out of the "if it doesn't work, i give up" box :) When I tried "Xorg -configure" (as suggested earlier) It gave me an error about /root/xorg.conf.new not existing. Some error, I forget now. So here's what I did for my ATI card:

vi /etc/X11/XF86Config

In there you'll see the XFree86 configuration. The graphics card section was something like:

Section "Input"
Identifier "card0"
Driver "vesa"


Just edit that to read:

Driver "ati"


Then to save your changes and get out of vi:

<press Shift + Q>
write!
quit!
startx


Then I was golden and installing in a very nice-looking graphical installer :) Sorry for laying it out step by step, as I know that's more than is needed for reporting what I did... just hoping to help future ATI card owners out ;)

[stegre]

sure now i decide to read your post on the install bugs Kris, after i posted on this very same problem, :oops:

guess i'll have to follow this one along and see what happens :?

[stegre]

my system

ati pro 9100 graphics card
envision '17 inch lcd
asus a7v333 (via chipset)
1.5gig ram

just figured i'd do a follow-up with more info to my previous post.
no problem with the install initially, bootup and graphics look all okay, everything stops at the 'setup disk'. won't go beyond that screen..

[spikkle]

If you read the PCBSDInstall script that is sitting in root's home directory, you'll notice that to run the installer after getting dumped to a prompt, you just have to run startx.

For me, getting dumped to the prompt was a bit of a showstopper until I figured this out -- since the console clears the screen when it activates, and left me with no scroll-back buffer (or I don't know the hot-key, 1 or the other).

To make it work, I fired up old vi, to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config . The driver line was wrong. it was something like "chips@Chips ..... CT65530". Not to mention the card (laptop) is a CT69000, the driver line just takes a driver name, nothing else. I changed the driver to just read "chips", ran startx, and now it is installing happily.

I have seen other recommendations to use the vesa driver. I suppose this works for some, but you are probably better off using your native driver if you can.

Coming from a linux background, I would say it would be nice if the install was running in a framebuffer where you set your resolution at boot time, or it picked something suitably low by default (800x600?). However, I don't know if FreeBSD can do framebuffers (honestly, I don't... just ignorance on my part).

So, change the driver, don't be afraid of VI, and run startx.

[stegre]

thanks for the belated responce on the install issues regarding RC2, as I've already moved on to another distro, Ubuntu 5.10 :D
Its a really distro, installed beautifully, is a pleasure to use, has a very good FAQ
and web users guides, as well as a large, userfriendly, timely forums and wiki.
My problems with PCBSD 1.0RC2 go back weeks ago..
Call me impatient or whatever, but I'll not be spending 'weeks' waiting for solutions for something happening now :(
So then, with this post I'll say goodbye, best of luck to all of you..

[pcbsdusr]

It's a pitty people aren't patient. On the other side, the project has been kind of idle in regarding bug fixes so i understand his reasons.

[Caraibes]

Hi Folks,

I am new to BSD, but have a Linux and windows background...

I also have pc´s running with VIA chipset, and integrated S video card. I couldn´t get past the root prompt...

I will experiment all the tricks posted here in that thread and post some feedback...

I want to point that install was smooth with my ati radeon 7000 video card...

See you...

[pr0d]

Hi folks,
I am using an Asus S5N laptop with an Intel 855 Graphics adapter. Trying to install PCBSD always ended up with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner while starting up X.
System did not respond to any keystroke besides ctrl, alt, del. This restarted the system.
Changing to 800x600 had the same effect, resetting to vesa also the same.
I startet the emergency shell and looked into the Xorg config file manually and by that saw, that choosing reset to vesa driver had no effect to the config file at all because the i810 driver was still to be loaded.
Manually changing the driver to vesa and running startx made it work and guess what am I'm installing now :)
Just wanted to share my experience and hint that there might be a bug in the script that should change the driver back to vesa.
Greets and keep up the good work!

[Keystroke13]

I am having this same issue, but with a slight variation.

Currnet Hardware:
ASUS A7V400-MX
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08GgHz
VIA KM400A Chipset
Integrated VIA UniChrome Graphics
256MB Kingston Value RAM
40GB Barracuda 7200.7 IDE HDD

1. During the graphical install I get dropped to a prompt of "root@:~#"
2. "StartX" and I get a "Fatal Server Error No Screens Found"
3. So I tried "Xorg -configure" as suggested in a prior post. I get the following "(EE) Unable to locate/open configure file "/root/xorg.conf.new"
4. So I tried to "ls /etc/x11" and get "No such file or directory"

I was somewhat successful during a previous install of PCBSD when I changed the graphics driver from "vesa" to "via" on a completely different system w/ the same hardware specifications. For some reason this system doesn't like my install using the same CDs.

Any thoughts?

[TerryP]

possibly Media / Drive issue (i.e. incompitable disk/drive combo) or a corrupt disk. (Check md5 checksum). Maybe even disable the acpi in bios??

All I can think of.

[NetUnix]

My graphics card is a rather old S3 Savage 4
My monitor is a Compaq MV 720 (17")
When I run "startx" I get two errors: (EE) No drivers found and a fatal error: "no screens found".

Whe I make Xorg -configure I do not get a xorg.conf.new. I get: "unable to locate/open config file "/root/xorg.conf.new" However, I have a file /etc/X11/XF86Config.

I could do more tests, like modifying the file XF86Config, but the filesystem is read only for me.

When I run "Xorg -configure", I can see there is a Savage driver, but I doubt what is in the file XF86Config is a right specification of what is the driver to seek.

Teilhard.



hi,

i've the same problem and the same old graphic card you have: The Savage4.
have you solved the issue?

[Caraibes]

I am wondering if the new release of PCBSD 1.1 will solve the install problem on integrated video chipset (S3, in my case, with VIA chipset)...

-Should I waste a blank cdr and some bandwidth, or is it gonna be just the same black screen ??

Any feedback is welcome... 8)

[antik]

I am wondering if the new release of PCBSD 1.1 will solve the install problem on integrated video chipset (S3, in my case, with VIA chipset)...

-Should I waste a blank cdr and some bandwidth, or is it gonna be just the same black screen ??

Any feedback is welcome... 8)

New 6.1 kernel got S3 drm support built-in, you have to try it out.

[Caraibes]

I am wondering if the new release of PCBSD 1.1 will solve the install problem on integrated video chipset (S3, in my case, with VIA chipset)...

-Should I waste a blank cdr and some bandwidth, or is it gonna be just the same black screen ??

Any feedback is welcome... 8)

New 6.1 kernel got S3 drm support built-in, you have to try it out.

Sorry, Friends, but it is exactly the same problem...

I am gonna use PC-BSD on my main machine (with a radeon 7000), and will try DesktopBSD with my S3 pc´s... :?

[bbjimmy]

I am having this same issue, but with a slight variation.

Currnet Hardware:
ASUS A7V400-MX
AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08GgHz
VIA KM400A Chipset
Integrated VIA UniChrome Graphics
256MB Kingston Value RAM
40GB Barracuda 7200.7 IDE HDD

1. During the graphical install I get dropped to a prompt of "root@:~#"
2. "StartX" and I get a "Fatal Server Error No Screens Found"
3. So I tried "Xorg -configure" as suggested in a prior post. I get the following "(EE) Unable to locate/open configure file "/root/xorg.conf.new"
4. So I tried to "ls /etc/x11" and get "No such file or directory"

I was somewhat successful during a previous install of PCBSD when I changed the graphics driver from "vesa" to "via" on a completely different system w/ the same hardware specifications. For some reason this system doesn't like my install using the same CDs.

Any thoughts?




the directory name is /etc/X11, not /etc/x11 ( note the capitol X )

edit /etc/X11/XF86Config and set the Driver to via instead ov visa and the system should then install ... I have the same hardware.

[antik]

New 6.1 kernel got S3 drm support built-in, you have to try it out.

Sorry, Friends, but it is exactly the same problem...

I am gonna use PC-BSD on my main machine (with a radeon 7000), and will try DesktopBSD with my S3 pc´s... :?[/quote]

I found out that S3 support left accidentally out. next release will iclude support for S3 Savage and Intel cards..

[mjanosi]

OPTIPLEX 755
================================================== ====
- real memory = 3487559680 (3325 MB)
- CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz (2394.00-MHz 686-class CPU)
- hard drive: 238418MB <Seagate ST3250310AS 3.ADA> at ata4-master SATA300
- video card: nvidia GeForce 8400 GS
- monitor: ViewSonic ViewPanel VG191b

I only get an out of range error on the monitor and no response from any keystrokes (i.e ctrl-alt-F2) except for ctrl-alt-del. The funny thing is it works fine with PC-BSD 7.x.x.