postinstallation: drive_cmd: seek complete error

On Monday 07 January 2008 19:23:14 Martin Wegmann wrote:
> On Monday 07 January 2008 14:11:24 Franklin Piat wrote:
> > Martin,
> >
> > On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 13:17:19 +0100, Martin Wegmann wrote:
> > > On Monday 07 January 2008 13:00:04 Franklin Piat wrote:
> > >> On Mon, 7 Jan 2008 11:44:48 +0100, Martin Wegmann wrote:
> > >> > I installed debian (netinstall) on a T61 Thinkpad which worked fine
> > >> > until I booted my system after the installation.
> > >>
> > >> Did you installed Etch or Testing ?
> > >
> > > testing netinstall, but I will try it again with the CD-1 of testing.
> >
> > This should be fine.
> >
> > >> > The monitor turns blank after a few seconds and the system did not
> > >> > respond anymore. It tooks me a few reboots to read the last error
> > >> > message.
> > >>
> > >> Can you boot in single-user mode ?
> > >
> > > yes, but problem remains
> >
> > So it's not due to Xorg.
> >
> > I guess you have a T61 with an Nvidia graphic. Can you tell me what's
> > your T61 "type" (it's written on the laptop's sticker).
>
> 8889-2BG S/N L3 -K8253 07/12
>
> > Can you try to boot with kernel parameter "vga=1" or "vga=871".
>
> vga=1 same problem
> vga=871 gave: unrecognized value and a list to choose from or "scan".
> "scan" had no effect and returned to the list. Choosing 0 resulted in the
> same error: blank screen.
>
> ah!
> after the nth reboot I got a prompt to enter my root pwd for maintenance,
> then I was able to reconfigure my xorg and after reboot I received the same
> error message but now changing between: error-blank-error-blank.... and
> finally a detailed error message that x-server couldn't be started and the
> log-output is:
>
> (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
> (EE) No devices detected
>
> Fatal server error:
> no screens found
>
> I ran dpkg-reconfigure xserve-xorg and using the "autodetection values"
> resulted in a blank screen without any CLI.
>
> UsingATI, nVidia caused the flickering monitor. Applying Vesa finally gave
> me a graphical login screen however the refresh rate is too low
>
> how do I find the correct settings?
>
> TFT Display; 1400x1050 (SXGA+); 14,1 Zoll (35,8 cm)
> 128 MB GDDR SDRAM; nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M
>
> and BTW dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg does not prompt monitor queries
> anymore, just mouse and keyboard.

and login off kde results in a black screen with red strips and flashing
questions marks ... nice ,-)

problem must be xorg.conf - try to configure it tomorrow ... Martin

--

Martin,

Do you understand how to use virtual consoles? If the entire problem is
misconfigured X, then you should have no problem using a text console.

By default, Debian creates six virtual text consoles, and X uses the
seventh vc. To switch from an X console to a text console, use
Alt-Ctrl-Fn, where Fn identifies the console, e.g. F1 for console 1. To
switch from a text console, the Ctrl is unnecessary (e.g. Alt-F4), but
is innocuous. The reason for the Ctrl is that X reserves Alt-Fn keys
for application use. To switch back to X, use Alt-F7 (or Alt-Ctrl-F7).
Each console is independent and preserves its state even when that
console is not displayed, so you can login on three different text
consoles and in X, and switch between them. You can have multiple X
servers running, and each will use a separate vc; e.g. the second X
server will use vc 8 (if available).

I have seen cases where the broken X configuration put the video card in
a state where I could not Alt-Ctrl-F1 back to a text console (or I
could, but the screen did not reflect reality, so I was typing blind),
so this may not work in your case.

Also, if you start with "1" as a kernel parameter, you should not get to
the point where X starts, and you should be able to use the text
consoles to debug. Without gdm (or kdm or xdm) running, you can start a
one-time X session (without the graphical login screen) using startx
from a shell (on a text console).

For an nVidia graphics adapter, you probably want to install the
non-free nvidia-kernel-* package for the kernel you are using and the
nvidia-glx package. The nvidia-kernel-* packages provide the kernel
module for driving the text consoles, and the nvidia-glx module provides
the xorg modules. To add non-free to the list of Debian package
sources, edit /etc/apt/sources.list to include contrib and non-free
after main. These lines should work for etch, but you may want
different servers/distributions:

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security etch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security etch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian etch main contrib non-free

There is also an xdebconfigurator package that purports to assist in
configuring xfree86 and xorg servers, but I have not used it.

Hope this helps!

...Marvin

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