Newbie can't complete boot up

[Ken]

I put the CD in reboot, get Knoppix welcome screen, hit enter I get Tux and the programs starts to load. Shows what it's detected. Then the screen goes blank, light on the keyboard goes out and after a bit the CD stops spining and it just sits there. The USB optical mouse has power, if I move it I can hear the CD spin. No keyboard, black screen. :cry:

This is my first attempt with linux. Can anyone help?
TIA
Ken

Knoppix v3.2 2003-03-30
Win XPpro, 2.4 gig Intel, 512 RAM

[Henk Poley]

Take a look at the docs (http://www.knoppix.net/docs/), especially the "cheatcodes".

And uhm, if you have a video problem I would suggest posting about your videocard...

[Ken]

Henk

Thanks for the quick reply. I have looked at the cheatcodes by hitting F2 at the start but not sure what if anything I need to change. I could change to lang=us but would it stop the keyboard from functioning if I didn't?
I don't believe it's a video problem. I have an Nvidia GeForce 4 card. I can see the boot screen.

[Stephen]

Try booting with a cheat code of:

boot: knoppix lang=us vga=normal

boot: knoppix lang=us fb800x600

boot: knoppix failsafe

The keyboard still works the light going out would be the num lock key. IIRC KDE starts with the num lock key off by default you have to change a setting for it to be turned on at startup of KDE.

[RockMumbles]

I can see the boot screen.

The boot screen is totally different than the video mode that knoppix runs in, it sound like a video problem to me, no video after hardware detection.

What kind of monitor do you have?

rock

[Ken]

Thanks Stephen and Rock,
I'm using 18 flat panel DVI input with 1280x1024 native resolution.
I'll try the cheat settings you suggested. Also understand about the num lock as it goes out as soon as the boot screen starts.
Thanks,
Ken

[Ken]

Try booting with a cheat code of:

boot: knoppix lang=us vga=normal

boot: knoppix lang=us fb800x600

boot: knoppix failsafe

The keyboard still works the light going out would be the num lock key. IIRC KDE starts with the num lock key off by default you have to change a setting for it to be turned on at startup of KDE.
OK I tried all 3 settings none of them worked vga=normal put the screen into powersaver mode i.e. what happens when I'm not using the computer for a while and changed the boot screen. Keyboard is working, at least the num lock and cap lock lights show when pressing them. So I'm left with 2 theories:
1) This build can't deal with digital video input to the monitor :?: Is this a known issue that I missed?
2)I have a corrupt copy of Knoppix. :(
It did take me 2 tries to get a complete download. The second is the right size 700mg.
I do have the analog input cable that came with the monitor but currently only have the digital cable plugged in.

Ken

[garyng]

did you get the prompt with "knoppix 2" ? If yes, it relates to the XFree86.

[Ken]

did you get the prompt with "knoppix 2" ? If yes, it relates to the XFree86.
Didn't try that one and got no prompt. Just did the ones Stephen listed plus knoppix desktop=kde. I figured that was the default but have no clue as I can't get that far.
Tried your suggestion but the boot stopped at:
root@tty1[/]# and waited for input. I have none to give! lol Sorry, I am new at this.

[garyng]

That is the command prompt. So it has been confirmed to be XFree86 related. This is the weakest link of linux and quite possible that your monitor is not supported.

What video card you have ?

[Stephen]

Just to make sure try it with the analog cable you really got nothing to lose ( you didn't mention if you did) and change the fb to fb1280x1024 for your monitor resolution.

[Ken]

Just to make sure try it with the analog cable you really got nothing to lose ( you didn't mention if you did) and change the fb to fb1280x1024 for your monitor resolution.
Stephen,
I haven't had time to get my analog cable plugged in yet. I did take the CD to school and ran it there with no problems. They use CRT monitors. I was amazed at how much stuff is included on the CD. Some I'm familiar with (OpenOffice, I'm a M$ Office user) others I have no clue! :?

Garyng,
I have an Nvidia GeForce 4 T120 graphics card.

Thanks guys for all your help, now I just need to find some books on what all that stuff is. lol

Ken

[Viro]

Seeing as you have an nVidia card, you could try forcing it to use the nv driver. Use the cheatcode



boot: knoppix xmodule=nv

See if that helps.

[Ken]

Seeing as you have an nVidia card, you could try forcing it to use the nv driver. Use the cheatcode



boot: knoppix xmodule=nv

See if that helps.
Viro,
Thanks for the suggestion but I still get the same results. Seems I need to get the analog cable plugged in and change the monitor to analog if I ever want to play with this. But I'm always open to more ideas.
Ken