Results 1 to 6 of 6

Thread: Boot stops at blank screen

  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Posts
    1

    Boot stops at blank screen

    Have a Proliant 1850R that was shipped to our office. The motherboard died and we had to move the drives to another Proliant 1850R. The server had Windows NT 4.0 on it. When booted, I get a "non-system or disk error".

    I decided to try to get the data off using Knoppix. I get a blank screen after it says it's trying to load X window. I also get the error "You passed an undefined mode number"

    I've tried the following with no success.

    vga=normal
    knoppix vga=771
    knoppix vga=773
    knoppix vga=788
    knoppix vga=ask
    knoppix xmodule=vesa
    knoppix screen=800x600
    knoppix screen=640x480

    Tried 3 different monitors.

    I spent all day on this thing with nothing to show for it. I appreciate any help.

    Thanks.
    Last edited by krishna.murphy; 11-17-2010 at 04:46 AM. Reason: typo

  2. #2
    Senior Member registered user
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    N42.41 W73 and change
    Posts
    401
    Could you post a little more info - what version of knoppix, how much ram on the mobo, what video chipset/card. Did you verify the MD5 of the cd/dvd.

    A couplle of things you can try , vga=normal as a cheatcode. Alternatively, if you can operate from the command line, knoppix 2 at boot should get you there.

  3. #3
    Moderator Moderator
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Asheville, NC, USA
    Posts
    528
    Quote Originally Posted by rusty View Post
    Could you post a little more info - what version of knoppix, how much ram on the mobo, what video chipset/card. Did you verify the MD5 of the cd/dvd.

    A couple of things you can try , vga=normal as a cheatcode. Alternatively, if you can operate from the command line, knoppix 2 at boot should get you there.
    I agree, this would be good information, and knoppix 2 is a valid way to get more information (perhaps some log files may be there from the earlier boots.) In the past, when I got this error it always went on to a normal bootup. I think I might have hit Enter or the escape key, or ???

    Cheers!
    Krishna

  4. #4

    Possible incomplete download or CD burn error

    Incomplete downloads and bad CD burns are common and possible causes of failed booting.

    Background: I downloaded Knoppix CD v6.0.1 via uTorrent which initially said 100% download (complete).
    Problem: The boot was failing with a 'blank screen' after 'Loading minirt.gz'
    Solution: After doing a 'Force Re-check' of the download in uTorrent, it was proved to be only 83.5%. I then re-started the download and completed it. Re-burned onto high-quality CD and it worked fine.

    Note: For most successful CD burn, use slowest speed, high-quality 700MB CD with maximum RAM buffer. This will minimize possibility of a bad burn, which had previously given me a 'input/output' error.

  5. #5
    Administrator Site Admin-
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,441
    Quote Originally Posted by peter.hentrich View Post
    Incomplete downloads and bad CD burns are common and possible causes of failed booting.

    Background: I downloaded Knoppix CD v6.0.1 via uTorrent which initially said 100% download (complete).
    Problem: The boot was failing with a 'blank screen' after 'Loading minirt.gz'
    Solution: After doing a 'Force Re-check' of the download in uTorrent, it was proved to be only 83.5%. I then re-started the download and completed it. Re-burned onto high-quality CD and it worked fine.

    Note: For most successful CD burn, use slowest speed, high-quality 700MB CD with maximum RAM buffer. This will minimize possibility of a bad burn, which had previously given me a 'input/output' error.
    I have not used uTorent so have no good idea why it would act as described. I did work with someone who got to 100% in a different torrent program, only to have a problem. Turned out that he was waiting until he saw 100% and then stopped the thing instantly, rather than wait for the last bit to finish and the download to really be done. In any case the md5 would catch the problem, and is faster and cheaper than burning a coaster.

    Not sure how one changes the RAM buffer, can you provide details? Is that a feature of particular burning software? Of course, any remotely modern burner will have "burn proof" or some similar feature, but it is always better to not rely on that. And burning at low speed helps a lot in preventing buffer under run.
    ---
    Verifying of md5 checksum and burning a CD at slow speed are important.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Harry Kuhman View Post
    Turned out that he was waiting until he saw 100% and then stopped the thing instantly, rather than wait for the last bit to finish and the download to really be done.
    Harry, yes, for the 83.5% problem, this was most probably my mistake also.
    However, on another occasion, I waited until it said 'download complete' and 'seeding only' but the 'md5' check proved to be erraneous. I had to 'force re-check' twice to restart the download. At that point, the 'md5sum' check was a successful 'OK'. The cause is unknown and could also be user error.

    In any case the md5 would catch the problem, and is faster and cheaper than burning a coaster.
    Well said.

    Not sure how one changes the RAM buffer, can you provide details? Is that a feature of particular burning software? Of course, any remotely modern burner will have "burn proof" or some similar feature, but it is always better to not rely on that. And burning at low speed helps a lot in preventing buffer under run.
    In Nero Express 7, go to Options>Ultrabuffer to check the size of the secondary buffer. In most cases, this check is not necessary, as the default should be set to 'Automatic', which is the highest value, 80MB.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  


Dell PowerEdge FX2 FX2S Enclosure - 4x PowerEdge FC640 w/ 8x Gold 6132 112C 1TB picture

Dell PowerEdge FX2 FX2S Enclosure - 4x PowerEdge FC640 w/ 8x Gold 6132 112C 1TB

$2294.99



Dell PowerEdge FX2 FX2S Enclosure - 4x PowerEdge FC640 w/ 8x Gold 6134 64C 1TB picture

Dell PowerEdge FX2 FX2S Enclosure - 4x PowerEdge FC640 w/ 8x Gold 6134 64C 1TB

$3299.99



Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis Enclosure 8x B200 M4 16x E5-2640v3 128gb picture

Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis Enclosure 8x B200 M4 16x E5-2640v3 128gb

$599.99



DELL M630 BLADE SERVER x2 XEON E5-2660V3 @ 2.6GH H730 PERC HDD CADDIES 16GB FC picture

DELL M630 BLADE SERVER x2 XEON E5-2660V3 @ 2.6GH H730 PERC HDD CADDIES 16GB FC

$50.00



HPE ProLiant BL460C 6248 Blade Server NO HDD picture

HPE ProLiant BL460C 6248 Blade Server NO HDD

$300.00



DELL POWEREDGE M620 Blade 2x Xeon E5-2670 2.5GHz 128GB 2x300GB HDD picture

DELL POWEREDGE M620 Blade 2x Xeon E5-2670 2.5GHz 128GB 2x300GB HDD

$94.50



HP ProLiant BL460c G8(Gen8) 2x 8 CORE E5-2670 2.6GHz 192GB RAM 2x 146GB SAS HDD  picture

HP ProLiant BL460c G8(Gen8) 2x 8 CORE E5-2670 2.6GHz 192GB RAM 2x 146GB SAS HDD 

$78.00



Dell PowerEdge M1000e (BMX01) Server Enclosure w/ 16-PowerEdge M610 Blade Server picture

Dell PowerEdge M1000e (BMX01) Server Enclosure w/ 16-PowerEdge M610 Blade Server

$899.99



Dell PowerEdge FX2s CTO Blade 4 Slot 2U Chassis 2x 2000W picture

Dell PowerEdge FX2s CTO Blade 4 Slot 2U Chassis 2x 2000W

$349.00



Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Server picture

Dell PowerEdge M620 Blade Server

$39.99