Boot goes blank with all options

[Ark42]

v6.0.1 worked for me in the past, but I was trying to mount an EFI GPT HFS+ Mac partition on a SATA drive, and it wasn't working. I downloaded v6.4.3 in hopes it had support for GPT and burned that to a CD, but now it just goes to a blank screen no matter what I try. It acts like things are loading, and even after the activity LED on my computer case stops blinking, pressing the Reset button will cause some more activity, followed by a the CD being ejected after I press Enter, even though I can't see a thing on the screen.

I tried: knoppix vga=0, knoppix vga=0 debug -b 3, and failsafe debug -b 3 but they all more or less immediately go to a blank screen.

Hardware is:
Abit KN9 SLI nForce 570 SLI
Athlon X2 4200+ 2.2Ghz (Socket AM2)
3GB DDR2 (2x 1GB + 2x 512MB)
Asus GeForce 7600GS 512MB DDR2 (PCI Express)
250GB 7200rpm Hitachi SATA drive
52x CD-ROM (IDE)

no floppy, no DVD or burner on this computer.

Using PS/2 keyboard, Microsoft USB Laser Mouse 6000, and a Samsung SyncMaster 940BF 19" LCD. I normally only have DVI hooked up, but as the video card has a VGA output as well, I tried that just to check. Still blank screen there.

[Werner P. Schulz]

... first of all check integrity of download

md5sum -c KNOPPIX_V6.4.3CD-2010-12-20-EN.iso.md5

After burning CD reinsert CD and check with

md5sum /dev/sr0

if this checksum differ from downloaded checksum or not.

Greetings Werner * http://www.wp-schulz.de/knoppix/summary.html
"Build personal Recovery-CD with Knoppix (Knoppix remaster)"

[Ark42]

md5sum is correct, and matches the CD. I burned another copy with Nero and checked Verify Data. It verified fine as well, and still has the same md5sum, as well as the same issue on boot.

[Ark42]

Found something that helps. If I use "knoppix xmodule=svga" then I get to stare at a black screen for 2-3 minutes while things boot, and eventually, the X desktop appears. If I try to ctrl+alt+F1 to get a text terminal, it just goes black again and I can't ctrl+alt+F5 to get back to X.

The whole time (BIOS screen, boot prompt, black screen while booting, X desktop, and black screen for text terminal) the monitor info screen says "DIGITAL 63.9kHz 60Hz PP 1280x1024" and never changes.

The last things I can see before the long black screen boot process are:
boot: knoppix xmodule=svga
Loading linux...........

Loading minirt.gz..........ready.
(screen clears/blinks once)
Probing EDD (edd=off to disable)... ok

Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... done.
Booting the kernel.
(screen clears)

[krishna.murphy]

Found something that helps. If I use "knoppix xmodule=svga" then I get to stare at a black screen for 2-3 minutes while things boot, and eventually, the X desktop appears. If I try to ctrl+alt+F1 to get a text terminal, it just goes black again and I can't ctrl+alt+F5 to get back to X.

This is not as it should be, but the key-combos don't seem to work as usual for me, either. I have had to use

chvt 1

to switch to the first virtual terminal; once there, the key-combos work again until you're back in X. You can also open a terminal in X from the icon that looks like a terminal on the bottom left. Don't forget use "sudo" or "sudo su" if you need root privileges (which those virtual terminals have, by default.)

Cheers!
Krishna

[Ark42]

Ctrl+LeftAlt+F1 should do the exact same thing as "chvt 1"
Sometimes you need to add +Shift to the mix to get out of X, but either way, I am getting out of X and not seeing a text terminal like I'm used to. Yes, I can open a virtual terminal in X just fine, but I'm trying to add information to the video problem I'm seeing here.

Side note: using xmodule=svga and a virtual terminal to work around my graphic issue: I was able to mount a GPT HFS+ partition on a SATA drive just fine with Knoppix 6.4.3, so for anybody who saw my first post where 6.0.1 did not work: The feature was added to Knoppix at some point and it works great to copy data from Mac drives.

[krishna.murphy]

Sounds like you need to look up the driver for your video device in Google. There is a lot of activity in that arena under another Linux variant called Ubuntu. Most any debian-based system (as Knoppix is) can use the same stuff. If all else fails, you can sometimes use the Windows driver, but it's usually a lot of work.

Cheers!
Krishna

[Ark42]

As I posted above (hasn't shown up yet due to moderation) xmodule=svga works (sorta) and Knoppix 6.0.1 worked by default with no special boot parameters.
I don't think there is anything special about a moderately old GeForce 7600GS or PCI Express that would make this card unsupported. Something has changed between 6.0.1 and 6.4.3 to break this though.

[klaus2008]

I don't think there is anything special about a moderately old GeForce 7600GS or PCI Express that would make this card unsupported. Something has changed between 6.0.1 and 6.4.3 to break this though.

There is an important difference between Knoppix 6.0.1 and Knoppix 6.4.3 in the way it supports NVIDIA graphics adapters. Knoppix 6.4.3 comes with the nouveau graphics driver in addition to xorg's nv graphics driver. On the web page http://knopper.net/knoppix/knoppix64-en.html Klaus Knopper writes

The new nouveau graphics drivers do not support each and every NVidia graphics adapter equally good yet; some cards don't support changing resolution, or some of the acellerated 3D functions won't work.

Klaus Knopper provides the solution to use the cheatcode

knoppix nomodeset xmodule=nv

at the boot prompt. I think that Knoppix 6.4.3 uses the nouveau graphics driver by default if a modern NVIDIA graphics adapter was detected. Thus I would suggest that you try the cheatcode in order to use the nv graphics driver instead.

[Ark42]

dmesg

 ums-datafab
[    1.657427] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-freecom
[    1.657473] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-isd200
[    1.657519] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-jumpshot
[    1.657564] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-karma
[    1.657609] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-onetouch
[    1.657654] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-sddr09
[    1.657699] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-sddr55
[    1.657744] usbcore: registered new interface driver ums-usbat
[    1.657853] PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    1.657856] PNP: PS/2 appears to have AUX port disabled, if this is incorrect please boot with i8042.nopnp
[    1.658389] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    1.658633] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
[    1.658975] rtc_cmos 00:04: RTC can wake from S4
[    1.659079] rtc_cmos 00:04: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[    1.659110] rtc0: alarms up to one year, y3k, 242 bytes nvram
[    1.659226] device-mapper: uevent: version 1.0.3
[    1.659361] device-mapper: ioctl: 4.18.0-ioctl (2010-06-29) initialised: dm-devel@redhat.com
[    1.659494] EISA: Probing bus 0 at eisa.0
[    1.659497] EISA: Cannot allocate resource for mainboard
[    1.659559] cpuidle: using governor ladder
[    1.659561] cpuidle: using governor menu
[    1.659564] ioatdma: Intel(R) QuickData Technology Driver 4.00
[    1.660412] usbcore: registered new interface driver hiddev
[    1.660471] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    1.660473] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    1.660475] zram: num_devices not specified. Using default: 1
[    1.660477] zram: Creating 1 devices ...
[    1.661154] ALSA device list:
[    1.661156]   No soundcards found.
[    1.661257] TCP cubic registered
[    1.661259] Initializing XFRM netlink socket
[    1.661264] NET: Registered protocol family 17
[    1.661275] NET: Registered protocol family 15
[    1.661346] lib80211: common routines for IEEE802.11 drivers
[    1.661349] lib80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'NULL'
[    1.661352] Registering the dns_resolver key type
[    1.661442] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
[    1.662002] rtc_cmos 00:04: setting system clock to 2011-01-11 22:22:48 UTC (1294784568)
[    1.684465] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input2
[    1.743748] ata7.00: ATAPI: ASUS    CD-S520/A4, 1.2, max UDMA/33
[    1.743757] ata7: nv_mode_filter: 0x739f&0x739f->0x739f, BIOS=0x7000 (0xc0000000) ACPI=0x701f (60:600:0x13)
[    1.750332] ata7.00: configured for UDMA/33
[    1.900036] ata5: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    1.900064] ata3: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    2.053360] ata1: SATA link up 1.5 Gbps (SStatus 113 SControl 300)
[    2.060267] ata1.00: ATA-7: HDT722525DLA380, V44OA96A, max UDMA/133
[    2.060270] ata1.00: 488397168 sectors, multi 16: LBA48 NCQ (depth 31/32)
[    2.073599] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
[    2.073712] scsi 0:0:0:0: Direct-Access     ATA      HDT722525DLA380  V44O PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    2.074027] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 488397168 512-byte logical blocks: (250 GB/232 GiB)
[    2.074073] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
[    2.074077] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
[    2.074096] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[    2.074146] sd 0:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
[    2.080996]  sda: sda1
[    2.081330] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk
[    2.136690] usb 2-5: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 2
[    2.337708] usb 2-5: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=00f0
[    2.337712] usb 2-5: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[    2.337714] usb 2-5: Product: Microsoft ® Laser Mouse 6000
[    2.337717] usb 2-5: Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
[    2.350017] input: Microsoft Corporation Microsoft ® Laser Mouse 6000 as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:02.0/usb2/2-5/2-5:1.0/input/input3
[    2.350263] generic-usb 0003:045E:00F0.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Microsoft Corporation Microsoft ® Laser Mouse 6000] on usb-0000:00:02.0-5/input0
[    2.386684] ata2: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    2.700022] ata4: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    3.013355] ata6: SATA link down (SStatus 0 SControl 300)
[    3.014320] scsi 6:0:0:0: CD-ROM            ASUS     CD-S520/A4       1.2  PQ: 0 ANSI: 5
[    3.015880] sr0: scsi3-mmc drive: 52x/52x cd/rw xa/form2 cdda tray
[    3.015883] cdrom: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
[    3.016047] sr 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0
[    3.016208] sr 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg1 type 5
[    3.016315] ata8: port disabled. ignoring.
[    3.016350] Freeing unused kernel memory: 560k freed
[    8.613961] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[    8.633249] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
[    9.166923] cloop: losetup_file: 15171 blocks, 131072 bytes/block, largest block is 131098 bytes.
[    9.294714] ISO 9660 Extensions: RRIP_1991A
[    9.296183] aufs test_add:253:busybox[1587]: uid/gid/perm /KNOPPIX 0/0/0755, 0/0/01777
[   25.317755] k8temp 0000:00:18.3: Temperature readouts might be wrong - check erratum #141
[   25.525825] i2c i2c-3: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x1c00
[   25.525849] i2c i2c-4: nForce2 SMBus adapter at 0x1c40
[   25.589845] forcedeth: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.64.
[   25.590130] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APCH] enabled at IRQ 22
[   25.590137] forcedeth 0000:00:08.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APCH] -> GSI 22 (level, low) -> IRQ 22
[   25.590143] forcedeth 0000:00:08.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   25.590188] nv_probe: set workaround bit for reversed mac addr
[   25.650916] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [APC1] enabled at IRQ 16
[   25.650922] ohci1394 0000:01:08.0: PCI INT A -> Link[APC1] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[   25.650928] ohci1394 0000:01:08.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   25.703883] ohci1394: fw-host0: OHCI-1394 1.1 (PCI): IRQ=[16]  MMIO=[fddff000-fddff7ff]  Max Packet=[2048]  IR/IT contexts=[4/8]
[   25.703889] ohci1394: fw-host0: Unrecoverable error!
[   25.703896] ohci1394: fw-host0: Async Req Rcv Context died: ctrl[0000880e] cmdptr[00000000]
[   25.703903] ohci1394: fw-host0: Async Rsp Rcv Context died: ctrl[0000880e] cmdptr[00000000]
[   26.107014] forcedeth 0000:00:08.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x5043 @ 0, addr 00:50:8d:91:7d:0f
[   26.107019] forcedeth 0000:00:08.0: highdma csum vlan pwrctl mgmt gbit lnktim msi desc-v3
[   26.107253] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [AMC1] enabled at IRQ 21
[   26.107258] forcedeth 0000:00:09.0: PCI INT A -> Link[AMC1] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
[   26.107263] forcedeth 0000:00:09.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   26.107313] nv_probe: set workaround bit for reversed mac addr
[   26.623717] forcedeth 0000:00:09.0: ifname eth1, PHY OUI 0x5043 @ 1, addr 00:50:8d:91:7d:10
[   26.623722] forcedeth 0000:00:09.0: highdma csum vlan pwrctl mgmt gbit lnktim msi desc-v3
[   26.623983] ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [AAZA] enabled at IRQ 20
[   26.623990] HDA Intel 0000:00:06.1: PCI INT B -> Link[AAZA] -> GSI 20 (level, low) -> IRQ 20
[   26.623995] hda_intel: Disable MSI for Nvidia chipset
[   26.624026] HDA Intel 0000:00:06.1: setting latency timer to 64
[   26.973357] ohci1394: fw-host0: Unrecoverable error!
[   26.973362] ohci1394: fw-host0: Async Req Tx Context died: ctrl[0000880e] cmdptr[00000000]
[   26.973367] ohci1394: fw-host0: Async Req Rcv Context died: ctrl[0000880e] cmdptr[00000000]
[   26.973372] ohci1394: fw-host0: Async Rsp Rcv Context died: ctrl[0000880e] cmdptr[00000000]
[   26.973608] ieee1394: Host added: ID:BUS[0-00:1023]  GUID[00508d0000905a33]
[   27.196694] hda_codec: ALC883: BIOS auto-probing.
[   28.973261] Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
[   28.986958] FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
[   33.140022] usb 1-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 3
[   33.265594] usb 1-2: New USB device found, idVendor=1307, idProduct=0165
[   33.265598] usb 1-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   33.265601] usb 1-2: Product: USB Flash Drive
[   33.265603] usb 1-2: Manufacturer: USB 2.0
[   33.265606] usb 1-2: SerialNumber: 06c63766214583
[   33.266794] scsi8 : usb-storage 1-2:1.0
[   34.268855] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     USB 2.0  USB Flash Drive  0.00 PQ: 0 ANSI: 2
[   34.269062] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0
[   34.270145] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 63176704 512-byte logical blocks: (32.3 GB/30.1 GiB)
[   34.271710] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[   34.271714] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 00 00 00
[   34.271716] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   34.274708] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   34.409723]  sdb: sdb1
[   34.548706] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[   34.548710] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[  194.538186]   alloc irq_desc for 40 on node -1
[  194.538189]   alloc kstat_irqs on node -1
[  194.538200] forcedeth 0000:00:08.0: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X
[  194.543117]   alloc irq_desc for 41 on node -1
[  194.543121]   alloc kstat_irqs on node -1
[  194.543132] forcedeth 0000:00:09.0: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X
[  194.543330] eth1: no link during initialization.
[  194.642683] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[  194.655297] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[  200.622949] NET: Registered protocol family 10
[  200.623157] lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
[  200.623663] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
[  210.936658] eth0: no IPv6 routers present