Virtual Consoles

[Dale Stewart]

When I got RH 7.0 working, the ctl-alt-F2, etc. worked fine for a while. Then it quit working! Now if I am in Gnome or KDE and try ctl-alt-F2 I get a blank (black) screen, and ctl-alt-F7 will not bring back the GUI. In fact, I am at that point locked up so that a power off and power back on is the only way to resurrect the system.

Can anyone help me?

[Marco Paganini · Accepted solution]

Hello Dale,

It seems that you have some kind of videocard misconfiguration. I've seen cases where X disrupts the text consoles when you switch the VCs using Ctrl-Alt-Fn. You should try to re-configure your Xserver to use default vga (It will be horrible, but it's just for testing purposes) and see if the problem still happens. If it does, it's a matter of fine-tuning your Xserver config.

Regards,
Paga

[Dale Stewart]

Paga - Thanks! I am slow, but please don't give up on me. I am a newbie with Linux, and do not always know *how* to do something. Your reply makes sense, because the V.C. failure occured about the time I "fixed" the resolution on my monitor. I'm not sure how to go back to just "VGA" but I will try. Editing XF86Config-4 did not help, because the file is too complicated for me to know what to do. Should I try linuxconf or Xconfigurator?

Thanks again - Dale

[Dale Stewart]

Hello again, Paga
I tried Linuxconf and got a lockup. When I rebooted, there were boot errors regarding the Screen, and all I got was a text console. So I ran Xconfigurator to reset the Display to 800x600 (best choice for my monitor). It then booted back to my GUI, but ctl-alt-Fx still gave me a black screen and a lockup. You suggested a test in which I re-configure my Xserver to use default vga. I just don't know how to do that. Can you help me find documentation on how to do this?

Thanks - Dale

[Vincent Stedema]

Hi,

Do you know the chipset of your video card?

Anyway, you can try to change to a vc on which you're already logged in and then type 'reset' to reset the console. This might just work..

Regards,

Vincent

[Dale Stewart]

Hi, Vincent!

I cannot *get* a console on which to type "reset". I tried it in a Gnome Terminal, but nothing happened.

My XF86Config-4 file contains the line:

device:
"Intel Corporation|82810 CGC [Chipset Gra"

Does this help?

I really need a console, I believe, because there are times when one would like to just enter commands. Right?

Thank you. Any further help would be greatly appreciated!

Dale

[Vincent Stedema]

Hi Dale,

So you mean that you don't even get a prompt when you open a gnome term?

Anyway, I suspect problems with your X configuration. Could you please post (or attach) the following:

- output of "lspci -vv"
- your XF86Config
- /var/adm/XFree86.0.log

Regards,

Vincent

[Dale Stewart]

Hi, Vincent!
I am able to get a Gnome terminal. The reason I am seeking Virtual Console functionality is so I can learn more.

Per your suggestion, I tried the command lspci -vv, and got a 'no such command' message.

I have attached (I hope) the other two things you wanted.

Thank you - Dale

[Dale Stewart]

Here is the other file

[Eric Ladner]

You have to be logged in as root to execute lspci.

Another thing to check is at the LILO: prompt, type 'linux single' and see if it brings you up to a shell prompt.

Your XF86Config-4 settings should have no effect on the virtual console. They are always standard VGA, unless you are running special vga modes out of the lilo.conf or using a package like SVGATextMode.

Including the output of dmesg would be helpful too, to see if there are any failure messages from the kernel at boot time.

Is this a hand compiled kernel, or an out of the box kernel, and what distrobution if so?

[Dale Stewart]

Thanks, Eric

When I boot, the display shows all the boot action until I get a prompt. It ignores any attempt to sign on, and continues to boot into the GUI sign on prompt. I then sign on as root, get the Gnome or KDE desktop, then bring up a terminal enulation. At that point, lspci always results in a bash message that lspci is a command not known.

I have attached my dmesg output file.

My kernel is out of the box.

Thank you for any help you can give - Dale

[Dale Stewart]

I am closing this problem. It is not fixed, but I have decided that I don't know enough yet to help all of you help me! Thanks to all of you who tried to help.

Dale

[Eric Ladner]

Awww.. don't give up yet..

When you log on to the GUI, what userid do you use? My guess is it's not root.

Also, when you are booting up, you should have the optino to interrupt the boot sequence just after all the BIOS messages. For a RedHat machine, for example, when it displays the list of things you can boot from on the graphical screen, you can hit 'Ctrl-X' to get a text LILO interface, where you can type 'linux single' at the boot: prompt.

The other option, is to go into the GUI, get a terminal and become the root user (type this: 'su - root' and give the root password when it asks).

The actual command you are looking for is /sbin/lspci (or '/sbin/lspci -v' for more detailed info)

You have to either boot into single user mode, or log on to the system as root somehow. This won't work if you log in with a normal user account

[Eric Ladner]

Also, so as not to stop your learning process, if you can open a gnome-terminal or the KDE equivalnet, you are accomplishing the same thing as going to a virtual console.

You can do just about everything in a gnome-terminal that you can on a VC. I hardly ever use the VC's because the terminals in X are a lot more friendly (you can't resize your VC on the fly!)

That'll keep you forging ahead until the pesky Ctrl-Alt-Fx problem is fixed