I went out the other day and bought a load of components to build my first PVR I saw the hardware no no list so steared clear of VIA chipsets, ATI cards etc. So i played safe and got an ASUS motherboard with intel chipset and a nvidia geforece 6620 card, but alas is is not a trouble free install.

I have seen many posts with the same symtoms as I am having. Installed knoppmyth and installation went fine, however after reboot when gdm starts up the screen goes black and it respons to no commands, I cant even swith to another console.

My graphics cards is an NVIDIA Geforce 6620, which I believe could be the problem or maybe the configuration of X?

I had a cd with knoppix 3.3 lying around so tried that and it boots perfectly into x and is fine. Is it possible that I could copy the X server config across to my knoppmyth install and find out what NVIDIA modules it is running?

I am a newbie here so sorry if I seem ignorant but would love to get myth TV working

Sorry Forgot system specs:

Asus P4P800-VM 865PE Socket 478 Micro ATA
Intel Celeron 330 478-Pin 2.6GHz
400MHz 184Pin 512MB PC3200 DDR RAM
GeForce 6200 256MB 8xAGP DVI/TVO Graphics Card
Leadtek TV2000 XP-RM TV Card

Running knoppmyth R5A26

Hi jdt199,
Try bringing the system up without the tuner card, maybe a confict with irq's or something. You can also try to ssh in from another box if you know the ip.

Maybe someone has some light about the video card, too new?

Mike

Thanks for you advice, Mike.

I have just tried this bul to no avail still the same blank screen.

I cant think that there is anyting wron with the hardware anyway as knoppix 3.3 starts x server fine with no problems. I was wondering if knoppmyth has just installed the wrong module for the 6620 maybe? Is there anyway to find out what knoppix config is and copy it for knoppmyth?

Ill keep looking anyway

Hi jdt199,

Just so I don't assume something that isn't, take it in steps.
A> you checked your cd for a good burn?
B> you are using what version?
C> install went with out issues?
D> all went well with the reboot?
E> installed i686?
F> ide drive?
G> Fill in the blanks, we can't see what you see except with the description you post, other wise any hints are just vauge and generic.

Mike

Hi Mike,

OK here the info...

A> I aasume its a good burn as the install went ok and I can see files on it how else can I check?

B> Using the latest version R5A26
C>Install appeard to go without issues
D>Reboot appears to go OK allthough the messages scroll very fast. System then hangs after starting gdm.
E> Not sure what you mean by installed i686 I thought an auto install picked the kernel version for you?
F> Yes Im using an IDE drive Maxtor 160Gb

Cheers

1. Booting off the Knoppix CD, it only runs X using the nv module. For best performance, you have to compile and use the nvidia module. So you cannot copy the configuration over.

2. You should give more details on the issue. X doesn't start doesn't cut it. I'm sure you got some sort of error.

R5A22 on up, uncompresses the kernel and compiles the nvidia binary drivers. Perhaps the kernel did, fully get uncompressed? As root:


What happens?

_________________
cesman

When the source is open, the possibilities are endless!

SUCCESS!!

But unstaisfactorally I dont know how. Thanks to Mike for this making me think. Your suggestion of Check a successfull burn, which I have to say, I thught was a daft thing to ask but got me to try downloading another image to burn. this time I downloaded the R5A16 version rather than the R5A26. Did an auto install and it booted X first time. So I reccomend to others who have this issue to first get another copy (maybe a different version) and give it a go.

Thanks also to cesman, but I assure you I did not get any errors, It simly said "starting gdm" and then hung with a black screen, no errors and i couldnt even ctrl + alt to another console so couldnt try your code unfotunatly. I was going to edit /etc/inittab and swith to runlevel3 to stop gdm loading then run your code but I tried this first.

Thanks all... Now to configure the rest....

Hi jdt199,

Glad to hear you had succes with the A16. I would be ready to bet a piece of Grandma's apple pie that your first cd was a bad burn. The testcd is an option when you first boot up the cd. A search on the forum will show the exact syntax to enter. You would do this step before pressing tv or enter.

Once you have the A16 all tweaked, do a backup, download and reburn a new A26 then do an an upgrade. A few minor tweaks and you are good to go again with all of cesman's fine touches available.

Mike

Hi all I was reading this topic and it I sorta have the same issue but I have not yet tried to downgrade to A16. I did reburn and to no avail. My problem is the Auto Install works great but after the reboot X will not continue.

This is what it says



once I login it says



then it gives me the prompt mode and I don't know what to do from there.

My setup is

ASUS A8V-MX Socket 939 VIA K8M800 Micro ATX
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor
nVidia Geforce FX 5200 128MB
20GB Western Digital IDE Hard Drive
250GB Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA150 Hard Drive

If any other information is needed please let me know

You should be able to find the errors in /var/log/XFree86.0.log for other places to look check out the troubleshooting pages on the Wiki:
http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=TroubleShooting
http://www.knoppmythwiki.org/index.php?page=CheckingLogFiles

Sure sounds like a bad burn...

- Re-download from a different mirror.
- Verify the md5sum.
- Burn at the slowest speed using a different type of medium if possible. Even a different CD drive if possible since some drives don't like the disks produced by some others.
- Boot from the CD and at the first prompt for boot options enter "expert testcd" or "tv testcd", or ... Watch the messages while it checks the files in the image.

Ok, I did as you prompted me and the disk was fine. I reinstalled and once again when I reboot. It asks me to enter my username and password. I do and then it just gives me the command prompt. If I type "mythtv" it says could not connect to X server and when just type X there is a gray screen and an X as the mouse icon.

Time to look at the log file. See the wiki page listed 3 posts back. Look for an error thats says something like "no valid modes found". If you find that, try the modelines from the example XF86Config-4 for 5200 on the wiki.

Hi,

I just tried an upgrade from R5A12 to R5A26 today and am running into the same problem. After the installation, the system appears to boot correctly but does not start X. No XFree86 log was ever created? I checked my ISO image after I downloaded it. The MD5 checksum was okay.

My configuration:

Motherboard: Chaintech 7NIF4
Memory: 512 MB
Tuners (2x): Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 - Model 980
Hardrive (2x) : 250 MB Westen Digital\
Case: CASE COOLERMAS|ATXDTATC-620C-BX1RT
Power Supply: COOLRMSTR 350W RS-350-AMS

This has been working for over 6 monthes uner R5A12. No IRQ conflicts etc. I'll test my CD and see what happens.

-Mark