[vox-tech] replaced video card - get blank screen

[Peter Jay Salzman]

hi kevin,

begin Kevin Hooke <kevin@kevinhooke.com> 
> I recently replaced the video card in my desktop (dual boot Suse8.0/WinXP)
> from an ATI Radeon AIW to a Radeon 9500.
> 
> When I now boot in linux I get the Suse Lilo boot menu, and then past that
> point all I get is a blank screen. I've tried booting to just textmode
> (runlevel 2), but same thing - blank screen (I know the card is ok because
> it works fine in XP)

<guess>
it sounds like "plain text mode" might be a frame buffer.   frame buffer
needs per-card support by the kernel.  that might explain why text mode
broke.

look at the video= options in the bootprompt howto to see how to turn
off the frame buffer.
</guess>

> I have an rpm for the latest drivers for the 9500 card - is there any way I
> can install them using rescue mode (this does display text ok) or something
> similar, or is the easiest way just to put the orginal card back in, install
> the new drivers, then put the new card in (I should have done this in the
> first place if I was thinking straight :-0

this is the kind of thing that single user mode was invented for.  ;)

try:

telinit 1

as root.

> I've tried to telnet in from another machine to install the driver that way,
> but it seems I don't have telnetd running (I can't connect).
 
get into the habit of not using telnet.  i'd be shocked if ANY distro
had telnetd running by default.  you prolly have sshd running.  try
ssh'ing into the machine.


pete

-- 
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,
then you win. -- Gandhi, being prophetic about Linux.

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