Author Topic: Linux LiveCD problems (Read 15958 times)

Calum · « **on:** November 29, 2006, 01:01:18 PM »

I downloaded the Slax and Ubuntu LiveCDs yesterday and tried them both out today
I can boot from them fine, but then with Ubuntu I get some music and then a black screen. Eventually the CD drive spins down, but nothing happens even if I leave it for half an hour. No sound, no display, no response, whatever I press. I had to shut it down by holding down the power button.
With Slax, it boots fine, but then whatever option I choose for the display mode it doesn't work. I get a lot of errors about failing to load things and that "x may have crashed". They scrolled by quite fast, so I don't actually know the exact messages I got.
So in short, neither CD works. With one I get a black screen, and with the other I get a lot of error messages until I shut down.
Can anyone help me out here? Could it be a problem with hardware incompatability?

GX1_Man · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2006, 03:07:17 PM »

Tell us about your hardware.

Also when you boot Slax (let's focus on that) your login in root, the password is toor. On screen you will see the command to configure your video adapter> I don't remember what it is, but you will see that. Type it and press enter and it will set up the X Configuration for the best results for the video card it configures. You will be returned to the prompt where you type in startx and press enter. What happens then?

SilentAssasin64 · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2006, 03:46:08 PM »

The command, GX1, is "xconf" I believe (for future reference).

GX1_Man · « **Reply #3 on:** November 29, 2006, 07:03:53 PM »

That sounds correct. Thanks.

I use so many Linux flavors it is hard to keep them all straight.

Calum · « **Reply #4 on:** November 30, 2006, 10:45:28 AM »

It is xconf, that was the first thing I did after logging in as root with password toor
I then used startx, whuch is when all the errors came up
There was no GUI or anything, just the black screen with white letters reporting errors, problems and so on
Hardware - AMD Turion 64 MT-37 2GHz, ATi Mobility X1600 256Mb, 1Gb RAM, 15.4" widescreen 1280x800, 100Gb 7200rpm HDD, DVD-RW drive (Sony DW-Q520A)
Thanks for the replies

Calum · « **Reply #5 on:** December 03, 2006, 12:38:06 PM »

I downloaded Ubuntu and Slax again, plus the 64 bit version of Ubuntu
Same problems with all 3 distros - Slax gives me errors, and both of the Ubuntu versions just sit there with a black screen, looking at me dumbly
I'm at a complete loss now, I've no idea why these aren't working unless it's a hardware incompatibility

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #6 on:** December 03, 2006, 02:46:58 PM »

What happens if you press Ctrl+Alt+F1?

Calum · « **Reply #7 on:** December 05, 2006, 01:56:05 PM »

On which distro?
And when?

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #8 on:** December 07, 2006, 12:41:06 PM »

Any distro, at the black screen.

Calum · « **Reply #9 on:** December 07, 2006, 01:42:01 PM »

OK I'll try it when I get some time, thanks

Calum · « **Reply #10 on:** December 09, 2006, 06:32:36 AM »

I trid Ctrl + Alt + F1 at the black screen on Ubuntu.
I got a command prompt, but had no idea where to go from there.
I typed help and got a list of commands, but they scrolled past too fast to read.
I shut it down then because I had no idea what to do.
I also downloaded a Linspire LiveCD, but that hangs halfway through loading - the progress bar stays halfway along and the CD drive spins down, not doing anything. It doesn't do anything if I leave it for half an hour either.

GX1_Man · « **Reply #11 on:** December 09, 2006, 10:29:02 AM »

Experience has shown me that a slow burn (4x or less) is desirable, assuming the download was not corrupted. You may want to burn another.

Calum · « **Reply #12 on:** December 09, 2006, 10:32:06 AM »

After Ubuntu and Slax didn't work the first time, I searched the forum for a while and found your advice about slow burns.
I burned all 4 of these at 4x speed, with nothing else running in the background.
It could be a corrupted download, but I doubt all 4 CDs would be corrupted.
Plus, I used the CD validation tool on Ubuntu, and it checked out OK.
The others don't have that option, but still . . . all of them corrupted?

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #13 on:** December 09, 2006, 11:04:25 AM »

Don't worry - I just wanted to establish that your distro had installed. It has. Ctrl+Alt+F7 will take you back to the black screen. From there, Ctrl+Alt++ should cycle between different resolutions. See what happens when you try that.

Calum · « **Reply #14 on:** December 09, 2006, 11:06:03 AM »

OK, I'll try that in a bit.
Thanks very much for all your suggestions, everyone.

Calum · « **Reply #15 on:** December 19, 2006, 08:49:13 AM »

I think you should make an new thread for this, idiotsavantnot.
Although the problems may appear to be linked, they are probably not, and replies will confuse everyone involved.
Oh, and I haven't forgotten about this, I've been really busy this week with revision for my mock exams.
I will try out everyone's ideas when I have time, really I will.

GX1_Man · « **Reply #16 on:** December 20, 2006, 04:11:18 AM »

Calum, I continue to be impressed with you.

Calum · « **Reply #17 on:** December 20, 2006, 04:28:21 AM »

Quote

Calum, I continue to be impressed with you.

Thank you.

Calum · « **Reply #18 on:** December 25, 2006, 01:43:58 PM »

OK, I'm now going to try out the Ctrl-Alt-+ thing and anything else people have come up with.
Sorry for neglecting this but I've been busy ~~playing BF2142~~ revising for school

I'll let you know how it goes and thanks for the suggestions.

Calum · « **Reply #19 on:** December 27, 2006, 06:40:54 AM »

OK, Ctrl-Alt-+ does nothing.
Is this because I don't have a dedicated + key?
To get the + sign I have to hold shift and press =, or hold Fn and press :.

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #20 on:** December 27, 2006, 07:12:25 AM »

Does Ctrl+Alt+- do anything?

Calum · « **Reply #21 on:** December 27, 2006, 07:17:44 AM »

No, that was the very next thing I tried.

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #22 on:** December 27, 2006, 07:44:24 AM »

Bother. Your xconf is all mucked up. Unless you really want to get into the nitty gritty of xconf files (I wouldn't, personally) I would just go for a distro that does work, and give thanks for the fact that there are so many.

Calum · « **Reply #23 on:** December 27, 2006, 08:14:32 AM »

OK then, never mind.
It's not hugely important, I just wanted to play around a bit.
I have acquired a Mandriva 2007 LiveCD which I will try next.
Thanks for the help.

Calum · « **Reply #24 on:** January 05, 2007, 11:03:46 AM »

I'm back yet again.
Just wanted to let everyone know I haven't forgotten, I was waiting for my DVD drive to arrive so I can burn the ISO from the CD it's on to another CD.
Now I have the drive but I have some other problems, so I'm holding off on the LiveCDs until I solve those.

Rob Pomeroy · « **Reply #25 on:** January 10, 2007, 01:21:28 AM »

Quote

Just wanted to let everyone know I haven't forgotten

We're so relieved.

Calum · « **Reply #26 on:** January 28, 2007, 03:52:57 AM »

I'll admit, this time I did forget about it.
BF2142 and mock GCSEs drove it out of my head temporarily.
Anyway, I got it working at last.
I used Mandriva 07, and it worked.
So I've been messing around with that a bit.
Looks pretty cool.
You'll probably see a lot more posts from me in this section asking about Linux, I'm thinking of a dual-boot system now.
Thanks for all the replies anyway, I did at least get it sorted.

GX1_Man · « **Reply #27 on:** January 28, 2007, 05:21:40 AM »

Dual boot is a real pleasure.

Calum · « **Reply #28 on:** January 28, 2007, 05:22:40 AM »

As in actually good, or kill your system good?
It's not too hard to set up, is it?

GX1_Man · « **Reply #29 on:** February 03, 2007, 07:42:55 PM »

As in actually good. Most distros set it up automatically as well.

Calum · « **Reply #30 on:** February 04, 2007, 05:47:52 AM »

Oh, great.
Awesome.
Thanks a lot for yor help everyone and I'll get onto dual boot sometime soon hopefully.

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Author Topic: Linux LiveCD problems (Read 15958 times)

Calum

GX1_Man

SilentAssasin64

GX1_Man

Calum

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

Calum

GX1_Man

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

Calum

GX1_Man

Calum

Calum

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

Calum

Rob Pomeroy

Calum

GX1_Man

Calum

GX1_Man

Calum