Black screen after installing patches on new computer
Dell Precision T1700
ATI Firepro 2270 video card
Redhat 6.5
After patching the computer and rebooting, the screen stays blank. I tried CTRL + ALT + backspace and nothing. I tried factory recovery and then unselecting the video drivers but still the same. I do get the POST screen but once it starts to load the OS it blanks out. I tried taking out the video card and booting up with the onboard video. It says i915 0000:00:02:0: More than 8 outputs detected. Is there anything I can try to fix this?
Responses
Guru
6827 points
updated
Hi Jarett,
-
Check this link https://access.redhat.com/solutions/55861 first... and here is the driver page.
- I have numerous systems with an ATI driver and I have to re-run a specific command to get my graphics back (I can post the command tomorrow; I have a pre-patch script for kernel patches for my ATI workstation systems that upon reboot forces the system to init 3, and executes the needed commands that automates this) then goes to init 5.
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After thinking about it, I suspect (can not confirm until tomorrow) this may be the command (scroll to bottom of the link):
/usr/bin/aticonfig --initial
Note, this will be different if you are using dual head display)
- After the system comes up, use/try one of the pseudo-terminals (ctrl-alt-f2, ctrl-alt-f3, etc), and see if you can use a terminal login.
-
Often after applying patches, one must apply a driver for the graphics card.
- check to see if there is a ati-fglrx document under /usr/share/ati-fglrx or /usr/share/ati*
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Check your history as root to see if there's any clues from the original setup of the graphics
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If you manage to log in with a pseudo-terminal, examine your system logs, xorg logs, xorg,conf, etc.
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Are you able to ssh to the system from another system after booting?
I'll post tomorrow with the command we use
Guru
6827 points
I've had to fix some systems by using ssh to connect remotely to them and then run the applicable commands (I patch numerous systems, servers workstations, and on occasion have to run it remotely via ssh). If you happen to have this managed under a Red Hat Satellite server, you can pass the commands remotely...
I'll verify my script/command tomorrow and post here. I'll see if I can later include the script to somewhat automate this.
Guru
6827 points
Jerett,
The preparation script we run before a kernel patch changes the default run level to 3 in /etc/inittab, and moves the start script in /etc/rc3.d/s999aticonfig.sh from a lower case "s" to uppercase so it invokes at run level 3.
The script has the system copy the xorg.conf with a time/date stamp at the end of the file, then reboot and go to go to init 3.
That start script in init 3 then runs:
/usr/bin/aticonfig --initial
/usr/bin/aticonfig --xinerama=on
- If it is dual head, it runs the following instead of the above block:
/usr/bin/aticonfig --initial=dual-head
/usr/bin/aticonfig --xinerama=on
- Then after this, the script changes the inittab back to 5 and reboots, and renames the start script in /etc/rc3.d/S999aticonfig.sh to a lower case "s".
In the overwhelming number of systems, this works without incident.
The fglrx rpm must be installed prior to these commands above (but if it has already been ran previously, I do not believe it needs to be ran again)
Let us know how it goes...
Kind Regards...
Guru
6827 points
Hi Jarett,
I'll post the scripts I spoke of for you (kinda busy today, probably next week). The scripts I spoke of are for systems whose drivers I know I have. I've made satellite server configuration channels for both ati drivers and nvidia driver workstation systems. I have this for both rhel 5 and 6. If you do not have a satellite server, you could use a different method to deploy the scripts.
The scripts automate the process of updating the drivers after a kernel update for my workstations. I'll get back to you here.
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