Debian install failing

[rw2]

Installed 4349 using the script and neither startx nor gdm want to start.

I've tried a whole boatload of things, but don't really know what to do next!

[rw2]

with verbose 5 turned on

[FReAK La Marsch]

Hi,
I had the same problem, I guess.

I had to load the driver manually into the kernel using
insmod /lib/modules/2.4.20-xfs/kernel/drivers/video/nvidia.o

Hope that helps and have fun,
FReAK

[rw2]

If I manually load the driver as you suggest then my machine hangs, requiring a power cycle to reboot.

[rw2]

Now that I'm a bit more lucid this morning I guess I should point out a few things.

1) GeForce 4200
2) Dell I8500
3) XFree 4.2.1
4) Linux 2.4.18

I should have put that stuff in last night, but it's in the log and I was, as I said, tired.

Anyway. The one thing I see in the log that seems like it might be a little off is that the driver advertises itself as "compiled for 4.0.2". I assume this is ok and a result of the fact that nvidia provides a binary driver. Can someone confirm this?

Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.

[dakshi]

Looks like your problem may be similar to mine,
I have a GeForce3 Ti200. When it looks like
there is Xserver or KDM, try Ctrl-Alt-Del and
see if the machine reboots. This at least tells
you the machine is not hanging, just that it
doesn't want to give you an X screen.

[rw2]

Nope. It's cool of you to check my work as it's likely to be something I've done wrong, but in this case I meant it when I said I must power cycle.

The three finger salute leaves me staring at a blank screen. (as does typing "work damn you work", BTW)

[bwkaz]

Does your machine hang when you insmod the driver, or when you startx after that?

Seeing as I don't have any clue about the details of a "Dell I8500" system, is it SMP? Are you using the 4200's DVI? If the answer to both of these is yes, then you'll want to take a look at the driver errata. Actually, even if the machine isn't SMP, you'll have issues with DVI and an SMP-enabled kernel. So check the kernel configuration to see whether or not CONFIG_SMP is set.

[rw2]

It hangs at startx. insmod runs fine and lsmod shows the driver loaded.

The I8500 is a laptop. I don't actually know, but I do assume they use DVI. I can't check this for a few hours so someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll check the errata on this subject, thanks for the pointer.

SMP also...

[bwkaz]

Yeah, if it's a laptop, then chances are it's using DVI. Does it have a 15-pin high-density D-sub connector on it anywhere (the kind of connector a VGA monitor would plug into)? If so, try using that instead as a test with a spare monitor (if you have one).

[rw2]

rebuilding the kernel without SMP seems to be the straw that broke the camels back.

Thanks much for the tip.