Blank Screen in Gentoo

[jerann]

I apologize if this problem was solved elsewhere on the forum - I looked around, but I was unable to find a solution myself. I just did a new install of Gentoo on my box running a GeForce 6800 GT. I started off with the Vesa diver, and it worked fine for x. Then, I tried using the binary driver at first using emerge (it appeared to install the 9631 package). It didn't work, so I tried again by downloading the 9631 package directly from nvidia, but I had the same problem. When X starts, the screen shuts down (the monitor goes into power save mode and then goes blank). I've successfully used nvidia linux drivers in the past on this machine, so I'm not sure what the problem is. Attatched is the log - thanks!

[energyman76b]

First, deinstall the driver, and reinstall it, using the ebuild.
And never ever again use the driver package.

You ask for breakage und you'll get it. A lot of apps can't compile, if you use nvidia's opengl. With the ebuilds, no problem. Just switch to xorg-x11 opengl, and after compiling, switch back. Also, in the past the driver package left a lot of garbage in the system - and this will lead straight into all kinds of problems.

So NEVER USE THE DRIVER PACKAGE!

if your monitor shuts down on the start of X, it is a sign, that the monitor gets frequncies out of its spec.

Please recheck, double check your settings. And remove the 'size'.
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
recheck this----> HorizSync 30.0 - 65.0
and this ----> VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0
remove this---> DisplaySize 325 260
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

[netllama]

jerann,
According to your bug report, two CRTs are being detected, however no EDID is detected for the first, and a mangled EDID is detected for the 2nd.

I have a few questions:
0) Are you using two CRTs?
1) Are they connected directly to the graphics card with no intermediary devices?
2) If you set UseEDID to false in xorg.conf, and create modelines, does that help at all?
3) Does this problem persist in 1.0-9742 as well?

Also, installing the Gentoo ebuild wouldn't have any impact on this problem.

Thanks,
Lonni

[energyman76b]

yeah, the ebuilds don't have any impact on THIS problem. But not using ebuilds will create a lot of them in the future.

[jerann]

Thx for the quick replies. It is my understanding that in Gentoo, it's always best to use ebuilds if you have the choice, and since the same behavior is displayed in either event, I went ahead and switched back to the ebuild. My vid card has both a vga plug and a dvi plug, and I have my CRT plugged into the vga plug directly. There is nothing plugged into the dvi plug. I attached the log file so you will see this, but I changed around my xorg.conf as suggested. It now reads:

[code[
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
HorizSync 30.0 - 65.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0
# DisplaySize 325 260
Modeline "1280x1024@60" 114.98 1280 1312 1744 1776 1024 1045 1055 1076
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Generic Video Card"
# Driver "vesa"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "UseEDID" "FALSE"
EndSection
[/code]

But, alas, no change. I went back to the vesa driver, and everything came back up just fine, so I'm sure that I have the modeline and refresh rate things set correctly. Also, I have not seet a 1.0-9742 - I think the one I have (1.0-9631) is the most recent.

[netllama]

1.0-9742:
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_do...etadriver.html

Try adding:
Option "UseDisplayDevice" "CRT-1"

[Bluekkis]

9742 betas are also in portage, just add "x11-drivers/nvidia-drivers ~arch" to /etc/portage/package.keywords, where arch is either x86 or amd64.

[jerann]

OK, well it looks like that worked. I didn't have to update the drivers - just having Option "UseDisplayDevice" "CRT-1" in the "Device" section worked. I was, however, forced to continue using Option "UseEDID" "FALSE" and setting the modeline. Otherwise, it would only allow me to use a resolution of 800x600. But now, it looks just fine. Thanks again!