Update ends in black screen

[linuxopjemac]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerPCFAQ

[Javelin Dan]

Thank you!

[Javelin Dan]

Success!!

That did it rsavage! At the boot screen? (first black screen that says "boot" and some other things) I tried to type your command. My input wasn't accepted at first, but the screen flickered and changed to a new black screen that said only "boot". I assume that's what you meant by second boot screen (floundering in uncharted waters here). I had read the Powerpc FAQ's but didn't see anything I clearly understood that would get me to an actual terminal at boot. If I missed it, please correct me. Next to "boot" I typed in the command "Linux radeon.modeset=0", hit enter, and bingo - the boot continued to an 11.04 desktop. If I sequentially upgrade to 11.10 and ultimately to 12.04 am I likely to experience the same problem and will the fix be the same? You rock by the way!

[rsavage]

Eh? That was in 11.04??? radeon.modeset=0 does what linuxopjemac was saying which I said wouldn't work. It turns off KMS wich should be off by default in 11.04.

I wanted you to try it in 10.04, but it doesn't really matter now.

I'll have to have a think about this why that command fixed it for you. If you can try a live 12.04 CD (try lubuntu) and let me know if you need that parameter I'd be grateful.

Thanks

[Javelin Dan]

You read my mind. I didn't have time last night due to a meeting, but tonight I planned to try the last daily build of Lubuntu I burned that wouldn't bring up a desktop and try the same command. Since I recorded it on the disk, do you need to know the date of that build? Just for the record, I never had a problem in 10.10 and don't recall ever trying 10.04. Also for the record, most of the daily builds that failed to boot a desktop on this particular machine would boot on my wife's G4 eMac that has 1 GB of RAM. So the problems I'm having seem to be limited to this box. I'll let you know...

[rsavage]

Thanks Dan. It doesn't matter which daily build you try. I still can't figure out why that works.....

[rsavage]

I don't think the kernel config can be changed now. It is too late. Hopefully radeon.modeset=0 will work for you in 12.04.

[Javelin Dan]

Lubuntu 12.04 Failure!

I loaded the last live Lubuntu disk I burned and entered at the boot prompt: "live radeon.modeset=0". It booted through to the same thing I had before - a dark screen with a movable cursor. However, I did want to confirm that this did work a second time on 11.04.

Early this morning, I rebooted the computer and it had a safe landing into an 11.04 desktop. Tonight after I tried what you asked, I rebooted into 11.04 to a dark screen and movable cursor. So I repeated the process: at second boot screen I entered "Linux radeon.modeset=0" and it booted into an 11.04 desktop again.

I received my 512 MB memory chip in the mail today. I'm anxious to see what it does, but will hold out to see if there's anything else you would like me to try with this machine in it's current configuration. My skills are very limited, but I'm eager to help if I can.

[rsavage]

I don't know what is wrong. You could try it the opposite way and boot using

live radeon.modeset=1 radeon.agpmode=-1

Note the 1 and minus 1.

This will probably dump you at a prompt.

If you then issue the command

sudo start lightdm

you should get to a desktop.

The best long term thing though would probably be to run through the configure graphics sections of the FAQ. I'll update it and the known issues page over the next week for 12.04.

[Javelin Dan]

I'll try it tonight and let you know.