Tiny Core Linux

Tiny Core Base => TCB Talk => Topic started by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 12:16:40 AM

Title: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 12:16:40 AM
Hi !

I have 2 TCL versions on my BIOS laptop. x86 and x64. I use x64 frequently. I do not open x86 version too much.

But today, when I opened x86 TCL, it just shows black screen( after all those colorful "Loading kernel, Loading apps). I rebooted but the same happened. I tried booting it with the base command and loaded only 4 Xvesa, aterm, wbar, jwm and then did startx but the same black screen. I tried base with flwm too but the same thing happens. The x64 is loading perfectly without any errors.

In a forum, I saw that graphics module is needed. I downloaded it and loaded it but then, the black screen now has an underscore ( :-\ ). It is not blinking. What to do ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Sashank999 .
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 10, 2020, 12:27:54 AM
Do you have two separate tce directories for 32-bit and 64-bit extensions - for example, tce and tce64?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 01:04:51 AM
Hi Juanito,

I have two dirs: tce32 (for x86) and tce64 (for x64). I specify them via boot option as tce=sda5/tce32.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 10, 2020, 01:16:22 AM
The graphics-KERNEL extension is not required for Xvesa - you can check for errors in starting the gui by executing the first line of ~/.xsession from the console prompt.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: PDP-8 on July 10, 2020, 03:47:10 AM
I've had this happen to me before when swapping out different boot sticks - and it may not pertain to your hardware.

One one of my boxes, (a small cheap hockey-puck sized mini-pc), when I change boot sticks, it seems to need to be powered down, *and the power physically disconnected* and then reconnected with the stick I want to boot from before applying power.  A simple power-off is not sufficient - I need to physically pull the power from the back of the unit and plug back in with the new boot stick already in place.

Seems like the system is taking an inventory of what is attached to the usb ports, and then quickly powers off internally waiting for you to manually power up.  I can see an led glow for a few seconds and then it all goes dark.

Then it is no longer confused leaving me at a blank screen.

I'm not a big hardware guy, but I was tearing my hair out when I discovered this.

Could just be my specific hardware, but thought I'd throw that out.

Either that, or did you upgrade to 11.1 and possibly need the intel_iommu=off kernel cheatcode?

Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 05:19:07 AM
Hi Juanito,

After executing first line of .xsession I got the error "/use/local/bin/Xorg line 8: /usr/local/lib/xorg/Xorg.wrap not found".

Hi PDP-8,

Mine is a laptop an I physically remove the power every time. Also tried adding intel_iommu=off to the bootcodes list but still no progress. My first TCL is 32 bit v11.1. It is the first version I got.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 10, 2020, 05:47:06 AM
Hi Sashank999
Do you have  Xvesa  and  Xorg  both listed in your  tce/onboot.lst  file? If so, remove one of them.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 07:03:58 PM
Hi Rich,

I had Xvesa and Xprogs both on onboot. I removed Xprogs. But still the same error.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 10, 2020, 07:14:23 PM
Hi Sashank999
Not  Xprogs.  Read it again:
Do you have  Xvesa  and  Xorg  both listed in your  tce/onboot.lst  file? If so, remove one of them.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 08:42:54 PM
Hi Rich,

I have only Xvesa on onboot.lst .
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 10, 2020, 08:55:29 PM
Hi Sashank999
What happens if you do this:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -i Xvesa aterm wbar jwm
/usr/local/bin/Xvesa -shadow -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -t 1 -nolisten tcp -I >/dev/null 2>&1 &
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 10, 2020, 11:58:24 PM
Hi Rich,

That gives a black screen. No underscore, no wbar.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 11, 2020, 12:09:34 AM
Did you check that graphics-KERNEL is not loaded?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 11, 2020, 02:00:34 AM
Hi Juanito,

Yes. It is not loaded when I am executing commands said by you both.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 11, 2020, 02:34:41 AM
It might be easier to use flwm for testing rather than jwm (less deps) - it might also be worth checking for something missing with:
Code: [Select]
$ ldd /usr/local/lib/lib*.so | grep found
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 11, 2020, 04:29:42 AM
Hi Sashank999
Please attach a copy of your  /opt/.filetool.lst  file to your next post.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 11, 2020, 05:29:10 AM
Hi Juanito, Rich,

Juanito, I have tried again with flwm but still the same black screen. I have also done the command you said but the output was nothing. I also piped the command to "less" to manually check for "found" text but there is no such text.

Rich, here is /opt/.filetool.sh.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 11, 2020, 07:42:18 AM
Hi !

Did anyone get a solution ? I am really sad :( to get my first linux distro going wrong.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 11, 2020, 08:02:08 AM
Have you tried booting with code "norestore" and only Xvesa, flwm aterm and wbar "onboot"?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 11, 2020, 07:40:16 PM
Hi Juanito,

I have tried as you said. Then, I got the Xvesa resolution setup (That Green Color setup). Then, I got the black screen. I have seen somewhere in forums that Alt + Control + F1 returns to Terminal. I did it and then I saw "failed in waitforX". I have also done sudo startx but then I got Xvesa setup again but again black screen. Again I returned to Terminal and I got "Giving up. failed in waitforX".

What to do ?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 11, 2020, 08:53:34 PM
Hi Sashank999
I'd like to try something. Go to this thread:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,23936.0.html
Download the  TCscan.sh  script. Make it executable and run it. Attach the  .txt  file it produces to your next post.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 11, 2020, 10:59:13 PM
Hi Rich,

Here is the result text file attached.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 12, 2020, 06:00:23 AM
Hi Sashank999
Try this:
Code: [Select]
rm .xsession
filetool.sh -b
tce-load -i Xvesa aterm wbar flwm
startx

...  I got the Xvesa resolution setup (That Green Color setup). Then, I got the black screen. I have seen somewhere in forums that Alt + Control + F1 returns to Terminal. ...
If this happens again, run the  TCscan.sh  script after you hit  Ctrl-Alt-F1  and attach the  .txt  file it produces.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 12, 2020, 09:56:57 PM
Hi Rich,

Sorry for the delay.

I have done as you said but still I got the black screen. I waited for 5 mins but the black screen stayed there. When I returned to Alt+F1 prompt, it says "failed in waitforX". I have attached 2 log files. One before loading the wifi (TCscan200713044314.txt) and one after loading the wifi (TCscan200713045018.txt).
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 12, 2020, 10:26:10 PM
Hi Sashank999
It seems Xvesa is throwing an error:
Code: [Select]
traps: Xvesa[2096] trap invalid opcode ip:6800 sp:fa8 error:0 in zero[1000+9f000]
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 12, 2020, 10:37:12 PM
Hi Rich,

Oh  :(. Is there any solution to this problem ? I have also tried loading Xorg (after giving you the logs and restarting with base) but even that gives a black screen. I can't get back to terminal (Alt+F1) in Xorg to see the status.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 12, 2020, 10:46:29 PM
If you start with Xorg, rather than Xvesa, you can look for errors in /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 12, 2020, 10:47:58 PM
Hi Juanito,

But I can't return back to Alt + F1 terminal after loading Xorg server with startx. What to do to get back to terminal ?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Juanito on July 12, 2020, 10:56:27 PM
Isn't it <ctrl-alt-f1>?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 12, 2020, 11:01:02 PM
Hi Juanito,

I have tried that but it didn't work. I will try that once again.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 13, 2020, 12:17:17 AM
Hi !

I am now able to get a GUI with x86 TCL. I don't know how it happened but today, when I did `tce-load -i Xorg-7.7* wbar aterm flwm` I noticed a strange line in the output's last line. It showed that "Xorg-7.7-3d-dev.tcz.dep.tcz not found" and then I realised that the tce-load stops loading further tczs even if one tcz required is not found. Then, I individually loaded all the other three wbar, aterm and flwm. And then I got the GUI. I was surprised and said "WTH ?" to myself :P .

Thanks for all your support !

[EDIT]: The loading of xf86-video-intel.tcz solved my problem. This doesn't work with Xvesa. Only Xorg is supported. Further tests to be done by editing the onboot.lst.

Juanito, the Ctrl+Alt+F1 is not working with Xorg. I tried all F* keys but that shortcut didn't work.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 13, 2020, 05:13:52 AM
Hi Sashank999
...  when I did `tce-load -i Xorg-7.7* wbar aterm flwm` I noticed a strange line in the output's last line. It showed that "Xorg-7.7-3d-dev.tcz.dep.tcz not found" ...
Never use  wildcards  with  tce-load.

If you want  Xorg:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -i Xorg-7.7 wbar aterm flwm
If you want  Xorg-3d:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -i Xorg-7.7-3d wbar aterm flwm
You cam use  tce-load -i aterm  or  tce-load -i aterm.tcz.  The  tce-load  script adds the  .tcz  extension if you don't supply it. When you
used  Xorg-7.7*  it also found  Xorg-7.7-3d-dev.tcz.dep  and added  ,tcz  to the end. There is no such file so an error occurs.

Quote
... then I realised that the tce-load stops loading further tczs even if one tcz required is not found. ...
Because at that point user intervention is required. Always pay attention to what gets sent to the screen.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 13, 2020, 05:52:26 AM
Hi Rich,

Sorry about the wildcards thing. But I can resolve it with only Xorg and with xf86-video-intel. But, Xvesa is not working. The desktop with Xorg looks wierd. Any ideas how to make Xvesa working again ?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 13, 2020, 07:17:50 AM
Hi Sashank999
...  The desktop with Xorg looks wierd. ...
I don't know what that means or looks like. OK, my turn. "My car won't start."  Can you tell me what's wrong?

Quote
... Any ideas how to make Xvesa working again ?
I'm not even sure what that error is.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: curaga on July 13, 2020, 09:40:53 AM
If Xvesa worked before, perhaps you changed some BIOS settings since?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 13, 2020, 07:09:20 PM
Hi Rich,
Hi Sashank999
It seems Xvesa is throwing an error:
Code: [Select]
traps: Xvesa[2096] trap invalid opcode ip:6800 sp:fa8 error:0 in zero[1000+9f000]
TBH I don't know WTH is going inside my TCL x86 system. Previously I had Coreplus x86 ISO and did tc-install to HDD. I (installed GRUB2 and) rebooted from HDD and it started working. I have opened x86 after 15 days (as I was setting up my TCL x64 system) and then, the black screen came. Thats all I know. I didn't have xf86-video-intel and did not use Xorg (I always use Xvesa for speed) when I was setting the x86 one but that actually worked then.

Hi curaga,
No. I didn't change any BIOS setting. I am sure about that.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 13, 2020, 09:19:49 PM
Hi Sashank999
Please post the result of:
Code: [Select]
sudo Xvesa -listmodes
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 14, 2020, 01:39:19 AM
Hi Rich,

This is the output :
Code: [Select]
VBE version 3.0 (Intel(R)Ironlake Mobile Graphics Chipset Accelerated VGA BIOS)
DAC is fixed, controller is VGA compatible, RAMDAC causes snow
Total memory: 32704 kilobytes
0x0013: 320x200x8 (vga compatible) PseudoColor
0x0160: 848x480x8 PseudoColor
0x0161: 848x480x16 TrueColor [5:6:5:0]
0x0162: 848x480x24 TrueColor [8:8:8:8]
0x0105: 1024x768x8 PseudoColor
0x0117: 1024x768x16 TrueColor [5:6:5:0]
0x0118: 1024x768x24 TrueColor [8:8:8:8]
0x0112: 640x480x24 TrueColor [8:8:8:8]
0x0114: 800x600x16 TrueColor [5:6:5:0]
0x0115: 800x600x24 TrueColor [8:8:8:8]
0x0101: 640x480x8 PseudoColor
0x0103: 800x600x8 PseudoColor
0x0111: 640x480x16 TrueColor [5:6:5:0]
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 14, 2020, 05:48:34 AM
Hi Sashank999
Does changing the first line of your  .xsession  file from this:
Code: [Select]
Xvesa -br -screen 1024x768x32 -shadow -2button -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp -I >/dev/null 2>&1 &to that:
Code: [Select]
Xvesa -br -screen 1024x768x24 -shadow -2button -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp -I >/dev/null 2>&1 &make any difference?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 14, 2020, 11:05:15 PM
Hi Rich,

I booted with base TCL. Mounted tce drive. Went to optional and did `tce-load -i Xvesa wbar aterm flwm`. After that I changed .xsession with vi in the way you said and then `startx`. The black screen exists. I returned with Alt+F1 and did `./.xsession` (with some hope of it working) but it gave the same black screen with a non-blinking underscore. Alt+F1 didn't work.

TL;DR Even that didn't work  :( .
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 17, 2020, 10:18:24 AM
Hi Sashank999
I know you think I've forgotten you, but I haven't. Try this:
Code: [Select]
tce-load -i Xvesa
Xvesa -screen 1024x768x24 -shadow -2button -mouse /dev/input/mice,5 -nolisten tcp -I >/home/tc/XvesaErrs.txt 2>&1 &

Then switch to the console:
Code: [Select]
Ctrl-Alt-F1and see if there are any error messages in  XvesaErrs.txt.

Do you have any files in  /home/tc/.X.d ?
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Sashank999 on July 17, 2020, 08:30:59 PM
Hi Rich,

I have tried as you said (changed location of XvesaErrs.txt to sda5 as home folder is non persistent) but the file XvesaErrs is empty. The Ctrl-Alt-F1 didn't work  :o . Hence I waited for some time and then did Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot.

I have pulseaudio and dbus files in .X.d
Here are their contents :
Code: [Select]
pulseaudio :
start-pulseaudio-x11
Code: [Select]
dbus :
dbus-launch --sh-syntax --exit-with-session
.

[EDIT]: While I was trying to delete a symlink to tce32 folder, the whole folder got deleted  :( . I have the Coreplus x86 ISO but I might not get my tczs back. I think this can be closed now.
Title: Re: TinyCore x86 with a black screen + underscore
Post by: Rich on July 17, 2020, 08:59:09 PM
Hi Sashank999
The pulseaudio and dbus files shouldn't affect anything since those extensions aren't loaded anything.

... While I was trying to delete a symlink to tce32 folder, the whole folder got deleted  :( . I have the Coreplus x86 ISO but I might not get my tczs back. ...
You could get back a lot of them by copying the  cde  directory from the  ISO  to  sda5/tce32.

While your description suggests the issue began when you added a 64 bit tce directory, I can't for the life of me find anything
wrong in your setup.