Re: Blank screen at startup

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 22:56:45 -0800, Kevin Miller wrote:

Chris wrote:
Kevin Miller wrote:

Not sure what changed, but now when I turn on my computer, the startup
screen is black until I hit a key, i.e., the KDM login screen. Anybody
else seeing that? Where do I set it back to normal, visible by default,
behavior.

Thanks...


...Kevin

Sounds like your clock is being set, or corrected, which makes the
screensaver (or powersave) think x minutes have past. Where x being some
time limit. Therefore, the screensaver (or powersave) needs to blank the
screen. When you boot check your clock? You can also boot into runlevel 3
by typing '3' without quotes in grub. Then issue the date command and see
if the time is right?

Do you have ntp set to start up on boot? If not, set it in Yast->Network
Services->NTP. Tell it to pick a server from ntp. I think it's
called "Random server from ntp.org pool" or something to that affect?

Hmmm - that's an interesting thought. I do load NTP at boot, but I use
my ISP's time server. Figure it's the closest one to me. I'll boot to
runlevel 3 and see what it says tomorrow.

I am fairly certain this problem started for me before the change to
"summer time" (as we call it in the uk).

I tried changing my ntp server, but that made not difference. I have now
told the ntp server not to start up during booting, and the machine now
boots properly, so it looks as though this may well be connected to the
ntp setup, as Chris suggested.

What is not clear, is what caused the problem to start in the first place.
I mentioned that it doesn't happen in my 10.2 set-up, and I have noticed
another difference as well. In 10.2, when I do a test of the ntp server
in Yast, it just works fine without any loss of picture.

When I do that same test in 10.3, the screen goes black for a while,
then the desktop re-appears and shows the "server is reachable" message.

When my monitor switches off during booting, it seems to think that there
was no signal for a while, so maybe that blackness during the ntp setting
happens during booting and fools the monitor into thinkling the signal has
gone away.

Does anyone know why this difference of behaviour between 10.2 and 10.3 ?
I have the Nvidia beta driver loaded for 10.2 and a different Nvidia
driver in use for 10.3 - could that make a difference ?

Paul (W)
.

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