An Anonymous Installation Failure - Of Sorts (2005-10-07)

Display screen after install of the "apt-packages" (aka. No X Window)

Although other problems, I survived partitioning, CD detection, etc. My display (VESA), which works correctly with a previous Debian release (Woody), shows me a black screen on F7.

During the install via CD, all the packages (via apt on CD) seem to be installed (I've got the prompt on Consoles 1 to 6). But on F7, BLACK SCREEN!

I don't know if Gnome is on or not. I reboot, of course, with the same results..

I looked in the file etc/?XF86Config-4. Surprise: empty! Nothing at all. No lines? Is this normal? Perhaps the video-config file with this release isn't the same?

Questions:

• I've saved my ?XF86Config-4 with my previous Debian release, may I replace it with that?

• in the sources.list, to update or upgrade my relase, what sources should I use? Not woody, I suppose.

Thanks before for your help. I'm in the [dark]. Sorry for my English.

Answers:

• Don't think of it as failure. Consider it an education.

• The more times you go through an install, the more you'll learn, and the better you'll become.

• Read the documentation; on the web, on http://wiki.debian.org, on the box, in library books, ...

• dpkg -l | grep xserver will tell you whether X is installed. Try it with "gnome" to see if Gnome is installed.

• If you don't see a GUI login, there are many reasons why that could be; not installed software, misconfigured software, missing hardware.

• The fact that you can reboot and get back into it is a very good sign. Do your research and it should be fixable. Linux and Debian do appear to be there; they're just not doing what you expect them to do.

• The fact that Linux/Debian are there and running is the important part. It's alive! It's just a little quiet at the moment. Now you need to figure out how to wake it up and make it sing.

• More details will get you more accurate answers. What hardware, video card, how much memory, CPU type, ...

Your English is not too bad. My Mandarin, German, Greek (among many others) make children break out in tears.

Just keep banging your head on that wall. It'll eventually fall over.