Booting without xorg running mint 17.1 cinnamon

Eric Gunther egunther at warwick.net
Wed Oct 7 13:27:58 PDT 2015


On Wed, 2015-10-07 at 14:18 -0600, David wrote:
> OK, any idea how to get the menu to select not opt ions?  I only got
> it to bit into a grub menu once and it did flash something but it was
> so fast I didn't even get to read anything in it.

On my OpenSUSE computer space bar will do it.

>   I believe that was by pressing del on the bios screen (gives options
> to select boot drive, sys settings, sys info; while it displays the
> motherboards logo) most of the mint resources say shift should give
> that option but it doesn't do anything for me, and that I know I
> haven't changed (especially because it's a fresh install and the only
> option I've changed is to not lock the screen when it sleeps)


> 
> On Oct 7, 2015 12:31 PM, "Eric Gunther" <egunther at warwick.net> wrote:
>         On Wed, 2015-10-07 at 09:16 -0600, David wrote:
>         > the full name of the driver is
>         NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-352.41.run
>         > i did try the nvidia support and they were not very helpful,
>         they said
>         > i had to contact the actual card manufacturer (evga), who
>         said i had
>         > to contact nvidia.... i looked through some of the nvidia
>         forums and
>         > they didn't have anything that was helpful.
>         > it is mate display manager, although it is running in
>         cinnamon. i
>         > double checked because there were several others depending
>         on distro
>         > (lightdm, kdm) but mine does in fact have mdm by default.
>         
>         OK
>         
>         > ill look at virtual terminals for mate, would that have x
>         stopped
>         > though?
>         
>         I don't think it would have stopped X but uses another virtual
>         terminal.
>         
>         >   all of my f keys (2-7) result in a blank screen, f8 will
>         switch back
>         > and forth from the blank screen (the others will not switch
>         back).  i
>         > don't recall off the top of my head if there was anything
>         with the
>         > keys above f8 but nothing that seemed any different or i'm
>         sure i
>         > would remember.
>         
>         OK
>         
>         >   graphics is one of the things that doesn't make sense to
>         me
>         > sometimes, so when it comes to things like framebuffer i'm
>         lost.  if i
>         > know where to look to find out what it needs to be, and
>         where it needs
>         > to be changed to make that happen i can usually handle that.
>         anything
>         > more and i'm at a loss though.
>         
>         It is complicated. although as I mentioned before...
>         
>         
>         http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/256.35/README/index.html
>         
>         this might be a place to look.
>         
>         > i also read that shift, esc, or del can gain access to boot
>         options
>         > while on the bios screen but the only thing i was able to
>         get (once,
>         > and not since then) was a grub> command line that i don't
>         know how to
>         > get around in.
>         >
>         
>         OK, Try what Thomas has said because he is far more
>         knowledgeable than
>         I:
>         
>         ----------------------------
>         
>         Do not mess around with files in /boot!
>         
>         What you want to do is on the grub screen (where you can pick
>         the OS to
>         start)
>         a) stop the timer ;-)
>         b) select the Linux Mint entry
>         c) "[e]dit" it (this depends a bit on the grub setup, but
>         usually
>         there's either a selectable "button" or you just press "e"
>         d) append " 1" (nothing else)
>         e) (b)oot that command.
>         
>         This should really get you into runlevel 1, ie. a root
>         (text)shell
>         
>         Runlevel 1 is a boot directly into a rootshell (no GUI, no
>         network - but
>         you can start either by hand), 3 is the CLI login (which will
>         likely not
>         work because this very interesting distro doesn't seem to
>         install
>         a/getty) and 5 is the GUI login.
>         
>         I'd also say that you should rather seek advise in a Mint
>         forum, since
>         the problem seems to be specific to that distro.
>         
>         Thomas
>         
>         
>         ------------------------------
>         
>         
>         Also sorry to clog up the list.
>         
>         
>         E
>         
>         
>         > On Wed, Oct 7, 2015 at 8:05 AM, Eric Gunther
>         <egunther at warwick.net>
>         > wrote:
>         >         On Wed, 2015-10-07 at 07:08 -0600, David wrote:
>         >         > I downloaded nvidia 352.41 and am keeping my
>         fingers crossed
>         >         it'll
>         >         > work last time I had to try several of the drivers
>         before I
>         >         found one
>         >         > that did the trick.  I've tried ctrl-alt-f3 but it
>         just
>         >         gives a blank
>         >         > screen and alt-f3 doesn't seem to do anything, I
>         tried
>         >         > ctrl-alt-backspace and it just returned me to the
>         login.
>         >         You're
>         >         > totally right about editing grub, it killed it and
>         I ended
>         >         up fighting
>         >         > with it to reinstall mint last night.  I'm not
>         sure if
>         >         there's some
>         >         > other setting that's not working with the
>         ctrl-alt-
>         >         commands.  I've
>         >         > read something's that say I may need to edit
>         default screen
>         >         resolution
>         >         > for it to be w able to display that but none of
>         them said
>         >         anything
>         >         > about what resolution or how to find a resolution
>         that works
>         >         > Thanks
>         >         > David
>         >         >
>         >
>         >         OK, just off the top of my head, did you wait a bit
>         after CTRL
>         >         ALT F3,
>         >         and try other ones too, in fact try them all and see
>         what you
>         >         come up
>         >         with.  I see that you (with the command mdm) and
>         searching are
>         >         running
>         >         MATE? on mint?  Is cinnamon a variation of the mate
>         desktop,
>         >         where mdm
>         >         might stand for Mate Desktop Manager.   I know
>         little about
>         >         either of
>         >         these although, you may want to search for "virtual
>         terminals
>         >         on mate"
>         >         or "single user mode on mint" to get closer to what
>         you are
>         >         looking for.
>         >
>         >         I see that mint is based on debian and Ubuntu.  You
>         might want
>         >         to try
>         >         help from either of those places as they have a
>         reputation for
>         >         support.
>         >         I can only guess that the resolution is about
>         framebuffer
>         >         cases... where
>         >         one can have graphics on the terminal, *I think*.
>         This may be
>         >         necessary
>         >         to use the CTRL ALT F3 command as I am confident
>         that OpenSUSE
>         >         has such
>         >         a setup.
>         >
>         >         Also, nvidia has support as well.  What is the
>         actual name of
>         >         the driver
>         >         that you downloaded though? For instance,
>         >
>         >         NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-352.41.run
>         >
>         >
>         >         E
>         >
>         >
>         >         > On Oct 7, 2015 6:42 AM, "Eric Gunther"
>         >         <egunther at warwick.net> wrote:
>         >         >         On Tue, 2015-10-06 at 18:06 -0600, David
>         wrote:
>         >         >         > OK, so I guess this is a different way
>         of askinga
>         >         question
>         >         >         I've been
>         >         >         > wrestling with for a few days now.  I
>         need to
>         >         install a
>         >         >         driver
>         >         >         > downloaded from nvidia, which when run
>         tells me to
>         >         stop
>         >         >         xserver and
>         >         >         > try running again.  I've tried several
>         commands
>         >         but haven't
>         >         >         had any
>         >         >         > success this time.  I installed the
>         driver once
>         >         before with
>         >         >         the sudo
>         >         >         > service mdm stop command but this time
>         it also
>         >         results in a
>         >         >         blank
>         >         >         > screen.
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         I have had success with sudo init 3, after
>         logging
>         >         out --> ALT
>         >         >         F3 (or
>         >         >         any F key below 5) to get to a command
>         line in
>         >         OpenSUSE.  As
>         >         >         far as I
>         >         >         know, init 5 is X while init 6 is reboot.
>         Init 1,2,3
>         >         *I think*
>         >         >         are
>         >         >         appropriate for installing nvidia driver.
>         That is
>         >         the ".run"
>         >         >         driver file.
>         >         >         Where one would issue the command "sudo sh
>         >         >         nvidia_driver_name.run" to run
>         >         >         it.
>         >         >
>         >         >         The ALT F3 is to change virtual terminals
>         on the
>         >         computer,
>         >         >         where the gui
>         >         >         inhabits 6 or 7 on this OpenSUSE machine
>         and a text
>         >         line login
>         >         >         is on a few
>         >         >         of the others, while logging information
>         is on
>         >         others yet.
>         >         >         There are 12
>         >         >         Function keys.  I think this can be
>         configured and
>         >         so may be
>         >         >         specific to a
>         >         >         distribution.
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         >   So my thought now is to find a way to
>         boot
>         >         directly into a
>         >         >         command
>         >         >         > line without xserver starting in the
>         first place,
>         >         I've read
>         >         >         that there
>         >         >         > are options to edit /boot/grub/grub.Cfg
>         and edit a
>         >         line so
>         >         >         that it
>         >         >         > goes something like boot..... quiet
>         splash text.
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         Personally, I would not edit grub cfg to
>         do this.  I
>         >         have a a
>         >         >         lot of
>         >         >         missteps when I work on the computer and
>         that would
>         >         cause undo
>         >         >         complication.  I think that often there is
>         a ESC
>         >         command or
>         >         >         F10 or
>         >         >         something while booting.  I think you may
>         find this
>         >         on the
>         >         >         nvidia site
>         >         >         (they have an extensive manual/reference
>         section for
>         >         the CUDA
>         >         >         toolset at
>         >         >         least and I think that they often do have
>         good
>         >         reference)
>         >         >         this may be a start:
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >
>         http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/256.35/README/index.html
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         >   The result of this was finally that I
>         had to use
>         >         my
>         >         >         install disk to
>         >         >         > be able to get back into terminal so I
>         could
>         >         revert the file
>         >         >         back to
>         >         >         > it's original setting.  I've read that
>         there are
>         >         ways to set
>         >         >         it to run
>         >         >         > at default 'run levels' 0-6 with some of
>         them
>         >         running
>         >         >         without x
>         >         >         > loading, but I don't feel like I
>         understand at all
>         >         where to
>         >         >         change
>         >         >         > that or which run levels do what.  So
>         I'd really
>         >         appreciate
>         >         >         it if
>         >         >         > anyone knows how and where to edit run
>         levels to
>         >         boot
>         >         >         without x
>         >         >         > starting I'd really appreciate it, or
>         any other
>         >         ways to stop
>         >         >         x and be
>         >         >         > able to install the driver.  I still
>         have no
>         >         internet so
>         >         >         anything that
>         >         >         > requires Internet access is out for me.
>         >         >         > Thanks for any advice
>         >         >         > David
>         >         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         I think* that one can exit X with the key
>         >         combination CTRL ALT
>         >         >         BACKSPACE, although I think this may be
>         disabled in
>         >         some
>         >         >         distributions ...
>         >         >         or X just restarts at that point.
>         >         >
>         >         >         Which Nvidia driver did you download?
>         Specifically
>         >         which file
>         >         >         extension?
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         Have a good day,
>         >         >
>         >         >         E
>         >         >
>         >         >
>         >         >         >
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