SAB 6: as much fun as Windows at its worst. [Solved]

[micia]

Let me understand better your problem, your current issue is that you are unable to start the GUI and you get a black screen after the boot sequence, so your only mean of logging in is in a text console, am I correct?

[halcyon]

Correct! I was able to login as root after persevering, thanks to your help. I re-ran equo update and equo install for Nvid drivers 173.14.30; I am not sure where to find the "option" prompt you mentioned.

[micia]

That option is not an option that you get with an utility, in Linux most of the configurations are stored in text files, changing those files you change the system behaviour.
To edit your Graphical Interface configuration you have to edit the file:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Since that file stores system wide configurations, you have to be root to edit it.
So you should:
1) login as root in text mode.

2) edit that text file, since you are without a GUI, you have to edit it using a console, nano is the one that does this job, it is a text editor that runs entirely in console mode. You have to run it like this:

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nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf


it will open the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

3) you can now scroll in the file, navigate it using your keyboard arrows and edit the text as you would do in a common graphical editor.
Find the line that says:

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Option "UseEvents" "True"


and change it like this:

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Option "UseEvents" "False"


4) you have now to save your changes, as you would do with an ordinary text editor, you can do it using some keyboard shortcuts, all the shortcuts are listed in the lower part of your console when you run nano, to save the changes press:
Ctrl+O
it will ask you where to save that file, you can press enter to overwrite the old xorg.conf file.
To exit from nano press:
Ctrl+X

5) if your card works with the latest Nvidia drivers, I would not downgrade them, so, if that is the case, install the latest nvidia drivers using:

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equo install nvidia-drivers


and ensure that they are selected to be used, running:

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eselect opengl set nvidia


6) now you can reboot hoping for a GUI

[halcyon]

Nice simple instructions.
Sadly after the "nano" line I get a screen with 2 lines of text prompts 6 across which look promising but do nothing. I have tried all the obvious variations but nothing happens.
prompts look like this :
^G get help
etc.
I have been here before, I think.

[micia]

You should get something like this:
http://i51.tinypic.com/dyu14g.png

If you don't, run this command:

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stat /etc/X11/xorg.conf


does this reports:
No such file or directory
or does it reports the informations of an existing file?

[halcyon]

"no such file or directory"
I am going to have to find/make some time to work on this which coincides with your time. Thanks again.

[micia]

If that is the case, for some reason the xorg.conf file was deleted from your system.
Try this way:

1) update the Nvidia drivers:

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equo install nvidia-drivers


2) regenerate your xorg.conf:

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nvidia-xconfig -o /etc/X11/xorg.conf --no-use-events


3) ensure that the nvidia proprietary drivers are selected:

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eselect opengl set nvidia


now reboot and hope for the best.

[genfool]

Just wanted to add my two cents, linux is case sensitive, in this command
nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
X11 is a capitol X, not a small x
If you are using a small x, nano will still open the file, since it does not exist, it will be empty.

[halcyon]

OK We appear to have lift off! I have a message telling me "Guake can not init! Gconf Error. Have you installed guake.schemas properly?" Should I worry?
Why does the command use upper case X when all other references in commands are lower case? Is this just a quirk? This exercise has got me interested in the structure of the command code and how each piece refers to a path, etc. Is there some way to learn more without making a career out of it?
I appreciate all your help (Micia, Genfool) and hopefully I am now back in business, but perhaps I should continue testing before I withdraw. Thank you very much.

[genfool]

Is a common error, see it all the time. We learn as we go.
Another example, if you want to look at your /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Xorg is a capitol x, the .0 is the number zero, is not a small or capital o
Just one of the quirks you get bit by on linux, and you learn how to deal with it.

Go ahead and get your system updated, and enjoy it.
If you have more issues, maybe start a new thread, edit this one as solved.