Cannot install - black screen

Questions about the installation of FreeBSD
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stroudmw
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:47 am

Cannot install - black screen

Post by stroudmw »

I just can't get the installer to finish! I get the selection screen then the splash screen - and then that's pretty much it. I've tried 20.04 on various USB sticks, as well as burning it to a DVD. I've tried both the Mate and XFCE Community editions. I suspect that my Video cards are the problem:

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  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics 
  driver: i915 v: kernel 
  Device-2: AMD Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series] driver: radeon 
  v: kernel 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile v: 3.3 Mesa 18.3.6 
So, what can I do?
Last edited by stroudmw on Thu Jan 28, 2021 6:04 am, edited 5 times in total.
stroudmw
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:47 am

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by stroudmw »

I really want to get this to work, so I've given it another try. I've now downloaded and verified a new iso, used:

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dd bs=4M if=GhostBSD-20.08.04.iso of=/dev/sdd status=progress && sync
to burn it to a usb, and tried to install it on a different laptop (an HP ProBook 450 G2 with Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics, currently running Bunsenlabs Lithium) and now I get nothing except a black screen. Not even the splash screen anymore.

Any advice please?
wb7odyfred
Posts: 203
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 5:44 pm

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by wb7odyfred »

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Ctrl-Alt-F2
open up a terminal to login and issue commands. Yes, you have encountered a video card problems.

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pciconf -lv
see what version of Intel Graphics or NVidia graphics card you have.

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dmesg | tail -20
See if there is some error message to know
wb7odyfred
Posts: 203
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 5:44 pm

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by wb7odyfred »

Code: Select all

Ctrl-Alt-F2
open up a terminal to login and issue commands. Yes, you have encountered a video card problems.

Code: Select all

pciconf -lv
see what version of Intel Graphics or NVidia graphics card you have.

Code: Select all

dmesg | tail -20
See if there is some error message to know

Select the best mirror for your location and maybe download the latest .ISO image file:
http://download.us.ghostbsd.org/develop ... 64/latest/
stroudmw
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:47 am

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by stroudmw »

Many moons later...

I thought I'd give it another try. I've downloaded the GhostBSD 21.01.20 iso file, and it installed without a hitch!
So, my black screen issue has disappeared . I have no idea what caused it in the first place.

Now I just have an issue with my WiFi being disabled. If I can't figure it out, I'll create another post.
stroudmw
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:47 am

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by stroudmw »

btw... after running an update, my WiFi works fine!
wb7odyfred
Posts: 203
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2016 5:44 pm

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by wb7odyfred »

Congratulations. Sir.

Can you share output from these two commands?
pciconf -lv
Usbconfig list
uname -a
uname -K
Freebsd-version
stroudmw
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:47 am

Re: Cannot install - black screen

Post by stroudmw »

Sorry. I battled with a reliable network connection, the i915 video driver, and mounting external hard drives. So I finally gave up. I have work to do, and just couldn't justify wasting any more time trying to get this right. So I've installed Arch Linux. It was easy in comparison.
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