CentOS - Apr 2011 - Got no login screen with the new 5.6 kernel

I did the 5.6 update yesterday.  When I started the machine today, I did
not get a login screen -- it was just a blank screen with no cursor or
anything.  I shut down, restarted and when grub came up selected the
previous kernel.  The system came up as usual, presented a login screen,
and is working OK.

There is apparently something buggy related to the new kernel
(2.6.18-238.5.1.el5).


Stan Klein


--

Stanley A. Klein wrote on 04/12/2011 01:55 PM:
> I did the 5.6 update yesterday.  When I started the machine today, I did
> not get a login screen -- it was just a blank screen with no cursor or
> anything.  I shut down, restarted and when grub came up selected the
> previous kernel.  The system came up as usual, presented a login screen,
> and is working OK.
>
> There is apparently something buggy related to the new kernel
> (2.6.18-238.5.1.el5).
How far did it get during the boot - to where the GUI login should have 
been displayed, or did it die earlier?  Anything enlightening in 
/var/log/messages or /var/log/Xorg.0.log?  Did you try a boot to 
runlevel 3 or 1 to debug?

Phil

On Wed, April 13, 2011 12:00 pm,  m.roth at 5-cent.us
wrote:
> Message: 30
> Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:10:52 -0400
> From: m.roth at 5-cent.us
> Subject: Re: [CentOS] Got no login screen with the new 5.6 kernel
>
> Phil Schaffner wrote:
>> Stanley A. Klein wrote on 04/12/2011 01:55 PM:
>>> I did the 5.6 update yesterday.  When I started the machine today,
I
>>> did
>>> not get a login screen -- it was just a blank screen with no cursor
or
>>> anything.  I shut down, restarted and when grub came up selected
the
>>> previous kernel.  The system came up as usual, presented a login
>>> screen,
>>> and is working OK.
>>>
>>> There is apparently something buggy related to the new kernel
>>> (2.6.18-238.5.1.el5).
>>
>> How far did it get during the boot - to where the GUI login should have
>> been displayed, or did it die earlier?  Anything enlightening in
>> /var/log/messages or /var/log/Xorg.0.log?  Did you try a boot to
>> runlevel 3 or 1 to debug?
>
> My reaction, also: on boot, edit the kernel line to either runlevel 3, or
> s (single user mode), and I'll wager you see the screen. If so, then
your
> problem is the video driver used by X. HOPEFULLY, there's
> system-config-display, otherwise, you screw with /etc/X11/xorg.conf and
> startx until you get something, then you can use the GUI tools.
>
>           mark

Problem solved, but rather strange.

When I first booted with the previous kernel I looked at /var/log/messages
and didn't see anything useful.  Today, I selected the previous kernel
from the grub screen and looked at /var/log/Xorg.0.log.  The date in the
file was today, so that was from the current boot, not from the time it
failed to give the login screen.

I edited inittab to default to runlevel 3.  I got the runlevel 3 login
prompt, did startx, and the GUI came up.  I restored the runlevel 5
default in inittab and rebooted letting the new kernel get selected by
default.  The login screen came up.

It must have had something to do with the initialization of X on the first
boot under 5.6.

Your suggestions helped.

Thanks.


Stan Klein