[ext23]

hi all.

so last night i got my new r3610 and put xbmc live on it. this was the first time i have ever tried to use linux for anything.

i used xbmcfreaks' latest generic live cd (beta 4).

i then went about trying to update the latest nvidia drivers (which i did), the transmission torrent client (which i did), windows SMB shares (which i did) and was just tinkering around this morning, now all of a sudden i can't exit to the console. it crashes to a horrible multicoloured screen of death when i try to exit with ctrl+alt+F1 or F2, and i have to hard reset.

image: http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/...directlink

after trying to install the SVN build via console, the last thing i remember doing before the crash was running the following commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo reboot

i didn't pay too much attention at the time cause i didn't get any error messages until i tried to exit out of xbmc after the reboot. i can boot into XBMC, but now can't exit or reboot. this took me hours and hours last night and i don't wanna have to go through it all again.

here's my system according to XBMC system info:

xbmc pre-10.5 r28256
linux 2.6.31-20-generic
nvidia 190.53
confluence skin

[ext23]

i reinstalled and then went to install the nvidia drivers from the prompt again and the same problem is occurring.

i followed this thread http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?p=496709 , uinstalled xbmc, then updated the drivers, then re-installed, problem is back...

[bobo1on1]

The latest nvidia drivers don't seem to handle switching to the console and back very well, I get crashes often.

[ext23]

The latest nvidia drivers don't seem to handle switching to the console and back very well, I get crashes often.

like...all the time often? i haven't been able to successfully do it once. am i missing something? what are the real-world effects of installing these new drivers on top of the XBMCfreak live CD?

by the way, what is the command to switch back into XBMC from the console?

[zosky]

i had the same problem... i posted and was told how to fix it.
but it was lost when the site crashed last week.

go go google cache

EDIT: the cache wont be around for ever, but others will have the same Q, so here's the skinny

i seem to recall XE mentioning on irc a solution to this problem, which i myself had issues with when updating to svn nightlys after a live install.

anyhow, it may not be much help, but you can try a VGA option added to your grub line.

ie. VGA=773 added to your kernel line

for >=Karmic (grub2) add it to /etc/default/grub on the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT && then run sudo update-grub

in <=Jaunty (grub-legacy) add it to /boot/grub/menu.lst on the kernel line

[ext23]

for >=Karmic (grub2) add it to /etc/default/grub on the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT && then run sudo update-grub

in <=Jaunty (grub-legacy) add it to /boot/grub/menu.lst on the kernel line

cheers, i hope this works. but...i don't know the difference between karmic/jaunty, or which one it is that i'm running...can you please briefly explain? what is the kernel line?

EDIT: appparently this live CD runs on latest karmic.

will try this as soon as i get home tonight.

[zosky]

xbmc-live runs on a stripped down / bare-bones ubuntu linux (which has many releases/versions)
... 9.10 (aka Karmic) or higher (>=) uses grub2
... 9.04 (aka Jaunty) or lower (<=) uses grub1
(you can find out which 1 you have with 'cat /etc/issue')
(the ubuntu wiki has more on what grub does -- the GRand Unified Bootloader)

if you have grub1 > you'll find the file /boot/grub/menu.lst
in it, there is a line that starts with kernel=
(to specify the options your kernel loads with)
add 'vga=[code]' somewhere on that line, save & reboot

if you have grub2 > (you wont find menu.lst)
instead you have /etc/default/grub
in it, you'll find a line that starts GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=
add 'vga=[code]' on that line, save, run 'sudo update-grub' then reboot

vga=[codes] are listed here

i dont know if the xbmcfreaks install comes with ssh enabled ? thats how i managed to get a remote-terminal & make these changes. if not, you'll need to boot from a full blown liveCD (ie ubuntu) mount the drive/partition where you installed xbmc-live so you can make this change

[ext23]

thanks dude, worked perfectly! e-beers for you.

[ext23]

Nvm.

[musicrab]

Hi - just updated my Revo to latest XBMC Live (grub2) and have the multicoloured/corrupt console. So I need to update /etc/default/grub

The question is how can I get to a command-line to edit /etc/default/grub?
I guess I have a couple of options. Is there an XBMC Live GUI that will let me edit the file or can I edit it in grub2? (Or can I boot to command-line?)

EDIT: OK I have worked out how to edit the "kernel" line in grub and can now get to the console under XBMC-Live!