[conspire] new laptop Fedora 13 with NVIDIA graphics card - yum update - now only blank screen

[Darlene Wallach]

I took my laptop in to Linux Certified this morning. The backlight had
gone out. They replaced the innards, fixed the MAC address in two
files and wha lah - my laptop works.

Here is what support sent regarding the NVIDIA graphics driver:

[begin NVIDIA info]
Darlene Wallach,

Please revert back to the previous kernel or manually reinstall the
NVIDIA graphics driver if that is the issue causing the blank screen
which it likely is. The NVIDIA graphics driver is not part of the
Fedora repositories and even though the akmod NVIDIA driver from
rpmfusion.org is installed, its not perfect and a kernel update can
tend to break the driver.

You can download the NVIDIA graphics driver from NVIDIA's website at
www.nvidia.com

Regards,
[end NVIDIA info]

Here is the electronic copy of the product manual:
[begin product manual info]
Darlene Wallach,

Please note that the manual is intended for a Windows operating system
install, not linux.

http://wiki.linuxcertified.com/wiki/downloads/LC2210SN/manual.pdf

Regards,
[end product manual info]

Thank you everyone for all you support, information, input

Darlene Wallach

On Sun, Sep 19, 2010 at 5:15 PM, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:
> Quoting Darlene Wallach (freepalestin at dslextreme.com):
>
>> I purchased a new laptop from Linux Certified with Fedora 13
>> installed.
>
> Your postings on this subject have not included what make/model of
> laptop this is.  That data could be vital.  Unfortunately, even though
> Linux Certified sells rebranded gear from major OEMs, the company isn't
> very good at telling you what upstream Taiwanese equipment it is selling
> you under the Linux Certified house brand (with the exception of the
> firm's 'LCTP' series, which are rebranded particular models of Lenovo
> ThinkPads).
>
> For example, given the manufacturer make/model, I might be able to look
> up for you what key combination toggles between external video only and
> internal video only.  Fixing your problem might be as simple as hitting,
> e.g., Alt-F7.
>
> Suggestion:  Insist on having that information ASAP, plus an electronic
> copy of the product manual.
>
> Given that data, you would also be able to determine how to force a boot
> from default BIOS settings, which is often also extremely useful for
> diagnostic purposes.
>
>> I'm not seeing any bios or boot messages. I do not have a VGA cable so
>> I can't connect to another screen. I am hesitant to do that though as
>> the last time I tried that I think I damaged an old Sony VIAO.
>
> Sorry, but that does not make sense, that you would ever damage a laptop
> merely by connecting an external monitor to it.  That's not even a
> significant amount of power draw.
>
> It's a shame you don't have access to a regular ol' VGA monitor with
> regular ol' VGA cable attached.  Given that, it _might_ be the case that
> you'd attach it and say 'Oh, I must have toggled my laptop to external
> video only.  Whew!  That's good news.'
>
> It's always handy to have access to known-good equipment, exactly for
> situations like this.
>
> One other thing that comes immediately to mind:  In all of your several
> messages to this thread, you haven't yet mentioned whether you are
> seeing other signs of life from the laptop at all.  When seeking help on
> a mailing list, you need to remember that you are our eyes and ears.  If
> you don't tell us what's going on, we simply won't know.
>
> So, for example, when turning on a laptop, normally several observable
> things happen in sequence, during the early stages of boot-up, by no
> means all of them involving displaying of video onto the screen.  You
> turn on the power, and you will most often see some LEDs flash, as those
> components are initialised.  Then, sometimes you will hear a beep.
> Then, depending on the boot order set in the BIOS, you might hear the
> optical drive seeking, to see if there's a readable disc.  Then, you
> will hear the hard drive spinning up and seeking.  At the same time as
> the HD activity, you will generally see the HD LED showing irregular
> blinking patterns characteristic of HD reading.  And typically, just
> before then, the motherboard starts sending video out to whatever video
> port has been selected in the BIOS.
>
> It is extremely handy to get to know these characteristics during
> ordinary operation of the machine, so that you can better perform basic
> debugging when things go wrong.
>
>
>
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