FC8 and Virtual PC 2007 hell

[AJ59]

Okay...

Now I see why using Virtual PC 2007 isn't a good idea. It sucks.

I managed to get FC8 to install in text mode to the point where it reboots. But then when it reboots it goes into gui mode and that's when I have big problems. The screen gets totally screwed up.

If I wait a while for the booting to complete and then Ctrl Alt F2, I can get into text mode... sorta.

I have access to the top six lines of text on the screen, the rest is garbled.

I was able to manage to edit the xorg.conf file using vi and change the default depth to 16 using %s/24/16/g

This is what I had to do with FC4 to get the display to work in VPC. But in this case, no luck.

I am currently trying to edit the grub.conf but am not sure what to change.

Is there some other file I can edit? Or am I totally screwed since the setup has not complete.

That's where it stops during the boot process... I can see the very top of the setup menu. But I don't know what to enter at this point since I can't see anything.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Okay... I just stumbled upon this link:

http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/ar...l-pc-2007.aspx

looks like I might have to reinstall.

[SaGS]

No need to reinstall, try the following:

At the GRUB screen, press a key to cancel the timeout, and edit the kernel command line to add the option ‘fbcon=map:9’. Then boot. This gives you a usable text console.

Once booted in text mode, you can edit 2 essential config files.

One is /boot/grub/menu.lst, where you add kernel options ‘fbcon=map:9 i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clocksource=pit’ (the 1st restores your text console, the 2nd makes the mouse functional, the 3rd allows using the mouse wheel, the 4th is for timekeeping, it’s absence sometimes even produces weird effects like repeating keys or lockouts).

The other file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf, where you change the driver from s3 to vesa. Some people keep the s3 driver, but change the colour depth from 24 to 16. The vesa driver works correctly with both 16 and 24bpp, so it’s more flexible.

You may also need to change the initial runlevel to boot directly to the GUI interface (a text-mode install sets it to 3, right?).

[AJ59]

Thanks for responding. I really appreciate the help.

I did end up reinstalling after adding "vesa i8042.noloop" (from the tips in the link in post #1) which allowed me to install via the gui.

And then modified that to:

vesa i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit vga=771

This seemed to help with the garbled screen and I actually got to see that little penguin during the boot process.

Yet when I try to exit X and go back into text mode I see a nice black screen with nothing. Any idea what might be causing that?

I believe my xorg.conf does have vesa in it but will have to confirm that when I get home.

In addition to the problems with the text mode (and I'll try your recommendation later also) I do not have the ability to change the screen resolution. After logged in, I go to the System > Display settings and after entering the root password, nothing happens. ?

I tried to install the ATI driver from the instructions in the FAQ, but it doesn't work. After modifying yum per the instructions in FAQ, and then running: yum install kmod-fglrx the process runs producing an error at the end about a conflict between the ati and fglrx drivers.

Thanks again.

[SaGS]

Originally Posted by AJ59

vesa i8042.noloop psmouse.proto=imps clock=pit vga=771
…
Yet when I try to exit X and go back into text mode I see a nice black screen with nothing. Any idea what might be causing that?

That’s the result of vga=<n>. Some people thought vga=771 usefull because they don’t see that garbage on the screen; but they don’t see anything else (text/ messages) either… So, remove it and add fbcon=map:9.

Originally Posted by AJ59

I believe my xorg.conf does have vesa in it but will have to confirm that when I get home.

If you (re-)installed adding the vesa option at install time, then yes you get the vesa driver used in the xorg.conf, and not the s3 driver.

Originally Posted by AJ59

In addition to the problems with the text mode (and I'll try your recommendation later also) I do not have the ability to change the screen resolution. After logged in, I go to the System > Display settings and after entering the root password, nothing happens. ?

Well, that’s broken for me too. I have also seen it broken in FC6 and F7 on ‘real’ hardware, not only under VPC. The only thing I could do was to change the resolution by editing xorg.conf directly.

Originally Posted by AJ59

I tried to install the ATI driver from the instructions in the FAQ, but it doesn't work. …

This definitely won’t work under VPC, because VPC emulates an S3 video card, and that is what the guest os will see no matter what video card you have on the host.

[AJ59]

Thank you very much. I will make those changes later today.

So if the VPC emulates an S3 video card, there is no point in trying to install a different driver, right?

Can I still change the resolution to 1280x1024? I don't plan on playing any games so am not worried.

After doing some research on different virtualization applications, I think that I will also give VirtualBox a shot. I've already invested a couple of days into Virtual PC, but I haven't spent any money. So all I can do is learn more. None of the threads here about virtualization actually recommend VPC, so maybe VB will be easier.

[AJ59]

Update:

Decided to try the Innotek VirtualBox and am I glad I did.

Fedora 8 installed in about 30 min (MUCH faster than Virtual PC) and when it runs it is much faster. Plus I actually have a 1024x768 resolution to choose from! Still need 1280x1024 but think I need to install the VM additions they supply.

Virtual Box is MUCH better than. Made in Germany. No wonder!

[SaGS]

Cannot help you with VirtualBox, but with F8 under VPC you can get resolutions up to 1152×768 with 24bpp and 1280×1024 with 16bpp. See, attached, my xorg.conf. Change resolution/ colour depth by first setting the desired colour depth (can be 16 or 24) on the ‘DefaultDepth’ line then, in the matching ‘SubSection "Display"’ change the width and height on the ‘Virtual’ line. Choose a pair of values from the ‘Modes’ line just below it (don’t change the ‘Modes’ line itself).

[AJ59]

Awesome! Thanks.

Not only is it awesome that you shared this, but it is awesome that we can attach things to out posts. Very cool.

Btw... under VirtualBox, the control panel works again.. the one where you can select monitor and video card.

But I'll try this xorg.conf in both the VB and VPC installs.

Thanks again.