[CentOS] Got no login screen with the new 5.6 kernel

Thu Apr 14 01:42:53 UTC 2011
David McGuffey <davidmcguffey at verizon.net>

On Wed, 2011-04-13 at 19:14 -0400, Stanley A. Klein wrote:
> On Wed, April 13, 2011 12:00 pm,  m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
> > 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).
> >>
> 
> 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.
> 

I had a grainy display and strange colors after my update. I ended up
reinstalling the xorg drivers, selecting an incorrect video card, which
caused X to probe the hardware and build a good config.  Something
definitely bizarre about the 5.6 upgrade and X.

Dave M