Uh Oh!!!

[tpascubarat]

I had an almost perfect Mint 4.0 setup until I changed a video monitor setting from Generic to the actual monitor I have. It wanted me to log off and log back on. Once I did that - no video. The screen had life, bit it was just a bunch of colorful horizontal lines. I tried changing the settings using the LiveCD for Mint as well as PCLOS, but nothing. I tried to look for the X11 directory to get to xorg.conf, but still nada.

Does anyone know how to reset the appropriate driver(s) so that i can see actual "life" on my screen again?

Dazed and confused

[ricky]

if you can get to a terminal you can use this code

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

then you can reconfigure your x and hopefully fix it.

[tpascubarat]

All I can do is either boot from HD and choose generic (recovery mode), then enter root password, but then my keyboard does not work. If I use the PCLOS LiveCD, I don't know if I am able to get to the "true" root and not the LiveCd root.

[exploder]

Are you using a USB keyboard? If so, try a keyboard that has a ps2 connector and see what happens. ricky's solution is the way to fix your system. I think the keyboard is the problem because I had trouble with usb keyboards in Ubuntu based distributions in the past.

[tpascubarat]

I can only wish it were that easy. I am using a PS2 keyboard that has always worked. It works when I use the LiveCD.

[exploder]

I wonder if it is possible to copy the the file from the Live CD to your hard drive? I have only used the method that ricky describes to fix this problem. You might search the Ubuntu forums for a solution using the Live CD. I know it is fixable.

[linuxviolin]

Try using a LiveCD to access to your partitions on your hard disk and change in xorg.conf the driver for "vesa" in the Section "Device".
After that you should be able to boot Mint...

[tpascubarat]

OK, I'm getting closer, but not close enough. I managed to get access to the ~/etc/x11/xorg.conf file and found the original right underneath that was renamed xorg.conf.1

I saw that the ".1" had the original monitor settings, but it would not let me rename these files. So I tried to copy the original settings from the .1 to the replaced file, but lacked the permissions needed. I am trying to find out how to get in there as administrator or root.

[tpascubarat]

I finally solved that issue by finally being able to log onto root on another system. I was then able to modify the xorg file and replace it. Thanks for all your help, I probably would not have been able to do this without your suggestions.

Now, my ps2 keyboard does not work. It used to. Still searching for solutions.

[ricky]

hey sorry it took me so long to check back with you, if you can get a ubuntu or mint live cd, then mount your hd (you can gksudo nautilus, or a command), you can use the code that i mentioned earlier in the terminal. it will act on the mounted hd, and you can configure it back to the way it was if you want. other than that i'm dry.

[tpascubarat]

The video problem is no longer the issue. It boots up OK now. But my PS2 keyboard does not light up. I have to plug in my usb cordless keyboard from my Vista box in order to sign in. I don't why the driver for the kb all of a sudden stopped working.