# Black screen with cursor on FreeBSD 10-REL, Radeon KMS



## PA394 (Apr 30, 2014)

Hi there:

I have successfully installed and have had working _Free_BSD so far, even with Radeon KMS, but @ at this moment with Radeon HD5450 using Graphics AMD Wiki etc using ports libdrm, libgl, Radeon KMS, I have a black screen with a cursor. All TTYs are black. I learnt they are active only cannot be seen, it is true I can reboot as root. Maybe I did not `portmaster` lxde or xfce4 after Radeon KMS support.

/etc/make.conf has 

```
WITH_NEW-XORG="yes"
WITH_GALLIUM="yes"
```
I can work with a black screen if only I know what to do to get a desktop working.

I may not have got a desktop envirnoment, as a cursor on a screen means Xorg is working. How do I get Xfce4, LXDE working now from a black screen?

Thanks,
PA


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## SirDice (Apr 30, 2014)

PA394 said:
			
		

> /etc/make.conf has
> 
> ```
> WITH_NEW-XORG="yes"
> ```


This is not correct. It should be WITH_NEW_XORG.


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## wblock@ (Apr 30, 2014)

After starting X, consoles will not display unless you have built a kernel with vt(4) to replace the old syscons(4).  That's a separate issue which we can ignore for now.

How did you start X?  What is in ~/.xinitrc?


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## PA394 (Apr 30, 2014)

I misspelled it it is 
	
	



```
WITH_NEW_XORG="Yes"
```
 I had startlxde in ~/.xinitrc, which it did work before I used AMD graphics Wiki of `portmaster libdrm`, etc to install Radeon KMS. I believe FreeBSD 11.0 will have this TTYs resolved. How can I get back and do it right? I had followed the Wiki and had Radeon KMS installed on another machine with this particuar graphics card. 

As I know TTYs work, but I cannot see what is typed. Maybe a series of steps will correct the setup.


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## chrbr (Apr 30, 2014)

I am not sure if it applies for your issue, but some days ago there have been some updates which needed some care.
I have had made mistakes which caused issues which look almost similar to your problems.

```
20140416:
  AFFECTS: users of x11/xorg graphics/dri graphics/libGL and related ports
  AUTHOR: x11@FreeBSD.org

  The default xorg version has been switched on FreeBSD 10-STABLE and
  FreeBSD 9-STABLE.

  To upgrade graphics/libGL, graphics/dri and related MESA ports, it is
  necessary to first remove the old versions of those ports.
  No special upgrade procedure is needed for xorg ports but it is
  necessary to recompile all xorg drivers (xf86-*) and other ports that
  depend on the xserver version, including
  emulators/virtualbox-ose-additions.  Portrevisions have been bumped
  where needed, but users of drivers not in the ports tree will need to
  recompile those.

  If it is important to stay on the old versions, it is possible to
  specify WITHOUT_NEW_XORG= in /etc/make.conf to get the old xorg
  distribution.

  For users in need of working console when using KMS drivers (intel and
  radeon graphics cards) please use the new vt(9) console driver.
  For more information, see https://wiki.freebsd.org/Graphics and
  https://wiki.freebsd.org/Newcons .

  To update:

  # pkg_delete -f libGL-\* dri-\*
    or
  # pkg delete -f libGL dri
    followed by
  # portmaster graphics/dri graphics/libGL
    or
  # portupgrade graphics/dri graphics/libGL
    and then
  # portmaster -a
    or
  # portupgrade -a

20140416:
  AFFECTS: users of print/freetype2 textproc/libxml2 x11/pixman 
           x11/libxcb and graphics/freeglut
  AUTHOR: x11@FreeBSD.org and gnome@FreeBSD.org

  The library version of the above libraries has been brought in line
  with what upstream expects. To do this all users of these ports need
  to be rebuilt. Portrevisions have been bumped as a consequence.

  # portmaster -r freetype2 -r libxml2 -r pixman -r freeglut -r libxcb
  or
  # portupgrade -rf freetype2 libxml2 pixman freeglut libxcb
```
As far as I remember both steps required that a lot of software has had to be recompiled. I have been so "clever" to do the upper step first. As result some libraries of more complex window managers have been out of match anymore. twm has been still functional because it requires less functions from less libraries. jwm did not work. I am not sure if the errors have been listed in Xorg.0.log or if they have been just printed to stderr. Updating the other items have fixed my mistake. One lesson is that it is good to have twm as least as a back-up solution or for test purpose. The second lesson might be that /usr/ports/UPDATING should not be read from top to bottom  :r.

May be you check if everything is up to date and if twm would work with your current setup.


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## PA394 (Apr 30, 2014)

If I can get those commands working with all those compiling options on a black screen, I will be the first person who does not need a monitor.


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## wblock@ (Apr 30, 2014)

The graphics driver is not loaded until `startx` is run.  Or if you have some login manager like xdm(1) enabled in /etc/ttys.  Those can be disabled in by booting in single user mode, mounting the partitions, and editing the file.


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