CentOS black screen

[jsteph32]

Hi,

My CentOS linux environment isn't displaying anything. I can telnet into it from the mac, so the servers I've got setup are running, but no screen under CentOS. I've tried the following:

- gone back to some older copies in my backup disks, and that doesn't change anythin

- multiple restarts

- reloaded latest VMWare Fusion

Also it seems to consume a lot of CPU

Has anyone any ideas please???? I'm not very good on unix/linux!

James.

[Mikero]

What version of CentOS?

Is it in some sort of power save mode?

What version of OS X and which mac are you running it on?

[jsteph32]

Well, I don't know exaclty the version of CentOS.... I dont it's a power save since I've tried going back to backup copies, power-offs, etc. I've also had the same with my XP immage a couple of times.

I'm on a MacBook (Jan09) with 4GB ram, and OS X 10.5.8

Thanks,

[Mikero]

Did you install Tools?

[jsteph32]

Nope. In fact, I was happily working with it this morning when I had to suspend it, and since I can't get it to come back.... :_|

[Mikero]

can you ssh to it and restart?

Or have you tried hard-powering it off?

From the Menu Bar > Virtual Machine > Hold the 'option' button > Power Off

[jsteph32]

Well, I can telnet into it and switch it off from there, but when I restart, I have exacly the same screen.

Same with forcing a power off - It restarts back to this black screen. Oh, and also with one processor core running at 100% all the time.

James

PS I appreicate your time ald help

[Mikero]

You mention Telnet... are you not able to ssh to your server? ( I don't remember if CentOS comes with an ssh server and turns it on by default...)

If you could run 'top' (I never use Telnet so I'm unsure if

you can do it through this...), you could see which process is at 100%

Also, is there a specific reason for using CentOS? It's a bit less non-linux-user friendly than say, Ubuntu (which works under Fusion with very little effort).

[jsteph32]

Hi,

I found my problem. It's a little embarrasing actually. I had then user I was connecting as in the wrong group, so no access to the desktop. Hence, everything was starting normally, but when I got to the desktop, it didn't know what to do, hence a runaway process.

I've had a similar issue with XP, which always needed a re-install of VMWare, but obviously this was something different!

Thanks for your help!

J.

[Mikero]

Heh, well that's certainly less embarrasing than many things I could think of!

Even the best forgot a permission or two in their time.

Either way, I'm glad you were able to isolate the issue and get it resolved.

You might want to mark the thread as answerd, just in case anyone ever comes across such an issue

Have a good one 😃

[jsteph32]

Thanks