Description of problem: Sinch recent update of system (yum update) the display continuously cycles every 2.5 seconds and is only visible for a very small fraction of second, it is blank/black the rest of the time. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): is up-to-date (yum update) as of 4 June 2012. lspci says my video card is "nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1)" How reproducible: 100% : Every time. The flashing begin upon initial switch to graphics mode during boot. Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3. Actual results: Display is black, only flashing with non-black content every 2.5 seconds or so. I am able to login, open shells, etc, but it is very very hard to read because the display is visible for so short a time. Luckily I am able to login via ssh/telnet so I at least have root access. Expected results: Stable, visible graphical (or even text) display. Additional info: Desktop system w/ 12GM ram, external LCD monitor. System was quite stable and usable until this happened a week or so ago. During reboot the video is stable while in text mode, only going black and cycling upon switch to graphics mode. Linux version 3.3.7-1.fc16.x86_64 (mockbuild.fedoraproject.org) (gcc version 4.6.3 20120306 (Red Hat 4.6.3-2) (GCC) ) #1 SMP Tue May 22 13:59:39 UTC 2012 CPU: model name : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9650 @ 3.00GHz xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-r128-6.8.1-11.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-utils-7.5-3.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-apm-1.2.3-8.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-nouveau-0.0.16-27.20110720gitb806e3f.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-xtrans-devel-1.2.6-2.fc15.noarch xorg-x11-drv-savage-2.3.3-1.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-voodoo-1.2.4-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-server-common-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-server-Xephyr-1.11.4-3.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-rendition-4.2.4-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-mga-1.4.13-8.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-penmount-1.5.0-3.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-tdfx-1.4.3-9.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-fonts-Type1-7.5-4.fc15.noarch xorg-x11-drv-mouse-1.7.1-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-vesa-2.3.0-9.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-mutouch-1.3.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-i128-1.3.4-9.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-fpit-1.4.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-xauth-1.0.6-1.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.17.0-8.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859-1-75dpi-7.5-4.fc15.noarch xorg-x11-drv-void-1.4.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.6.99.901-7.20120118git9d9c9870c.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-openchrome-0.2.904-16.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-sisusb-0.9.4-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-fbdev-0.4.2-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-qxl-0.0.21-13.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-proto-devel-7.6-12.fc16.noarch xorg-x11-drivers-7.4-2.fc15.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-cirrus-1.3.2-10.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-ast-0.91.10-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-mach64-6.9.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-hyperpen-1.4.1-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-glint-1.2.5-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-font-utils-7.5-6.fc15.x86_64 xorg-x11-fonts-misc-7.5-4.fc15.noarch xorg-x11-drv-keyboard-1.6.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-vmmouse-12.7.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-s3virge-1.10.4-9.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-elographics-1.3.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.14.3-4.20120201git36c190671.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-acecad-1.5.0-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-aiptek-1.4.1-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-vmware-11.0.3-6.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-fonts-ISO8859-1-100dpi-7.5-4.fc15.noarch xorg-x11-drv-i740-1.3.2-9.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-trident-1.3.4-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-sis-0.10.3-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-xinit-1.3.1-1.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-server-utils-7.5-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-xkb-utils-7.5-5.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-v4l-0.2.0-14.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-wacom-0.12.0-1.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-dummy-0.3.4-7.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-nv-2.1.18-8.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-siliconmotion-1.7.5-2.fc16.x86_64 xorg-x11-drv-synaptics-1.5.0-2.fc16.x86_64 lspci 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset DRAM Controller (rev 02) 00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port (rev 02) 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 1 00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 4 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 5 00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) PCI Express Root Port 6 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 90) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801JIR (ICH10R) LPC Interface Controller 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 4 port SATA IDE Controller #1 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) SMBus Controller 00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801JI (ICH10 Family) 2 port SATA IDE Controller #2 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G94 [GeForce 9600 GT] (rev a1) 03:00.0 IDE interface: JMicron Technology Corp. JMB368 IDE controller 04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02) 05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02) 06:07.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB23 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
Adding kernel boot option "nomodeset" (no quotes) seems to work around the problem. Others seem to have reported similar problems with nvidia card/driver. I wonder if this is an fbdev issue?
found similar report and workaround at: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=263630&highlight=display+black
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