can't invoke virtual consoles

[sktsee]

On Sat, 2008-02-16 at 10:55 -0500, geoffrey froner wrote:
> I installed Ubu 7.10 on an IBM ThinkCentre.  I have been unable to
> invoke virtual consoles (Ctl-Alt F#) although everything else works
> okay.  Can anyone help?

Hopefully, if you can provide the answers to the following questions we
can get it working. To get these answers you'll need to run some
commands in a terminal window, like gnome-terminal, or xterm, and
copy-n-paste the complete output of each command in your reply.

First, install the package hwinfo if it isn't already installed.
Use Synaptic, or in a terminal type "$ sudo apt-get install hwinfo".
** don't put this output in your reply**

1. What kind of graphics hardware do you have installed on your machine?
$ hwinfo --gfxcard

2. What kind of monitor is attached to your machine?
$ sudo ddcprobe 
If you have your monitor on a kvm, disconnect it from that and connect
it directly to computer for the purpose of troubleshooting.

3. Are the right kernel modules loaded?
$ lsmod |grep fb
$ lsmod |grep vga

4. What kind of framebuffer support does your graphics adapter provide?
$ sudo hwinfo --framebuffer

5. Do you see the grub boot menu shortly after you power on the machine?
5.a If yes, what happens when you select  "Ubuntu 7.10, kernel
2.6.22-14-generic (recovery mode)" from the menu and hit enter? Are you
able to see text in the console scroll by as the OS is loading? Type
"exit" to continue booting into X once you're at the prompt. If your
screen is blank, just wait until the disk isn't busy and then hit
CTL-ALT-DEL to reboot.
5.b If you saw text in the console while booting in recovery mode and
were able to complete booting to X by typing "exit" at the prompt, can
you now hit CTL-ALT-F# to switch to a vt and see text?

6. What kernel options are you booting with?
$ cat /proc/cmdline

That should be enough to start on.

-- 
sktsee