[NTLUG:Discuss] Boot Up Parameters - Keeping them in LiveCD

[Mike Hart]

>locks up right before login

vga=XXX is the boot time setting for the console graphic screen..  You are failing when X starts which is not related to that setting. 

You need to look into the following boot time settings for the x server.

xres=XSIZExYSIZE (800x600, 1024x768, etc) 

nofb

xserver=vesa 


These are pretty safe settings to put in the options (should work with most cd's and pc's.) you lose all graphic acceleration tho, but most distros have better detection if you actually install than when you boot from a CD, so you can expect it to get better if you install to hard drive. 

However....

There isn't a single answer to this for all bootable CD's because depending on the distro, the specifics will vary (whether you are using grub or lilo, whether you are using xOrg or xFree {does anyone still use xFree}, and distro customizations of this stuff (some bootable cds require you to select graphic settings from a menu rather than typing it in, some of this depends on the kernel version.....) 

The thing you want to understand is that you are working on fixing X settings,  not the bootup VGA settings. Both have to be set for ultra new cards or museum quality stuff, but they each have to be set separately