Black screen on GDM, how to install xorg-base from grub?

Question

I followed these installation guides to install archlinux in a virtualbox before testing it out on a real machine:
* http://wideaperture.net/blog/?p=3851
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vi … al_Machine
* http://lifehacker.com/5680453/build-a-k … he-process
* http://www.muktware.com/2013/11/how-to- … ed/16825/6
* http://cbopt.com/how-to-install-arch-li … ng-system/
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide
It was really all smooth sailing until I finished installing gnome and gnome-extra.  These seemed to go well, but then I ran into a problem a lot like this guy's:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=119657
Namely, I now get past GRUB and am greated with a black screen that I seem to have no control over.  I can't boot, can't type, can't add my user to a video group, nothing.
So, I have two questions:
* What seems to be wrong?  From that thread, I think I need to install xorg-base, possibly?  Could it be that I installed the wrong video drivers for a virtual machine? (I assume it's the virtual machine I need drivers for, not my actual video card, right?)
* In a situation like this, how should I properly use GRUB to boot into CLI where I can diagnose, fix stuff, and do things like install xorg-base?  I can't find any way to boot to command line.
**Update**
Here's a little more research I've done.
1. I booted up using my installation disk to try accessing my files, maybe I can set something to not use GDM, as per here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/76543/ho … -selection
2. But I didn't know how to access underlying files when on boot disk, so I did this:
$ fdisk -l # told me sda2 was my Linux Filesystem
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
3. From the beginner's guide section on GUI troubleshooting here, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide, I tried this (prepending my mount point):
$ grep EE /mnt/var/log/Xorg.0.log
4. Well, I can't copy the output because of no GUI, but there were 3 errors:
(EE) Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
Are any of these relevant to why I boot into a black screen rather than something that looks like GNOME?
**Update 2**
Something similar for:
grep EE /mnt/var/log/gdm/:0.log.4
(EE) Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) AIGLX: reverting to software rendering
** Update 3 **
Discovered I could TTY to another terminal.  In virtualbox this is Host + F2.
Re-enabled gdm, restarted xstart, ran gnome, no luck. 
$ sudo pacman -S xorg
told me I was out of disk space, uh oh!  Of course, I made it only 4 GB since this is a virtualbox demo.
OK, let's resize my sda2 disk.  Restart with the live CD.
and now...?
Last edited by mittenchops (2014-01-20 06:58:31)

Answer 1

I followed these installation guides to install archlinux in a virtualbox before testing it out on a real machine:
* http://wideaperture.net/blog/?p=3851
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Vi … al_Machine
* http://lifehacker.com/5680453/build-a-k … he-process
* http://www.muktware.com/2013/11/how-to- … ed/16825/6
* http://cbopt.com/how-to-install-arch-li … ng-system/
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners%27_Guide
It was really all smooth sailing until I finished installing gnome and gnome-extra.  These seemed to go well, but then I ran into a problem a lot like this guy's:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=119657
Namely, I now get past GRUB and am greated with a black screen that I seem to have no control over.  I can't boot, can't type, can't add my user to a video group, nothing.
So, I have two questions:
* What seems to be wrong?  From that thread, I think I need to install xorg-base, possibly?  Could it be that I installed the wrong video drivers for a virtual machine? (I assume it's the virtual machine I need drivers for, not my actual video card, right?)
* In a situation like this, how should I properly use GRUB to boot into CLI where I can diagnose, fix stuff, and do things like install xorg-base?  I can't find any way to boot to command line.
**Update**
Here's a little more research I've done.
1. I booted up using my installation disk to try accessing my files, maybe I can set something to not use GDM, as per here: http://askubuntu.com/questions/76543/ho … -selection
2. But I didn't know how to access underlying files when on boot disk, so I did this:
$ fdisk -l # told me sda2 was my Linux Filesystem
$ sudo mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
3. From the beginner's guide section on GUI troubleshooting here, https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide, I tried this (prepending my mount point):
$ grep EE /mnt/var/log/Xorg.0.log
4. Well, I can't copy the output because of no GUI, but there were 3 errors:
(EE) Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
Are any of these relevant to why I boot into a black screen rather than something that looks like GNOME?
**Update 2**
Something similar for:
grep EE /mnt/var/log/gdm/:0.log.4
(EE) Failed to load module "modesetting" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "fbdev" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) Failed to load module "vesa" (module does not exist, 0)
(EE) AIGLX: reverting to software rendering
** Update 3 **
Discovered I could TTY to another terminal.  In virtualbox this is Host + F2.
Re-enabled gdm, restarted xstart, ran gnome, no luck. 
$ sudo pacman -S xorg
told me I was out of disk space, uh oh!  Of course, I made it only 4 GB since this is a virtualbox demo.
OK, let's resize my sda2 disk.  Restart with the live CD.
and now...?
Last edited by mittenchops (2014-01-20 06:58:31)