Display corrupted after login

fredk · #1 February 26th, 2007, 05:50 AM

Hi,

I have recently had a problem with one of our servers (running OsX 10.4.8 Server). Normally I connect remotely via Chicken of the VNC, as it doesn't have a graphics card and is in another room. Connecting works fine and the display is perfect (see http://www.biocentre.rdg.ac.uk/~fred/images/pre-login.png ), until that is, I try to log in. Once logged in (doesn't matter as what user, even tried a completely new one) the display instantly becomes illegible, with each row seemingly shifted 10 or so pixels to the right as you go down the display (see http://www.biocentre.rdg.ac.uk/~fred/images/post-login.png)

All directory, file and web services function correctly and the remote VNC connection is responsive (for example if you can guess where the logout button is, it will return to the perfectly displayed login screen...), but I am at a loss as to what is causing this and/or how to fix it, short of a clean install, but since it is a heavily used production server, I am loath to take it offline for that long...

Any advice, tips or even solutions would be fantastic, I have been googling around for a week or so and comparing System and Library directories file by file with one of our other servers to see if there's something obvious, but to no avail...

Thanks,

Fred.

ctan · #2 March 12th, 2007, 11:28 AM

I would suggest nuking the display preferences if you can. SSH into the server and go to the account in question, nuke any display preferences you can find.

chris

Kees Buijs · #3 March 12th, 2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctan

I would suggest nuking the display preferences if you can. SSH into the server and go to the account in question, nuke any display preferences you can find.

chris

I guess this will not do as it is user indifferent. Maybe a system reboot might work. Will not take that much time to do so. Reinstalling the Chicken software might do the trick.

Also if you are using a real old monitor, adjusting the display mode to a low resolution (640x480) and/or refresh rate (60hz) might do the trick. In the old days I did see this quite often as when adjusting out of range. Modern monitors will suppress the output, you see nothing anymore.

Good luck, Kees

fredk · #4 March 19th, 2007, 06:27 AM

Hi guys, thanks for your suggestions but nothing so far has worked. One of the first things I tried was a reboot, and when that didn't work, creating a fresh user account to see if that helped. All to no avail. Also display is a 17" LCD with 1280x1024 resolution and millions of colours... I tried creating a new install on a separate disk, and this works fine, but I really don't want to have to go through a complete reinstall as it is a heavily used production server...sadly looking like the only option!

Cheers,

Fred.