No GUI when booting a Xen kernel

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

Situation

When booting a system with the Xen kernel, the GUI does not come up. The system remains in text mode or is inaccessible from the console. When it is booted with a non-Xen kernel, the GUI comes up.

Resolution

Adjust the X11 configuration for use with the Xen kernel as follows:

Boot the system using the Xen kernel, supplying the kernel parameter
init 3
to ensure the system does not try to bring up the GUI.
Log in in the text mode environment.
Rerun the X11 configuration as follows:
SaX2 -r 0=vesa

Additional Information

Background

This issue is typically seen when a graphics driver from a graphics card vendor like nVidea or ATI is used instead of a driver that is shipped with the SUSE Linux product. Such vendor drivers generally do not (or not yet) support the Xen flavour of the kernel. The resolution steps force reconfiguration of the X11 driver using the generic vesa driver which is shipped with the product.

Disclaimer

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