Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Issues related to software problems.
enoch
Posts: 9
Joined: 2011/06/05 01:31:50

Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by enoch » 2011/06/30 19:19:52

We are trying to setup VNC on our server running CentOS 5. We followed the instructions found here http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/VNC-Server

But when we try to remote in, all be get is a blank screen with a cursor. What are we doing wrong?

[url=http://imgur.com/l64wh][img]http://i.imgur.com/l64wh.png[/img][/url]

milosb
Posts: 661
Joined: 2009/01/18 00:39:15
Location: 44 49′14″N 20 27′44″E

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by milosb » 2011/06/30 22:54:07

I seem to recall experiencing such an issue on one occasion, and the cause had something to do with server running in runlevel 3 - or better yet, not running a display manager.
And indeed, after a glance at the VNC Wiki page, I guess you missed this part, in Section 5:
[i][b]
If you are not running a display manager (runlevel 3 for example), you will need to start one or you will only get a black screen when you connect.
[/i][/b]
Hope this helps ;-)


Regards,

enoch
Posts: 9
Joined: 2011/06/05 01:31:50

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by enoch » 2011/07/01 19:05:10

[quote]
milosb wrote:
I seem to recall experiencing such an issue on one occasion, and the cause had something to do with server running in runlevel 3 - or better yet, not running a display manager.
And indeed, after a glance at the VNC Wiki page, I guess you missed this part, in Section 5:
[i][b]
If you are not running a display manager (runlevel 3 for example), you will need to start one or you will only get a black screen when you connect.
[/i][/b]
Hope this helps ;-)


Regards,[/quote]

I ran the runlevel command and CentOS said it was running in runlevel 5. What command can I use to see what display manager I am using?

lystor
Posts: 187
Joined: 2008/09/10 15:46:12
Location: Ukraine, Donetsk

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by lystor » 2011/07/02 16:33:22

[quote]
enoch wrote:
We are trying to setup VNC on our server running CentOS 5.
But when we try to remote in, all be get is a blank screen with a cursor. What are we doing wrong?[/quote]
Hi
Start GNOME or KDE on the [url=http://pkgs.org/package/vnc-server]VNC server[/url] - add gnome-session (for GNOME) or startkde (for KDE) to ~/.vnc/xstartup.

bitlord
Posts: 22
Joined: 2011/06/29 17:10:58

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by bitlord » 2011/07/02 18:03:38

Hi
I don't know if this is it but, I had a simular issue. Is this a new install and have you set the password? If not set the password.
In your home directory ( ~/.vnc/password ) delete the password file. start your server (vncserver) and set the password. you can also set the vnc password using the vncpasswd command. By the way you should be doing this as the user that will use the vnc session. After we did this the screen was normal again.

Hope this helps

enoch
Posts: 9
Joined: 2011/06/05 01:31:50

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by enoch » 2011/07/06 19:26:49

[quote]
bitlord wrote:
Hi
I don't know if this is it but, I had a simular issue. Is this a new install and have you set the password? If not set the password.
In your home directory ( ~/.vnc/password ) delete the password file. start your server (vncserver) and set the password. you can also set the vnc password using the vncpasswd command. By the way you should be doing this as the user that will use the vnc session. After we did this the screen was normal again.

Hope this helps[/quote]

Hi bitlord

I logged in as the user that will use the VNC session. Stopped the vncserver service. Went into the home directory and deleted the password file. Ran the vncpasswd command, set the password to the same password used to login to the server. Started the vncpasswd service.

Went to another computer to try to VNC into the server and its still blank.

I didn't mention this before, but we use an add on video card in the server. I thought this might be causing the problem. So I removed the add on video card and used the onboard graphics. But I am still having the same problem.

Listed below is output from the log. Maybe there is something in there that can shed light on the problem.


[code]
Tue Jul 5 05:24:41 2011
HTTPServer: getting / for 192.168.50.54
HTTPServer: completed HTTP request

Tue Jul 5 05:24:43 2011
Connections: accepted: 192.168.50.54::4489
SConnection: Client needs protocol version 3.8
SConnection: Client requests security type VncAuth(2)

Tue Jul 5 05:24:46 2011
VNCSConnST: Server default pixel format depth 16 (16bpp) little-endian rgb565

Tue Jul 5 05:24:47 2011
VNCSConnST: Client pixel format depth 8 (8bpp) colour-map

Tue Jul 5 05:24:50 2011
Connections: closed: 192.168.50.54::4489 (Clean disconnection)
SMsgWriter: framebuffer updates 1
SMsgWriter: ZRLE rects 1, bytes 117
SMsgWriter: raw bytes equivalent 983052, compression ratio 8402.153846
[/code]

enoch
Posts: 9
Joined: 2011/06/05 01:31:50

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by enoch » 2011/07/06 19:47:03

[quote]
lystor wrote:
[quote]
enoch wrote:
We are trying to setup VNC on our server running CentOS 5.
But when we try to remote in, all be get is a blank screen with a cursor. What are we doing wrong?[/quote]
Hi
Start GNOME or KDE on the [url=http://pkgs.org/package/vnc-server]VNC server[/url] - add gnome-session (for GNOME) or startkde (for KDE) to ~/.vnc/xstartup.[/quote]

Hi lystor

This is what our xstartup file looks like. We added startkde to the example xstartup code in the wiki http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/VNC-Server

But we are still getting a blank screen.

[code]
#!/bin/sh
( while true ; do xterm ; done ) &
unset SESSION_MANAGER
exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[ -x /etc/vnc/xstartup ] && exec /etc/vnc/xstartup
[ -r $HOME/.Xresources ] && xrdb $HOME/.Xresources
xsetroot -solid grey
vncconfig -iconic &
xterm -geometry 80x24+10+10 -ls -title "$VNCDESKTOP Desktop" &
twm &
startkde

[/code]

gerald_clark
Posts: 10642
Joined: 2005/08/05 15:19:54
Location: Northern Illinois, USA

Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by gerald_clark » 2011/07/06 20:31:37

You still have not set a default window manager.
man switchdesk

pschaff
Retired Moderator
Posts: 18276
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Location: Tidewater, Virginia, North America
Contact:

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by pschaff » 2011/07/06 20:32:40

[quote]
enoch wrote:
....
twm &
startkde
...[/quote]
Only one window manager to a customer. :-) If you want KDE don't start Tom's Window Manager (twm) first. I would assume you want to background KDE[code]startkde &[/code]

gerald_clark
Posts: 10642
Joined: 2005/08/05 15:19:54
Location: Northern Illinois, USA

Re: Tried to VNC into our server, but the screen is blank.

Post by gerald_clark » 2011/07/06 20:35:34

Nothing past the "exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc" will run.
The default has not been set.

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