startx doesn't work properly
 

Hi,
I have installed Debian but when I ran startx, I got the "no screens found" error. So I decided to use vesa drivers in place of nv(for my geforce4) in the XFree86config-4 file, and scale down the resolution. Now when I type startx, I get the KDE loading screen, but then I get an error and x fails to load.
How can I fix this?

This is the end of my xfree86.0.log:
Thanks in advance.

You have two mouse entries and the second one is causing errors. Remove the General Mouse section.

Do you have the mouse modules in your /etc/modules? I had to add mousedev and psmouse to get X to work properly.

/TLV

I'm not sure, but I think the mousedev entry in /etc/modules is only needed for usb mice. Entry for psmouse in /etc/modules should be enough for non-usb PS/2 mice. (Still, no harm done using both.)

Another consideration is that PS/2 (or ImPS/2) mice with kernel 2.4.x use /dev/psaux but with kernel 2.6.x the correct device is /dev/input/mice.

Like already suggested, commenting out the offending mouse entry in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 might be worth a try.

Also, you can comment out the font path entry unix/:7100 in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 since it doesn't appear to work.

I tried to comment out the mouse entry, but I keep getting errors:

This is my original XF86Config-4 file:

I edited it to this:
And this is the Xfree86.0.log:

According to the boys at #debian in the IRC, the driver is nvidia-glx and you need to compile the modules (nvidia-kernel-src), what i don't understand is why it doesn't work with vesa?

Assuming you are in Woody, with kernel 2.4.18, i would reconfigure X with:

as root:
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

and this time following the instructions in the following article TO THE LETTER:

The Very Verbose Debian 3.0 Installation Walkthrough
http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=2016

Sections 9 and 10
Installing XFree86 Parts I and II

try with the vesa driver and whatever you do, do not touch the XFree86config-4 file, Let Debian write it for you.

simple solution = kernel compiling with mouse support

I had the same problem Ungluun - I was using a mouse made in about 1992, so I switched to a mouse made in about 2002, and that solved the problem. Debian doesn't have drivers for every piece of hardware, and if Debian doesn't have the right driver for your mouse then in my experience (limited to my one example) it simply won't open the GUI. So if all the above suggestions fail, you could try buying a new mouse or simply try a different one if you have one.

The problem seems to be with KDE. Gnome starts without a problem. So I'm going to stick with gnome for a while :)
The next problem is installing the Nvidia drivers: It seems that i need the kernel headers, but can't install them:
How should i do this?

You can add "testing" repository to your sources.list and pull the kernel-headers package from testing. Here are two documents that explain the "apt-pinning" technique that allows you to do this.

http://jaqque.sbih.org/kplug/apt-pinning.html

http://www.argon.org/~roderick/apt-pinning.html

"Apt-pinning" should work fine when you use only two "branches" (stable/testing or testing/unstable) but it has problems when trying to use three "branches" (stable/testing/unstable) simultaneously.