Hello, I am new to linux, but have experienced good things with debian based distros, so I decided to install Debian Sarge on my laptop... Installation seemed to go fine. But after I log in (even as root) and run 'startx' it goes to the gray screen with the 'x' curser and stays there(never fully loads) I tried reinstalling completely, but I have the same problem... Any ideas? Thanks.

The best thing you could do is to start all over and install Etch instead. It will come up with X working from the start, has drivers for more hardware, and has the latest versions of software. Sarge is marching into the pages of history. Let him go.

Where can I find a good mirror for Etch?(any recommendations?) Also, whats the difference between Sarge and Etch? Pros/Cons? Thanks.

If you're seeing the grey screen with a mouse, then X is working. You just dont have a DE or WM or Login Manager. Choose a DE or WM like Gnome, KDE, Xfce4, etc etc then install it. Or, if you're like me, install them all.

You also need to install a login manager, like gdm or kdm. I liek gdm better, personally.

Now type

This will start the login manager for you now. In the future, this login manager will come up on boot by default.

Note: All commands here should be run with root proviledges.

great thanks

I'm glad that billy got you running on Sarge, but you really need to consider upgrading to etch. Since you're just doing the install right now, this would be the best time, since you have no data to lose.

The etch install links are here. Don't take the Sarge link. You've already been there.

http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

Yes, Etch is a good idea. But - dont format and reinstall. Thats a dumb idea. Just change your apt repositories to point to etch and do a dist upgrade.

Here's a quick rundown:

1) Edit your sources file: /etc/apt/sources.list - Here is a copy of mine from my Etch days:

2) Update the package list in apt:

3) Do a dist-upgrade:

If things break or something goes wrong, run this:

This will force (hence the -f) apt-get to fix anything thats broken. After that run the dist-upgrade again.

There you go, you have just upgraded Sarge to Etch.

Great! much thanks, and thank you for the quick and detailed replies.

We are not going to run into the Xfree86 to Xorg issue with updating from sagre to etch are we? That was a pain and not seeing it again would be nice.

Eric.

I for one, never ran into any issues. So I dont forsee any problems. If so, we are here to help.

Is it possible for me to do the dist-upgrade to Etch from a Sid-based distro? also, If I were to do so, will I loose all my configuration? ie. wifi, video, sound, ...

Sid is the unstable version, etch is the testing version. If I read you correctly, you are new to Linux, so I would not advise running Sid just yet. Stick with Etch until you are a bit more comfortable with linux.

Eric.

I am very new to linux. I have been playing around with it for about 6 months or so. However, my question is... I am using a Sid based distro(mainly because this disto detected, installed and configured my hardware automatically-which is why I stuck with it for a while) on one of my laptops. I am wanting to dist-upgrade to Etch, but wasn't sure if that was possible from Sid. Also, would all my hardware need reconfiguration? Thanks.

Okay, I followed Billy's post and did a dist-upgrade from Sid to Etch. It works great now... and no configuration was lost. Thanks to you all, I have Etch running wonderfully on both of my machines.