I have a bootable gentoo image 2.6.19. I modify the bzimage to gentoo latest version. After booting it shows a blank screen with "X" cursor. Nothing happens after that.
If I press Ctl Alt BkSpace, it reboots the system and the problem repeats. Where I am going wrong?

X started, but a login prompter like XDM, etc, or your first X script (depending on how X is started) did not run or did not communication with the X server. Can you get to a text login or shell prompt by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 ? Or will Ctrl+Alt+Backspace cause X to quit?

If I press CtlAltF1 I get a screen full of text ending with:

XWindows System Version 7.1.1
.
.Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf
.
(EE) FBDEV(0): FBIOBLANK: Invalid argument
mrxvt: can't open pseudo-tty.

--------------------------------------
After that nothing happens. If I pressed CtlAltBkSpace, system
would go for a reboot and the sequence repeated.

If I use the old linux kernel, everything works fine.

Try Ctrl+Alt+F2 (or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6) and see if any of this show a password prompt in text mode. If so, log in.

How old is this system? You might need to install a recent distro version on another disk and access any data for recovery, then do a fresh install to this original drive.

Let me clarify my problem again. I have an old livecd with gentoo linux 2.6.19 and some of my own program that is auto run. Now I am replacing the old bzImage by the new one which is gento linix 3.3.0. I get this situation now after making an iso file and trying to boot from it. CtlAltF1 shows the text that I posted before. CtlAltF2 F3 etc does not show anything. It seems the new Gentoo kernel has some issue with my old X. So my query is what to look for to solve the problem.

Also, I tried to boot the latest iso thru Virtual PC. It stopped showing starting local.. message. If I press CtlAltF1, I get to a #prompt but there is no graphics. If I goto X11 and type xinit ( I have no idea if this is the right thing to do), It shows a graphical screen with a square cursor and no control available to me. If I press CtlAltBackspace I see a screen which ends with Using system config directory "/user/share/X11/xorg.conf.d

From that kernel version to 3.x a LOT of things changed. I am assuming you are not hitting some other problems because it seems your system mostly boots. So, the problem could be in the migration from old fb to kms, or something like that.

Te diagnose this, we will need your whole /var/log/Xorg.0.log. If you are using X on framebuffer you should consider using kms with the right driver for your video chip, if possible.

You should use "startx" instead, and you should as well properly configure your ~/.xinitrc, to launch a WM of some kind. I have no idea what your livecd exactly launches, so...

That description looks like X is starting with some kind of terminal emulator. When it can't get the focus (since there's no wm) terminals behave this way, though you are still able to write to them. Again, this is just a guess from what I quoted from you, but you gave us little info.

My livecd for now launches an application compiled with wxwidgets, which just displays a window with Hello world. My xinitrc is written below. Any idea?

#!/bin/sh
# $Xorg: xinitrc.cpp,v 1.3 2000/08/17 19:54:30 cpqbld Exp $

userresources=$HOME/.Xresources
usermodmap=$HOME/.Xmodmap
xinitdir=/etc/X11
sysresources=$xinitdir/Xresources
sysmodmap=$xinitdir/Xmodmap

# merge in defaults and keymaps

if [ -f $sysresources ]; then
xrdb -merge $sysresources
fi

if [ -f $sysmodmap ]; then
xmodmap $sysmodmap
fi

if [ -f $userresources ]; then
xrdb -merge $userresources
fi

if [ -f $usermodmap ]; then
xmodmap $usermodmap
fi

# First try ~/.xinitrc
if [ -f "$HOME/.xinitrc" ]; then
XINITRC="$HOME/.xinitrc"
if [ -x $XINITRC ]; then
# if the x bit is set on .xinitrc
# it means the xinitrc is not a
# shell script but something else
exec $XINITRC
else
exec /bin/sh "$HOME/.xinitrc"
fi
# If not present, try the system default
elif [ -n "`/etc/X11/chooser.sh`" ]; then
exec "`/etc/X11/chooser.sh`"
# Failsafe
else
# start some nice programs
twm &
xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login
fi

Nice, but how's is that program being launched?

Because I don't see any custom app being launched in that code you posted... That looks like an standard xsession script, those which usually live under /etc/X11 or the like. Did you copy that to $HOME/.xinitrc? Else, please, post your $HOME/.xinitrc.

Also, if you are using this as your x launcher, are twm, xclock, xterm... installed? In Gentoo there's an high chance that this won't go into your standard installation unless you install them yourself.

.xinitrc file :
exec /bin/mrxvt -g 100x100+800+0 -e /bin/startfluxbox

and fluxbox startinit contains:

/usr/bin/fluxbox &
cd /myfolder
./myprogram.

I am getting the error
mrxvt: can't open pseudo-tty

It's hard what you're trying to do.

Are you running the window manager from inside a terminal window? This is highly irregular, unless you really know what you are doing. If by chance you close that window you'll instantly be outside X. If what you want is to capture its output for debug purposes there are better ways.

So, X is launching mrxtv, mrxvt is launching fluxbox, and fluxbox is launching itself from it's config file. Why?

[/quote]

Does mrxvt work at all if you launch it manually? Trying to diagnose this mess in one shot is complicated. I suggest you to simplify.

First, edit ~/.xinitrc with your favourite editor, and modify it to contain a single line, like this:

Now, check that X starts, and fluxbox loads. If all is ok, it's time to proceed to the next step.

Try to open mrxvt, if it doesn't work, then try with xterm. Maybe the problem is with mrxvt. But we need to isolate it. Shooting in the dark is not going to help us.

Let us know what do you find out of this. And don't hesitate to ask if you need further clarification.

I am simply trying to run myprog. The scripts and the scheme that you see were left by my previous programmer who did it in 2007. As I have to update the myprog now, I tried first by replacing the program in the initrd, which showed that the library was not matching. Then I updated the libs, which showed me kernel too old. Then I replaced bzImage with the latest kernel, that showed me the mrxvt error.

Anyway I will definitely try out your suggestions and ask for further help.

Thank you. Changing to only 'exec startfluxbox' brought up my program. I do not see any problem with display at least. I have still no idea why 'exec /bin/mrxvt -g 100x100+800+0 -e /bin/startfluxbox' was used and what was the meaning.

Thanks again for literally guiding me to the discovery of the problem