PCLinuxOS 2007 (mandriva spin off)
i686
kernels: 2.6.18.8.tex5 and also 2.6.22.10.tex1

QUESTION: Does anyone know what is wrong with the x11 updates breaking xwindows?

MY SITUATION:

I did an "apt-get upgrade" (this updates all updateable sw)
Then I could not startx.

It had problems loading the "nv" driver and stated:

Failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nv_drv.so: undefined symbol: xf86CrtcConfigPrivateIndex
Failed to load module "nv"
module ABI minor version (7) is newer than the server's version (6)

and had a similiar error for mouse and kbd.

After researching, trial and error, I finally gave up up on trying to revert back to the original x11-driver-video-nv-1.2.2-1pclos2007.i686 (apt-get is limited)

I installed the nvidia driver and it then only complained about the ABI module, the mouse and kbd.

SO -- wasting so much time...I just reinstalled the / and OS from scratch and went to update...I skipped ALL the x11 updates. and there was not problem...

Im back with a working desktop (phew need to get work done) but what's wrong with x11 updates?

Hi,

I have got exactly the same problem since a few days. After an update I restartet PCLinuxOS and now X does not want to start anymore.

It´s showing the same errors on my screen.

As I am too lazy at the moment to install everything again, I hope that a future update will fix this. ....or does anyone have an idea what else to try?

You might try isolating and uninstalling the packages and then reinstall the older version. Since I have my /home dir partitioned off by itself I just found it easier to reinstall the system leaving /home alone so all my personal stuff is still there. When I ran the updates I avoided all the x11 packages until I find out what's going on with them.

Not installing the updates is ok for now but I would really prefer to be up to date with security fixes.

Honk -- (if you still have them) can you cut and paste the complete errors you see when you try to 'startx'...I only posted what I had from memory but it might help others to see the full error message. I really should have saved and posted them before reloading the OS.

The x11 related logs from /var/log/messages and the /var/log/Xorg.0.log would be great too. Maybe someone can help us figure it out. Thanks!

Ps -- Im not sure of you linux knowledge level but if you have a problem capturing the startx error you can try "startx > atempfile.txt" to redirect the errors to a file for you to view at your leisure.

Ok, my kownledge level somwhere slightly above newbie, I think

The problem is, that I don´t know how to get the output here and it´s on a different computer. I will try to type it manually, so there might be some typing errors...


failed to load /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nv_drv.so
failed to load module "nv" (loader failed, 7)
module ABI minor version (7) is newer than the server´s version (6)
failed to load "kbd" (module requirement mismatch, 0)
module ABI minor version (7) is newer than the server´s version (6)
failed to load "mouse" (module requirement mismatch, 0)
no devices detected

Fatal server errors:
no screens found

fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on server ":0.0"
after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining


If you could explain, how to connect via telnet this would help to post xorg.0.log and messages. I tried to connect via telnet, but it was refused. Guess that the firewall is blocking it, or it is not even installed. How can I configure it from the console (with Suse I was used to start yast and configure it...but this does not to work with PCLinuxOS)?

Honk,

Thanks for submitting the errors. It appears not many people are experiencing this issue...?

You can enable the ssh daemon and connect via ssh. telnet is old and very insecure. When connecting via ssh the shell behaves in pretty much the same way as your shell would in telnet so it's not much different to a user.

When you are logged in to the box issue the command:
"service sshd start"
This will start the sshd. If you want it starting automatically everytime you boot type:
"chkconfig sshd on"

Now you will be able to connect to the box remotely using your regular username and passwd. It is not advised to use "root" to login remotely and this option is disabled in the /etc/ssh/sshd_config file. It is best to login as a regular user and "su" to root user when already logged in.

If connecting from windows you need to get putty.exe here:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
otherwise if connecting from another linux box type: "ssh myservername"

Make sure ssh port 22 is not firewalled anywhere.

Hi mossy,

thanks for the explanation. I am able to connect now via SSH.

Here are the files:

/var/log/messages:
Xorg.0.log:
Hope this is showing some helpful informtaion. (to me it does not say very much...)

Good news:

After reading this Thread:
http://www.pclinuxos.com/index.php?o...&topic=35824.0

I made an "apt-get dist-upgrade" and now everything is running fine again. I hope that the next normal upgrade will not cause the same problem again.....

Thanks Honk! I was soo busy recently I have not had time to get back to this. Actually I was just going to tell you I found the same result which worked for me too. It happened on another system I have so I was determined to figure it out earlier today.

If it happens again just remember to update your apt-get package list before upgrading:
(The "update" will synchronize it with the latest repository packages before upgrading them).

Jeez if only I had seen your response/email last month -- it would have saved me some research today!

Thanks anyhow!!!


mossy

BTW I noticed your system does not have it's hostname set...you can easily do this by doing the following:
and then edit the /etc/sysconfig/network file to reflect the hostname. eg here's what's in my file /etc/sysconfig/network file:

NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=myhostname.mydomain.com


Edit the /etc/hosts file depending on if you use DHCP or not (which it looks like you might be static?):

static /etc/hosts config;

192.168.178.22 myhostname.mydomain.com myhostname
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

or DHCP configuration;

127.0.0.1 myhostname.mydomain.com myhostname localhost


In order for it to take effect logout and then log back in and it should be good to go.
If it reverts back to "localhost" after a reboot you might need to set it in the gui...Control panel> Manage Host definitions...i think. It's always good to know command line tho.

All the best,

mossy

Actually I just discovered that this fix does not work on a Dell Latitude 1100 laptop.

Here's error info:

I tried backing up xorg.conf but new and old file still does not work.

This is the 4th machine I have experienced this issue with, basically all the computers running PCLinuxOS. All are different models, an IBM Thinkpad T30, Dell latitude 1100, Dell Latitude X1, and a Dell desktop x340 (I think model is right).

At this point I am wondering why PCLinuxOS developers have not resolved this issue with their updates yet!


mossy

Wow. Honk I see what you mean about the PCLinuxOS forum. I went there to bring up this issue, the moderator "Exterm" was a right smart-ass. I'm so polite. He did not fully read the post, then was sarcastically suggesting basic stuff I had said I already tried, then he deleted the whole thread when I called him on it. heh heh heh.

fsck them.

Pity. I really like the OS, great work so far (except this issue), but I'm very disappointed in the smart-ass support. And I'm not opposed to switching if this sort of support continues to be an issue.

mossy

PS. I hear Linux Mint is pretty user friendly (this lappy is for family member) so I think I will try that for this. If needed I am sure I can get underneath the friendly fluff to configure as needed if need be.