XServer failing in new shiny computer

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 06:18 PM

Hi all,
My P4 based system died so I went and got myself a new shiny setup consisting of:- Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 motherboard
AMD (Richland) A4-4000 3.00GHz (3.20GHz Turbo) Socket FM2 Dual-Core Processor
(This is an APU with Radeon 7400 graphics attached to a CPU)
8Gb memory

Now whatever distro I install (I've tried a few), the XServer always fail due to finding no screens.

What is really annoying is that live cd's work without trouble.

I have searched the web for similar problems without success.

Please help.

I'll try and post any outputs from any commands that anybody requests.

Many thanks in advance

John

astrogeek · 02-05-2014, 06:22 PM

Welcome to LQ!

Is there a question in there...?

*** EDIT ***

Ah, I see you have added some details...

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 06:32 PM

Yes,
Why is the Xserver failing?
John

astrogeek · 02-05-2014, 06:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny_boy

Yes,
Why is the Xserver failing?
John

The answer is probably going to be distro specific, so which one do you have installed at this time?

You say the X server is failing to find any screens, could you describe how you know that (i.e. terminal errors, log messages, etc.).

And I would conclude that you are in fact able to login to a terminal, is that correct?

Thanks for the additional info.

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 07:02 PM

Hi Astrogeek,
I've installed PCLinuxOS LXDE 64 bit at present, but I have tried Ubuntu 64 bit, Centos (From a magazine dvd0 and ARCH.
During installation there is no apparent problem.
Upon rebooting after removing the installation cd the errors appear.
I am informed by the system that the XServer can't find any screens, and as you rightly assumed, I am put into a terminal so that I can fix the XServer error :-?
It also informs me where the error logs are stored.
Any help you can give will be appreciated.
John

astrogeek · 02-05-2014, 07:10 PM

I am not familiar with PCLinuxOS so will invite anyone who is to jump in here.

But I would suggest the first thing to try would be something like this (as root):

Code:

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf-original

xorgconfig

Which will generate an xorg.conf file in your working directory, then...

cp xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then as non-root user...

Code:

startx

Let us know what that does.

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 07:20 PM

Hi there,
Did as you suggested, but when executing xorgconfig, the system replies with command not found.
I am definately acting as root
I also tried issuing the command within the /etc/X11 directory without success
Trying the startx command only brings up the error messages.

astrogeek · 02-05-2014, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny_boy

Hi there,
Did as you suggested, but when executing xorgconfig, the system replies with command not found.
I am definately acting as root
I also tried issuing the command within the /etc/X11 directory without success
Trying the startx command only brings up the error messages.

How did you become root - login as root or su?

If su, then try it as 'su -', that is with a trailing '-' character.

Also try...

Code:

whereis xorgconfig

...and if it shows up then try it as root with the full path, such as...

/sbin/xorgconfig

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 07:56 PM

Thanks for your help and patience Astrogeek
Got put into a terminal as root by the system as PCLinuxOS adds users at the restart once the installation media has been removed, providing the XServer is working.
Issuing su- changes the login from root@localhost /]# to root@localhost ~]#
Whereis xconfig just returns xconfig:
Thanks for your help
John

astrogeek · 02-05-2014, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnny_boy

Thanks for your help and patience Astrogeek
Got put into a terminal as root by the system as PCLinuxOS adds users at the restart once the installation media has been removed, providing the XServer is working.
Issuing su- changes the login from root@localhost /]# to root@localhost ~]#
Whereis xconfig just returns xconfig:
Thanks for your help
John

The trailing - with su forces a full root user environment whereas su without it retains your normal user environment, which can be important. So you are probably OK there.

Also, it was xorgconfig, not xconfig...

But it might not be on your system, so try this...

Code:

Xorg -configure

That is an upper case Xorg and single dash -configure

... which should accomplish writing an xorg.conf which you can then copy into /etc/X11/...

I need to step away for an hour or so, please pardon any slow response - back in a little while...

johnny_boy · 02-05-2014, 08:29 PM

Silly typo on my part.
I did try whereis Xorgconfig and just got Xorgconfig in return.
Trying Xorg -configure results in a lot of output ending in error messages similar to before.
I think it lists all the video drivers it knows as the visible list starts at fglrx and ends at vesa before going into error messages.
Thanks for all your help.
Gonna have to go away until this evening as work beckons :-(
Thanks for all your help.