just installed debian, startx fails
 

When I first booted debian it attempted to load the window manager automatically, but failed, reverting to the shell. When I try to run startx from the shell I get a list of pairs of what appears to be hexidecimal notations separated by colons, followed by:

Not sure what to do at this point

Not many details to go on, but
a) is it a clean install?
b) have you done a md5sum check on the ISO file downloaded to your hdd before burn?
c) did you burn the ISO at no more than 8X?

Are you using an intel chipset video-card?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...lockup-642626/

How do I determine that it was clean?

Not real familiar with md5sum check

I think 24X

Is the fact that I prepared the CD in Windows relevant?

I believe it's: integrated Intel 3D Extreme Graphics

If it's not an integrated graphics problem, as Simon Bridge is suggesting, come back and I'll answer those first two questions.









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John14:28, as well.

There has been bugs associated with the "intel" module which can lead to an X server lockup. Read through the link I gave you (last post) and the bug report (this post) -- see if it looks like what is happening to you re the posted logs.

This is quite an old bug as they go, but I'm seeing problems with intel cards again... particularly the newer cheapies.

Find out a more useful description of your gfx chipset in live mode, open a terminal, enter "lspci" and look for the entry about your gfx card. Vendor designations are designed to look exciting.

I understand there have been good results removing the intel package and just using the i810 package alone. People also disable DRI.

You did not "upgrade" from an existing installation.So the answer is "no" :) md5sum and sha1sum is a hashing method which allows you to check to see if the iso has become corrupted as you downloaded it. You did not perform the check, which means we don't know. You should google for how to do this.Rapid burning can lead to subtle corruption in the disk. Never burn a data DVD higher than 8x ... never mind it takes a long time. If you have the patience, you can elect to make a "master" - which burns all the pits twice.Not really. Some windows software can assume you want to DRM or encrypt the data you burn by default, but that would just make the disk unbootable. We usually assume you do not already have linux when you make an install disk. A program like Nero is usually reliable.

Considering the fast burn, there is reasonable suspicion that you may have weird errors on the disc. Remove the suspicion by running the checksum and burning a new disk at a low speed.

I don't really think this is what is wrong, but its good practice.

Well, here are some of my errors:

No layout section. Using the first Screen section.

[xorg.conf: Screen "Default Screen" (0)]

[Monitor "Configured Monitor"]

No device specified for Screen "Default Screen". Using the first device section listed.

[xorg.conf: Device "configured Video Device"

After rebooting I got the window message: "The X server is now disabled. Restart GDM when it is configured correctly.

I would post my xorg.conf file but I can't access my flash drive or otherwise get it to the Internet. It looks like it's generic or not initialized, but I actually have no idea.

Help would be appreciated.

Oh, and yes, it was a clean install.

Also, there are no horiz sync or vertical sync settings in my xorg.conf

Please try removing your /etc/X11/Xorg.conf then try starting gdm as root with:

The "--force" is needed if there is no /etc/rc2.d/S*gdm link.

Then please post your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file and/or any errors reported on the command line.

Evo2.

evo2: I tried running gdm as recommended with the following output on the command line:

This loads three times automatically. The next time I run the command it loads once, then three times, etc.

Ok, please make sure you have killed gdm and X completely and then try to start it again.

Eg:
Then use ps and grep to look for zombies
Eg.
And kill relevant remaining processes.

Evo2.

Evo2: still no window manager. Here's the output (at the command line) of "ps aux | grep -E 'X|gdm'":

Not sure what to do. Ran the stop commands twice more, but the first two processes reappear.