Kill X Server

Sintu · 12-26-2006, 06:16 PM

I'm trying to install the drivers from Nvidia for my Geforce 4 Mx 440, when I try to do it within Gnome it tells me that it detects X running. I tried booting into recovery mode but then it said it detected that I was in runlevel 1 and that I should be in at least run level 3. So I typed "telinit 3" to do so then it brought me to the login screen. So my question is, how do I get a shell open without starting the X server? Thank you so much for your help.

Oh yeah, I'm running Ubuntu Edgy.

btmiller · 12-26-2006, 06:18 PM

In Ubuntu I believe that runlevel 2 is what you're looking for, despite what the Nvidia installer tells you. In most distros run level 3 is text based multiuser, but in Debian based distros it's for the full blown GUI and run level 2 is for text only multiuser.

Sintu · 12-26-2006, 06:36 PM

Thank you very much! I'll try it!

Edit: It still gave me the same results as telinit 3. Any more ideas?

Thank you so much!

Ha1f · 12-26-2006, 06:46 PM

get to runlevel 2 and do killall Xorg.

Sintu · 12-26-2006, 09:57 PM

killall xorg didn't work. bleh. I dunno if I should start another thread for a different question, but I'll just ask it here. In a fullscreen shell, how do you scroll up and down? I need to see the list of processes that ps -A shows but Page Up/ Page Down doesnt' work, and neither do the arrow keys. Any ideas?

AwesomeMachine · 12-26-2006, 10:08 PM

From the xserver hit

ctrl+alt+backspace
ctrl+alt+F1
ps aux | grep 'gdm'

and

kill <gdm-process-id>

or, for KDE

ps aux | grep 'kdm'

kill <kdm-process-id>

Then

./NV*

as root, from the directory the nvidia driver is in.

Finally

gdm

for gnome

or

kdm

for KDE

But, sometimes gdm is used for KDE.

ctrl+alt+F7

to get xserver with nividia driver installed

Sintu · 12-26-2006, 10:17 PM

I'll try that AwesomeMachine, but my problem now is that once I kill xorg, it comes back to life! How do I make it stay dead? Is there some other process bringing it back? I'm running Gnome, Ubuntu Edgy.

After I kill it, it restarts to the Greeting Screen/Login Screen. Thought I'd add that, incase it helps.

farslayer · 12-26-2006, 11:27 PM

gdm is the service that keeps restarting x on you..

CTRL+ALT+F2 to get to a virtual terminal
Login
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop - this command will cause the X server to shutdown, you can verify by checking running processes. do whatever you need to and then restart X as follows..
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

enjoy !!

rickh · 12-26-2006, 11:31 PM

I've always gone to Single user mode for this sort of thing (telinit 1)

From there, log in as root, and do the command sequence per instruction. I would assume that Debian's Nvidia drivers (non-free) will work the best, but you may be able to get newer ones from Nvidia (if you can make them work).

Sintu · 12-27-2006, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farslayer

gdm is the service that keeps restarting x on you..

CTRL+ALT+F2 to get to a virtual terminal
Login
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop - this command will cause the X server to shutdown, you can verify by checking running processes. do whatever you need to and then restart X as follows..
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

enjoy !!

Thank you farslayer! It worked!

farslayer · 12-27-2006, 12:09 AM

Just out of curiosity are you following the nVidia how to in the Ubuntu guide ?

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_E...r_.28NVIDIA.29

The Ubuntu Guide is a great resource for you if you are going to stick with Ubuntu.

Sintu · 12-27-2006, 12:11 AM

No I wasn't, but it definetly looks like it has some great info in there, thank you so much!