I am new (just installed yesterday) and was able to boot to GNOME and explore..however, my middle scroll mouse button wasn't scrolling so, within the GUI, I changed the mouse driver. I rebooted, now it goes directly to CLI and when I try startx it says that Mouse0: cannot open input device
PreInit failed for input device "Mouse0"

Up top it says (==)Using confi file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4"

I tried using xf86config and went through picking a bunch of video/mouse/keyboard settings. When done it said it was saving as XF86Config...nothing wasdone to XF86Config-4

Any ideas on why I can't get startx to run?

Please be descriptive in responses as I am not familiar with cli commands nor VI....

THANKS in advance,
Rob Searing
rsearing@excite.com

Hi Rob, and welcome to LQ!


Help us in assisting you, which distro are you using?
As for the files changed by using xf86config - you
could always just copy the original XF86Config-4 to
a backup file, and copy the newly created XF86Config
to XF86Config-4 ...


Cheers,
Tink

Tink...thanks SO much for the reply. Again, I am new..so when you talk about renaming..PLEASE (sorry) could you tell me the commands to do that? (trust me..I am trying to learn)

update..I did a 'mv /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.old' but when I tried startx it said that it was using config file "/etc/X11/XF86Config" but that No devices were found.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

If you're not too sure you know what you're
doing when you're using xf86config I'd suggest
giving XFree86 -configure a go to get X up and
running again. Just do that as root and follow
the steps it mentions. If it detects most settings
properly adding scroll-wheel-support manually
usually is a breeze.


Cheers,
Tink

Sorry...this has me SO frustrated...

When I try that it says XFree86 is not able to detect your mouse.
Edit the file and correct teh Device
sigh.

-Rob

What type of mouse are you using?
And what's your distribution?

Cheers,
Tink

Tink...thanks for all this help..I am trying and trying to figure this out.

I am using a USB mouse microsoft 3 button, Optical mouse blue.

The trick is..that I was working just fine in GNOME..until I went into a system setting (graphically) and changed a mouse setting..when I rebooted, I am stuck.

As to dist...how can I tell? I am using red hat 7.3 (I am EXTREMELY sorry..I am very new at this) I'm 32 and trying to self learn this as I am taking a network security college class that uses only linux..so Iam trying to learn.

I did try to rm all XF86Config files and start from scratch...but I keep getting this blasted error.

Tink..thanks bud..if ya lived anywhere close to KS City...I'd be running a check over to your house!!

-Rob

just thought i'd add this (as I am figuring a bit more out)
When I do a dir on dev, I don't see just a /dev/mouse, I do see:
/dev/mouse -> input/mice
what does that mean? Could that be it?

You could try to post your XF86Config here
if it's not too big. Can you check which version
of X RH 7.3 is using so I get a better idea of
what needs doing?

/dev/input/mice is normal for USB devices,
you could try to run xf86config again, if
there's a symlink from /dev/mouse to the
/dev/input/mice it should be safe to tell
xf86config that /dev/mouse is the device,
the type of mouse would be IMPS/2.


Cheers,
Tink

Here is XF86Config:
Note...the name was /dev/mouse -> not /dev/mouse/
As to version..can you tell me how to figure that out?


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "XFree86 COnfigured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are: -
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "vesa"
VendorName "VMware"
BoardName "PCI SVGA (FIFO)"
BusID "PCI:0:15:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Make that

Is your deadrat actually running in a
VMware virtual machine? :)

Cheers,
Tink

Ok..made that change and still get an error:

(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice
No such device.
(EE) Mouse0: cannotopen input device
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Mouse0"
No core pointer

Fatal server error:
failed to initialize core devices.

As to what I am doing...I have this class I am taking in college and it requires the use of LInux. I didn't want to get rid of my XP...or mess with partitioning, so a friend turned me on to VMware..which works great.....my only problem is this...all because I messed around in Gnome. I am really not sure what is going on...I think we might be close.

-Rob

Well, now it depends on how your VMWare is
set-up ... does it tell the host about your mouse
as a USB device or a normal PS/2 one?

Try that:

Cheers,
Tink

I'm restarting....standby to say....



a) How can I tell what VMware is reporting my mouse?
b) What is psaux?


Rob

OK...it appears to be working..but my video is all messed up and it auto boots into GNOME..I assume...

a) how can i get to cli now...so that I can run xf86config to set to default video?

suggestions?

psaux would be the device that is responsible
for PS/2 rodents ..

Since you're using redhat - have you tried running
their Xconfigurator (I think that's how it's spelt) tool?


Cheers,
Tink

yes..it kept telling me that it couldn't find mouse when done.


Here's the thing though...I think it is working..but video is messed up. It keeps wanting to boot into GUI...how can I change to go back to CLI so I can run the config to change video functions?


You have NO idea how much I appreciate your help!
Rob