I installed 13.1 on my laptop a couple months ago, everything working smoothly.
(32-bit version on an HP Pavilion P4)

This morning I ran slackpkg to update everything:
slackpkg update
slackpkg install-new
slackpkg upgrade-all

All the updates seemed to be ok, except towards the very end (I saw the 'zoo' package install ok, so it was at some point after that), there were a bunch of error-looking messages that flew past.

I reran install-new and it said everything was upgraded. But when I rebooted, and then tried to run 'startx', I got a 'signal 11: segmentation fault at address (nil)' error.

I tried running 'slackpkg reinstall' on the xinit package, but that didn't do anything.

Suggestions?
Would the backtrace lines from /var/log/Xorg.0.log be helpful?

which mirror did you use for slackpkg? 13.1 or -Current?

It really sounds like you installed something that is incompatible. Did you perchance set the repository in your /etc/slackpkg/mirrors to the wrong version, such as a 64 bit on a 32 bit install?

One can sometimes have md5 errors when running slackpkg upgrade-all. Perhaps try running slackpkg upgrade-all again from run level three.

Well, there's a problem with that. When I start with 'linux 3', my wireless doesn't work. I had it setup and working using wicd, but for some reason in linux 3, wicd isn't being used or something like that, so I have no network connectivity.

For the mirror, I'm not sure which it used. I didn't specify one explicitly when I ran slackpkg.
The site it used in the mirrors file was slackware.oregonstate.edu.
I don't recall seeing any "64" mentioned in any of the directory paths when it was downloading the packages, so I think (hope) that I'm ok in that regard.


edit: just reran 'slackpkg update' and it IS using -current as the version.

How would I reinstall/overwrite JUST the Xwindows installation using the original 13.1 DVD?

Do I just boot from the DVD and it'll give me that option, without overwriting the entire installation?

Here's what I get spit back when 'startx' fails (if it's any help):


enable LVDS
disable primary dac
disable TV

Backtrace:
0: /usr/bin/X (xorg_backtrace+0x3b) [0x80e6d0b]
1: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x5daf5) [0x80a5af5]
2: (vdso) (__kernel_rt_sigreturn+0x0) [0xffffe40c]
3: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so (0xb72ea000+0x407ac) [0xb732a7ac]
4: /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so (0xb72ea000+0x37848) [0xb7321848]
5: /usr/bin/X (InitExtensions+0x9d) [0x80cb83d]
6: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1ad22) [0x8062d22]
7: /lib/libc.so.6 (__libc_start_main+0xe6) [0xb7371c66]
8: /usr/bin/X (0x8048000+0x1aaa1) [0x8062aa1]
Segmentation fault at address (nil)

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 11 (Segmentation fault). Server aborting


Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

finished PLL2
finished PLL1
Entering Restore TV
Restore TV PLL
Restore TVHV
Restore TV Restarts
Restore Timing Tables
Restore TV standard
Leaving Restore TV
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

My_Command_Prompt#


(and I gotta say, navigating this site in lynx is not pleasant)

ic... that's the problem
i think you should go back to 13.1 for stable version if you need a stable system
-Current is for development and there might be some problem if you are not used to it, even though most people (including me) have no problem running -Current as of now

I see. So just rerun slackpkg, but specify 13.1 as the version?

Do you have an ATI video card?

The X11 in Slackware -current segfaults in exactly the manner that you described on two of my machines with ATI radeon video cards.

For -current to work with these cards, you need to enable kernel modesetting

echo options radeon modeset=1 > /etc/modprobe.d/radeon-kms.conf

and load the radeon kernel module

/sbin/modprobe radeon

Then, startx. X should work fine.
Ed

Yes, it has an ATI. That's probably it. But I'm already reverting back to the 13.1 packages. In the unlikely event that the revert doesn't work, I'll give this a shot.

Thanks to everyone who replied. Learned some new tidbits.

One more quick question- would enabling the modesetting on the 13.1 version cause any problems? Provide any benefits?

As I understand, the kernel modesetting works on most cards but not all, which is why it is off by default. Linux and X11 have been moving in the direction of requiring kernel modesetting because user modesetting was a very bad design decision.

I have kernel modesetting enabled on three machines running -current and it works completely correctly on two, and is usable on the third as long as I don't switch between X and the console more than three times.

I'm not sure about 13.1. Your mileage may vary.
Ed

I am still running 13.1, but I remembered that there was mention of X in the process of upgrading from 13.1 to -current, which is what you appear to have inadvertent done with the selection of the mirror. It probably won't help you now, but for future reference, here is the link. BTW, this is an excellent Slackware tutorial site.