Swaret broke my X11, along with alsa :(
 

Well, I upgraded my system using swaret, and now when X11 loads, the screen flashes, and goes back to a "terminal". I can't type anything here, just watch the last message that pops up..executing X11 session manager.

alsa on the other hand, can't load my snd-ca1016 module (The one for an audigy LS or whatever, I have a sb live with that chipset)

first off, you broke it not swaret! Everytime before you do an upgrade back up all relevant .conf files jst in case (e.g. when upgrade xorg backup xorg.conf, etc.) and read the Changelog. I learned that the hard way too.

Now can you print the output from /var/log/Xorg.0.log here? Then people should be able to get a look at the problem. K

This happened to me. I don't remember the exact details on how I fixed it, but I remember I had to rollback to the alsa version that worked with my system and then set the following in swaret.conf

You can do this for anything you don't want installed/upgraded.

Using a package manager does not excuse you from managing your own system, backing up relevant paths, reading the changelog, excluding critical packages, and reviewing your new config files. If you don't do this then no package manager will be able to help you.

well, is there any way whatsoever to get into my system, or does this call for a reinstall of slackware?

also jockVSjock, where do I put that line? at the bottom?

If you have swaret installed, you should see this file in the following area


BUT, make sure that you have alsa working first before going forward with swaret.

For an example of swaret.conf, point your browser to:

http://ftp.nara.wide.ad.jp/slackware_swaret.conf

but I can't get into my system :(, it stalls out when it tries to open xorg. I'm not sure if I can chroot into my system with the install cd, and fix it. I have a overclockix cd I can use to get into it, would that work?

If you can get in with a CD, open /etc/initab and change

id:4:initdefault: to id:3:initdefault

Then you should be able boot slack into command line and do any (re)installs you need

haha yeah that'll do- I'll do it when I get home. But, what do I do to fix the problem with alsa? I'm assuming xorg isn't going to start unless alsa's working correctly. How would I reinstall it, would I run another swaret --upgrade -a, and then delete all the *.new stuff?

I think you have 2 different problems here - alsa shouldn't affect xorg

I don't know enough about how swaret works - I only use slackpkg, but I imagine you would need to check your blacklist file before doing any upgrades

But before doing that I would have a read through /var/log/Xorg.O.log to see why X isn't started. It may be that the upgrade overwrote your xorg.conf (always a good idea to keep a working backup of this)

And I've just thought - have you tried booting and after the screen freezes pressing ctrl-alt-F6? That whould take you to another term to edit initab

I always thought that ctrl-F(1-5) took you to a different terminal, but I'll give that a shot too. I'm at school right now, so when I get home I'll check it out and post. At least I got windows :D, so my system isn't completely dead.

I never have swaret upgrade my alsa packages. I prefer to exlude it in the EXLUDE section of /etc/swaret.conf. Then I get the sources and compile it, following the instructions for my card given at the Alsa Projects page, and then use checkinstall to create a package. It's a bit of a pain, but I've found it to be most stable for my needs.

As far as xorg, after you did the upgrade, did you rerun xorgconfig or xorgcfg and reconfigure your X? I recently use swaret to get the most recent stuff from current and had a similar problem. But I noticed that it was because the video module would not insert into my kernel because the gcc used to compile my kernel was different than what was used to compile the video driver. You log file should be able to shed some light on this.

I don't understand---does swaret overwrite your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file? If so, then that is sloppy IMO! I have manually updated X files and with each update I never have had to touch my xorg.conf file. Do you have a backup of that file?

Sounds as though you are booting into runlevel 4? If so, then simply boot into runlevel 3. That way X never tries to launch and you still have full command line access to your box.

As a future convenience I always configure my boot manager to provide both a GUI-based startup and a command line startup:

Configuring Slackware for a GUI and a Command Line Startup

I also maintain a boot floppy disk, although the CD can be used to boot my box too. And I maintain a GRUB boot floppy in case I somehow hose my MBR.

http://pastebin.com/558557 <== /var/log/Xorg.0.log

I changed the default runlevel back to 3, but there's that log you asked for KMcD

EDIT: OK, I've gotten into kde 3.5, but alsa's still down, apparently my snd-ca1016 module doesn't exist anymore, and alsa can't find it now. any ideas on how to fix this?

Looking at the log it seems its trying to load the ati driver. Try reinstalling that and see.