Unable to boot X on Sarge .....

juanjavier_xxx · 06-02-2005, 05:39 PM

I performed

Code:

apt-get update

and

Code:

apt-get install x-window-system-core

...with an old pci S3 2mb video card and a serial mouse....

....How could I configure all the stuff to make X boot? When I type

Code:

startx

it does not boot. Instead it releases messages like

Code:

XIO: fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server "0:0" 
after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining

Code:

Generic Mouse: cannot open input device

and

Code:

Errors from xkbcomp are not fatal to the X server. No core pointer.

Code:

Preinit failed for input device "Configured mouse"

Code:

xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice. No such device.

So it makes me think that I did not configure the serial mouse properly.

I do not know if I made mistakes configuring the video card, since startx releases a very fast screen output that only allows me to read the last page; where all messages relate to misconfigured pointer device

jmanjeff · 06-02-2005, 06:07 PM

login and run

Code:

xf86config

and try to reconfig your setup again

Dead Parrot · 06-02-2005, 11:14 PM

Try "aptitude install mdetect". This should give you a mouse autoconfiguration option the next time you run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86".

There are other workarounds for your problem but I think you should try this one first. Please report again if this doesn't help.

juanjavier_xxx · 06-03-2005, 01:24 PM

Dear friend Parrot:

I tried the "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86" thing you point, with no results. On the initial screen I select x3, hit 'accept', write 'generic video card' as the identifier, leave blank on BusID box (how the hell can I reach that data??), write 2048 kb on memory size, leave the default options in the following screens and leave blank keyboard variant and options.

As for the mouse...what port should I select? I have got an old three button mouse connected on serial com1. It suggests me to choose /dev/input/mice and I selected yes on 'emulate 3-button mouse?'.

As for the monitor I wrote T710BH as identifier. It is a 17"" flat screen LG FLATRON ez T710BH, selected the 'advanced' option in the xserver-xfree86 box; 28-50 as the H-SYNC, 43-120 as V-SYNC, 1024x768 as the desired screen resolution and 24 bit as the color depth.

As for the default loaded XFree86 modules I select the default options, which means all of them except for 'xtt', which I leave unchecked.

I then answer 'yes' on the "Write pre-defined DRI section in the configuration file?" and the program ends, leaving me in the

Code:

debian:#

prompt.

I then type

Code:

startx

and exactly the same as before happens.

If it helps, I have heard of another S3 driver which was available under 'woody', which was not that included in the binary cd's.

Pity I do not remember the name of that S3 driver.....

Dead Parrot · 06-03-2005, 02:36 PM

Have you considered upgrading to Sarge? It comes with a newer X server version and the 2.6 kernel. (And in Sarge you can install the xdebconfigurator utility that is supposed to automatically configure the X settings for you if you just run "xdebconfigurator" as root.)

Generally the most important selections in "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86" are:
(1) the driver for your graphics card
(2) your monitor's horizontal and vertical refresh values
(3) the correct mouse device
The rest of the choices are usually not that important and you can just accept the defaults by hitting Enter.

S3, as far as I know, is the graphics card manufacturer. You need to know also the model of your S3 card before you can select the correct driver. Try "lspci" to see if the output has something about graphics controller. If you know the model of your S3 graphics card, do a Google search using that model as one search word and xf86config as another search word. The generic "vesa" driver will work with most graphics cards but you get better performance if you use a driver made for your specific graphics card model. If you are asked whether you want to use the kernel framebuffer device interface, answer "no".

I think /dev/ttyS0 is the correct device for a serial mouse. You can run "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86" again if you don't get it right with the first attempt.

juanjavier_xxx · 06-03-2005, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Have you considered upgrading to Sarge?

Yes, remember the title of this thread: "Unable to boot X on Sarge..."

As for the make and model of the card: s3 is the chipset. The card is a Trio 64V 2mb ram.

Well, this post is simply to acknowledge all your efforts. You are a good linux friend, which clearly carries that 'open' spirit that makes you an important part of the comunity, since you are a senior forum guru.

I managed to boot X on the pentium 200. My mistake was simply selecting '24' as a bit color depth parameter. Wrong. That card only supports 24 bit up to 800x600; as soon as I select 1024x768, is mandatory to lower the bit depth down to 16.

So that was it.

Thank you SO much.

Dead Parrot · 06-03-2005, 04:56 PM

Good to hear that you got the X server working.

Now that you use Sarge, you may want to update the distribution info in your user profile to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Tons of Fun · 06-03-2005, 05:35 PM

I wished I had known about the 24-bit issue. Very early on with Debian (and Linux), I had the same exact errors on another machine. I reconfigured xserver-xfree86 with dpkg, but kept selecting 24 bit. I ended up reinstalling debian and the problem was fixed. Needless to say, this was before I found LinuxQuestions.org.