I just installed Debian Woody 3.0R1 on my Compaq Presario 2100 cto Amd (cto=configured to order). Its specs are as follows: It has a 40 gb 4200 rpm hard drive, a ATI Radeon IGP 320M, Conexant ACLink modem and sound, built in National Semiconductor DP83815/816 (two very similar cards, but driver works for both) Macphyter 10/100 ethernet card, and Ali chipset based motherboard, Amd Athlon XP-M 2200+ and 256 mb pc2100 ddr, firewire, usb and a 15 XGA lcd. I'm currently using PowerQuest BootMagic 7.0 as my boot manager and all partitioning was done via my PartitionMagic boot discs. Since I burned my own cds I opted to only create discs one and two. If anyone recommends more than that please say so as I'm open to suggestions. When I tried startx gnome I got fatal server error: no screen found. When I ran XF86config I couldn't find my video card listed (my guess is I need a later version of Xfree86) and I'm running v. 4.1 of Xfree86 with gnome as my wm. Also on that note once I do get everything working I'll need some help configuring my system to automatically start gnome. For the moment once everything with Xfree86 works I think probably use KDE since I've used it before, but I'll give gnome a chance. In case you're wondering my ethernet card needs to have a driver installed so I'll have to download stuff through Windows XP Pro, but I do have a floppy I copied drivers to earlier. Unfortunately my floppy drive is usb and doesn't work yet. I think I'm using a series 2.2 kernel since the installer booted me into that as the default, but I'm not positive. Hopefully I'm right and It will make things easier. Thankfully I do have a Zip Plus drive I can use off my parallel port as a backup, but again I'll need help configuring it. Other than that most of the install went fine, but this is my first time booting into a command line.

If you have finished installing everything... "apt-get install kdm" (KDE Display Manager) or "apt-get install gdm" (GNome display manager)... then pick a X windows manager (eg... fluxbox or kde or gnome) apt-get install KDE

Will the aptget packages be on one of the cdroms I have or will I need to download them? If the later of the two is the case it would be impossible due to my not having any ethernet drivers installed. Even installing a window manager may not be enough in my case since I'm not sure if my video card is supported by XFree86 4.1.

Was just going to post the same question, so I figure I would ride this post. I am having the same problem after install.

the best way to check for packages is to search for them:

apt-cache search yourpackagename

Either its there, or not. If it isn't, post the contents of the file /etc/apt/sources.list

Are both discs listed? If so, then the package is unavailable. You may check which kernel you have running with:

uname -a

If you installed and just hit ENTER, then Woody would install a 2.2 kernel. There is an option at install time for a 2.4 kernel which could help your ethernet situation. The way to do this is (and see the options available) is hit F3 after inserting the cd, rebooting, and getting the Install text page.

then type:

bf24

to begin a 2.4 install.

Have you tried the natsemi or tulip ethernet driver? You can try these during the install process. As for your video card, the "ati" driver is not working for you?

I tried bf2.4, but it locks my system up and I do have ethernet drivers, I just can't get to them since I can't access either my Zip drive or usb floppy drive. My ethernet card is a proprietary laptop card and I don't think the drivers you mentioned will work, although I have heard of them. The only mobile ATI video card drivers I could find were anything, but my particular video card (either it's a ATI Radeon IGP 320M or a ATI Radeon Mobility U1, one of the two) in xf86config.

Hello, I also am having the same problem with xfree86. I installed Debian Sarge with the net boot cd and then apt-get everything I needed to get X and KDE up and running, but I kept getting that fatal error no screen found. I tried Libranet (which im using to write this from links) and still getting the same error with xfree86. The only other Debian based distro that I have is Knoppix and xfree86 works fine under it. Since im new to Debian, im not sure what else todo. Thanks for any help you may offer.

You'll probably need to run X4.3. You won't see a call to the specific type of card you have, but will use the "ati" driver (which in 4.3 will support your chipset). You can build X4.3 from source, or find an appropriate deb line for your flavor of Debian (stable/testing/unstable). Search at apt-get.org or google for running X4.3 from experimental.

Knoppix is wonderful but it also defaults to sane settings. You won't always get the best performance out of your video card with it. You have the option of cp'ing the /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file while it's booted and comparing that later too.

New laptops usually require Unstable with X4.3(recent version). Remember, Debian supports 11 architectures in addition to the newest laptops.

Lastly, anybody who has errors with any software program should be posting the conf file, the output of the log, and error message they receive. Otherwise all of this is second-guessing.

Where do I find the conf file and the output of the log? I've already given you my error message, but I don't think getting the conf file or output of the log will be easy given that I can't access either my WinXP Pro ntfs partition, usb floppy drive or my Zip Plus drive and this laptop isn't equipped with a cd burner. On the other hand once I can get network card drivers installed I'll be happy to attempt networking to my eMac running Mac OS X 10.2.8 given that Mac OS X has freebsd underpinnings to send the files from there.

The X log, and most logs, are in /var/log

/var/log/XFree86.0.log

The configuration file for XFree is /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (or /etc/X11/XF86Config

Since you typed "startx" and that at least attempted to start we know you have the package "xbase-clients" installed. Good. The "no screens error" is but a snippet of the log's error and if you figure out a way to get it, we'll be able to help. For starters, you will NOT see a driver that has your card name listed when configuring with xf86config, you'll just see "ati" if even that.

The Debian way to reconfigure is to do:

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

and answer the prompts. I googled for your chipset and there are a few others with help pages. I'd start there.

I had the same problem using the default version of xfree86 (4.2) with my video card. I upgraded to 4.3 and everything works now. Go to www.xfree86.org and download the script and it will tell you what to download. Then just follow the install guide that they provide and everything should be good.

I took some of the advice of other people using my notebook for Linux and by disabling legacy usb support in my bios the Debian Woody cd's bf24 option works just fine . Btw I just upgraded to the recently released Debian Woody 3.0R2. I've decided to admit that I accidentally asked a question already answered and I've got a new error message to share (so basically this is a partial rewrite for the better). Please note I haven't installed XFree86 4.3 yet, but I will thanks to pengStudent's earlier topic. I don't know if this error is valuable since I don't have XFree86 4.3 installed yet, but hopefully it still is. Here's the error: XIO: fatal error 104 (connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0" after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining. Btw since I'm using laptop with a lcd as display what how should I answer when xf86config asks about refresh rates and vsync or hsync setttings (I forget which) ? I'll just try reconfiguring the Debian way and hoping for the best. Although that doesn't mean I won't ever try xf86config again once I get used to it. Oh, and by using the bf24 option upon booting to my Debian Woody 3.0R2 cd I was able to selectively load modules for my network card along with firewire support so it's possible to use my ethernet connection and got the latest security updates during my dselect session (possibly updates to stuff installed by tasksel too, but I'm not sure). That reminds me of something; how do I network my Linux machine to my eMac? Oh and I think I may need to enable nfs for networking since I didn't during setup. How do I do that?

I'm still trying to get Xfree86 4.3 to work and I think I've found the problem. It seems I'll need to edit my /etc/apt/sources.list and possibly reconfigure my network settings since I often go to my parents' house on the weekend and use the home network in addition to my own. Now I'll need to know what to add to my sources.list for me to able to use the latest version of everything that is secure enough (may as well do everything and not just do it halfway, but my network has been hacked once and I'm using cable, good news is that was on Windows with the latest version of Zone Alarm running) to be safely used. Btw the network config options Debian displays at startup are confusing and I'll need help there as well (creating an entry for my home network as I did initially during install at my parents' house).

I don't know if this is the same but, this are the lines copied from the XFree86 log file:

(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice
No such device.
(EE) Generic Mouse: cannot open input device
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Generic Mouse"
(II) UnloadModule: "mouse"
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Configured Mouse" (type: MOUSE)
(**) Option "BaudRate" "1200"
Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list!
cursor_addr value: 8804f70


I just copy the last ones that shows (EE), is this the same problem as discussed here. May i install more than one desktop enviroment with a single display manager. Do i NEED a display manager?

Thanks in advance
Roberto Hernandez

PS: sorry for the questions, but i have to start someday

In the future I would advise you to start a separate thread to prevent threads from getting clogged with stuff likely to derail the primary discussion of the given thread. If it makes you feel any better I'm just as much a newbie as you since this is my fourth distro I've tried already (5th I you count the update from Woody 3.0R1 to Woody 3.0r2, but as soon as found out about Woody 3.0 R2 I updated just in case there were any important bug fixes and the like as they look the same from the command line) and I haven't spent much time with any of the distros I've tried (haven't had enough free time and patience, but finally decided to put it on my laptop). Oh and btw it would help If you told us if you're running Potato, Woody, or Sarge and what version of the three it's.