xorg with etch upgrade

radiodee1 · 01-06-2007, 05:48 PM

I'm a noob with a Dell Dimension 4550, a Dell monitor, and a regular keyboard and mouse.

I just updated from Sarge to Etch, using a set of DVD disks I downloaded from the internet. I have a 2.6.8 kernel. I added the DVDs to my sources.list using 'apt-cdrom -d /cdrom add' and then typed 'apt-get dist-upgrade'. I have run into problems with X. Below is my xorg.conf file.

Code:

Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
        FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
        # path to defoma fonts
        FontPath        "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load    "GLcore"
        Load    "bitmap"
        Load    "dbe"
        Load    "ddc"
        Load    "dri"
        Load    "extmod"
        Load    "freetype"
        Load    "glx"
        Load    "int10"
        Load    "record"
        Load    "speedo"
        Load    "type1"
        Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver          "kbd"
        Option          "CoreKeyboard"
        Option          "XkbRules"      "xorg"
        Option          "XkbModel"      "pc104"
        Option          "XkbLayout"     "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "Generic Video Card"
        Driver          "nv"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
        Option          "DPMS"
        HorizSync       28-49
        VertRefresh     43-72
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Device          "Generic Video Card"
        Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
        DefaultDepth    24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           1
                Modes           "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           4
                Modes           "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           8
                Modes           "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           15
                Modes           "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           16
                Modes           "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Generic Keyboard"
        InputDevice     "Configured Mouse"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Mode    0666
EndSection

The error I get when I type 'startx' ends with

Quote:

No core pointer

Fatal server error:
failed to initialize core devices

I thought it was the mouse, so I tried both "/dev/input/mice" and "/dev/psaux" in the spot for it in the xorg.conf file. Neither one worked. Another message said:

Quote:

Failed to load module "GLcore"
Failed to load module "speedo"
AIGLX: screen 0 is not DRI capable

I could post the Xorg.0.log file, but be warned it's long. Any help would be apreciated... Thanks in advance for any help.

luis14 · 01-06-2007, 10:19 PM

As root user, try running the command

Code:

# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

to reconfigure X server.
If your unsure of the answers to the questions posed go with the default answers.

radiodee1 · 01-07-2007, 07:43 AM

I tried 'dpg-reconfigure xserver-xorg'. The video card section of my xorg.conf file changed a little. Here's the change.

Code:

...
Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Generic Video Card"
	Driver		"nv"
	BusID		"PCI:1:0:0"
	Option		"UseFBDev"		"true"
EndSection
...

When I restarted my machine, when it was time for the xserver to kick in, the screen went blank, and stayed blank. I left it for more than 5 minutes. I tried ctrl-alt-backspace and ctrl-alt-F1, but I couldn't get back to a command line. Later, booting from another partition I removed the line below.

Code:

Option		"UseFBDev"		"true"

This made x act as before. No xwindows, but I could get back to a text terminal with ctrl-alt-F1. What is "UseFBDev"? As a side note, I have some problem with udev and hotplug. Could these contribute to my x problem? I'm stuck. Any help would be apreciated.

rickh · 01-07-2007, 08:09 AM

First of all, if you still have kernel 2.6.8, upgrade to the newest Etch kernel (2.6.18-3)

Reboot

Then aptitude (or apt-get) install x-window-system-core xserver-xorg-video-all xserver-xorg-input-all xorg

luis14 · 01-07-2007, 08:25 AM

FBDev is something to do with kernel frame buffer. When you ran "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" you may remember being asked "use kernel frame buffer?"
Your udev and hotplug problems probably stem from your upgrade. Sarge uses hotplug and Etch uses udev for device rules at boot. I've read that people have experienced problems trying to upgrade from Sarge to Etch because of these differences. I think you also change versions of X when you do that upgrade.
Consensus on the forum is to do a clean install when moving from Sarge to Etch.
If you re-install format your disk with 5 or 6 GB for / (root) and the rest /home then if you need/choose to reinstall again your personel data and app configuration files are left alone.
I am by no means an expert, but I would recommend a re-install,things will probably go a lot smoother for you.

samael26 · 01-07-2007, 01:28 PM

If it's like me, things won't get better if you do a clean install. There's a big f**k up in the latest Xorg version with some hardware.
No matter what I tried I could not get etch installed again, whereas before the new Xorg version, evthg was fine.
"No screens found" message, plus the problem with no device found for my PS/2 mouse, which worked fine before.

radiodee1 · 01-07-2007, 02:23 PM

samael26, were you going from sarge to etch, or one version of etch to another? What did you do to correct the problem?

radiodee1 · 01-07-2007, 05:02 PM

X did work after a clean install. Grub even found my 2 other operating systems, though it asigned one to the wrong root directory. I suppose I could have gone in the other direction and installed the newer kernel, but this worked out OK. If you do this, and you have more than one OS, make sure you save a copy of your old menu.lst file. It's good for reference.

samael26 · 01-08-2007, 05:48 AM

X didn't work at all after 2 installs, one with RW-CD, the other with a CD-R (netinstall, both). I don't understand at all, since I managed to install etch on my laptop, but "before" the latest update to version 7.1.1
Has anybody experienced similar pbs with Xorg 7.1.1 ?

For the time being, I'm waiting for the final release of etch as stable. I'll try again later...

rickh · 01-08-2007, 08:30 AM

There is no reason that Etch will not install. I have heard of some people having to install xorg separately after the base installation completes. There is nothing difficult about that.

samael26 · 01-08-2007, 09:32 AM

Always the same thing : it works for me so it should for you.

I have installed debian many times on the same computer and lately it does not install, which does not prove it won't again.

It is not a question of my not knowing how to install.
Before the Xorg upgrade, etch did install, not now, that's all.
I haven't changed anything in my hardware, I have tried it on other computers, so I know it's not faulty.

I could try a separate install with manual choice of packages which is the only thing I haven't done. Perhaps it would work.

macondo · 01-08-2007, 06:21 PM

Hmmm, i just went thru that with sarge (a friend's box) and sid (my box), it seems there are a few quirks.

After the update/dist-upgrade i nuked hotplug and rebooted (it installed a new kernel (linux-image-2.6.18-3-686) When it came back just to make sure, i installed from the console:

xserver-xorg-core
xserver-xorg-input-all
xserver-xorg-video-all

then did a dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

startx

and it worked perfectly