Hi All
My computer has developed a from with starting xwindows.
It will start and display the nvidia logo then crash back to the command prompt with the error
:
Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list!

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

I'm using Redhat 7.1,
The way it happened was that all was working well and I did a cvs upgrade of wine. Tried to run half life and the computer froze (as usual), then I gave up. Next day came along and it happened like this ever since.

I can see at startup the xfs service is started but it won't shut down when the computer shuts down.

So I didn't upgrade or change anything to do with xfree86..
I've had a look at a few other post just to check other possibilites.

I can definatly see that xfs does start and is running..
I've checked that the fonts.alias file is present and contains everything and also checked to make sure I haven't run out of harddrive space. But I haven't checked for stale lock files as I have no idea how to (ideas?)

Anyway heres the log file


(II) Loading extension NV-GLX
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension LBX
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) [GLX]: Calling GlxExtensionInit
(II) [GLX]: associated 18 out of 30 GLX visuals
(**) Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
(**) Mouse0: Protocol: "PS/2"
(**) Option "CorePointer"
(**) Mouse0: Core Pointer
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
(==) Mouse0: Buttons: 3
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) Mouse0: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(II) Keyboard "Keyboard0" handled by legacy driver
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE)
Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list!

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
Please report problems to xfree86@xfree86.org.


Any help is much much much appreciated. And speak easily, I'm fairly new to the linux os.

Aaron


PS : I had to cut out some of the log because it wouldn't let me post over a certain amount of characters

Anyone? Anywhere?
I know how to check the lock files now so I'll do that after I finish work..

no one with any other ideas?

I take it back..
I'm not worthy...I deleted some files and 'assumed' I'd free'd up space but when i made absolutely sure i had enough I was wrong..bye bye quake3

*Slaps head for use of windows ignorance*

For such an error //could not open default font 'fixed'//
even a 'disk space run out' can be a reason

It's still most liklely a font server issue. Try restarting your font server (/etc/init.d/xfs stop, check that it has in fact stopped and kill it if it hasn't, then /etc/init.d/xfs start).

Craig Ringer

based on what?? because the last message before that? i believe you are guessing.

I also get the same problem, however i dont use the font server as i am using a XFree86-3.3.6 (its a lot smaller than 4, which i need) and i get the same error:

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

There are no errors before this happens. I am not out of disk space. What actually happens is the screen switches but its a blank screen and then the monitor goes into standby. If i CTRL-ALT-F1 i can go back to the other VT and CTRL-C to close the server down. I would have thought it was something to do with my video mode settings perhaps? I know its monitor dependent but i have a generic no name brand of flat screen here are my settings:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 31.5-60.0
VertRefresh 56.0-75.0

Modeline "1024x768" 65.0 1024 1047 1184 1344 768 771 777 806
Modeline "1024x768" 75.0 1024 1047 1184 1328 768 771 777 806
Modeline "1024x768" 78.75 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 +HSync +VSync

EndSection

Could someone perhaps give me their settings for there monitor. Xconfigurator and all its libs are too many to fit on my VERY small disk that i am getting this working on.

I have been getting this same exact error, "could not open default font 'fixed ". What my problem turned out to be was that my / (root) partition was full. I made some space, and now I do not receive the errors. Hope this ends up helping someone else Thanks for the suggestions

I have been getting same error...just to see what would happen I commented out the

unix/:7100

line in my XF86Config file. This actually allowed X to run.


Not sure what this line exactly does yet, so I guess that is what I am going to have to figure out next. If anyone knows (other than it has something to do with fonts) feel free to explain so I can get to the 'root' cause of this problem.

I just had the same error, which I do not think is disk space since X windows work 20 minutes before and I did not install anything. I did comment it out then added a line to point to "/usr/share/fonts" this seemed to work. I also just check my font server and I can see that it is not running. I will look into that some more. Thanks rinerc for the mind expansion.

Psh - wow... can't believe something as dumb as running out of disk space could lead me to a message board seaking answers but sure enough, that was my problem as well.

After manually removing a bunch of packages and freeing up some disk space I still wasn't able to get X back up with the startx command. So then I killed the font server (/etc/init.d/xfs stop) and restarted it (/etc/init.d/xfs start) and then was able to get X running.

What a pain. Why didn't I just dedicate the entire drive to the installation in the first place.

Anyway - thanks for the posts. It helped.

From what i can gather the unix/:7100 starts the font server xfs on port 7100 which is a replacement for using loads of font path lines in the config file /etc/X11/XF86Config. It has its own config at /etc/X11/fs/config.

Im also a newbie although have had this problem twice after installing xine video player. I always thought it was this messing it up, but maybe it is the file space issue (ill try that and see ).

I found that if i commented out that line, i couldnt log in as a user, only admin.

Hope this helps!

---------------

same problem!

xfs is running
i have 20 gigs of free hd space
the paths have been untouched!
I did some chmod which probably screwed everything up!

://////

what about your XF86Config-4 file? more input please.

woah i reinstalled xfree86... bad idea! now the xfree starts up but all i can do is click lhmouse button and i get a menu called Twm..

freaky!?

Hi everyone,
I was having the same problem and turns out that yes it was because i had run out of disk space. So I deleted some extra files in the /root directory and other directories and restarted the system.

It works !!!

So better try out this one also

Regards
and as they say in french "bon chance"