xwindows not working with debian

furmat2 · 03-15-2005, 10:23 PM

Hello Forum:

I just installed Debian but x-windows is not working. I tried simply to reinstall xwindows using dselect, but this did not work.
when I type startx at the cammand line i get the following message:

EE VGA(0)Driver can't support depth 24
EE Screen found but none have a usable configuration.

I am using a 2 year old standard monitor. (Samsung sync master 750s)
It worked well with Mandrake. hmm....

Any help would be very appreciated

sincerely

furmat2

Gibsonist · 03-16-2005, 12:25 AM

If I may ask which version of Debian you are using, and what kinda vga card

from your error message i would say that XF86 isnt configured correctly

try to purge and reinstall the xserver package (using aptitude perhaps)
using the conf prog and let debian try to set up the conf (so far had only good results)

Ephracis · 03-16-2005, 12:27 AM

Check your video card and reconfigure XFree86 using xf86config. When I used Debian I remember that X never worked without some manual work and configuration.

chbin · 03-16-2005, 12:33 AM

$ Xorg -configure
$ cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
$ startx

Gibsonist · 03-16-2005, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MezzyMeat
... When I used Debian I remember that X never worked without some manual work and configuration.

Beg to differ MezzyMeat,
running Deb Sarge on a machine with a old GeForce2TI and a Matrox Mystique2

the Debian config worked out of the box for my first card, with no problems
(have to admit had to mod the conf for the dual screen setup)

So we can not assume it to be not working on every setup of machine

(Sorry am a Mathematician and cant leave these things)

Ephracis · 03-16-2005, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Gibsonist
Beg to differ MezzyMeat,
running Deb Sarge on a machine with a old GeForce2TI and a Matrox Mystique2

the Debian config worked out of the box for my first card, with no problems
(have to admit had to mod the conf for the dual screen setup)

So we can not assume it to be not working on every setup of machine

(Sorry am a Mathematician and cant leave these things)

Well, I forgot to mention that when I last used Debian was in an early woody-version and Debian was back then the only dist I used so I have set it up on everything from old 166Mhz boxes with outdated videocards and my parents 500Mhz with a Voodoo-card, all the way to my first new gaming machine I bought when I used to be one of those gamers (

). Debian's own xfree86 configuration never worked on any machine, ever. And also the books I have read that teaches slighly basic knowledge about how to learn Linux mentions that X on Debian tender to be harder to get working then on other distros such as Red Hat (Fedora today) or SuSE.

Although that was some time ago and I bet Debian have matured since then. But I know I always had to configure X by myself when I used Debian.

kornerr · 03-16-2005, 10:44 AM

furmat2, it's called "X Window", here's no ms.

furmat2 · 03-16-2005, 08:13 PM

First of all, thank you to everyone who replied to my post.

I tried your advice. I purged the xfree86 files and reinstalled x window using dselect. I was asked to choose which x-window server that was compatible with my video card.

My video card is ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage Pro AGP 1x(rev5c),

I checked here:
http://www.calel.cl/pci-devices/xfre...-list.html#ATI to see which x server I should choose.

This site suggested xserver xfree86 . I chose this.

Still .. when I try to startx, I get the same error:

VGA(0)Driver cant support depth 24
sceens not found.

I am using Debian version 3.0

Any suggestions would be very appreciated.

Again , thank you to all.

sincerly
furmat2

colek · 03-16-2005, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by furmat2
First of all, thank you to everyone who replied to my post.

sincerly
furmat2

I feel your pain Fur. I am also a newbie whose Debian XWindows doesn't launch. When you crack the case, let me know. Or I'll do the same for you.

furmat2 · 03-16-2005, 11:31 PM

Colek - I will keep you posted..

furmat2

Ephracis · 03-17-2005, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by furmat2
VGA(0)Driver cant support depth 24

If you check at this line of the error it says that you are trying to use 24bit depth but the video driver you are using does not support this.

If you run xf86config and choose to have a look at the videocard database you may find a better driver for your card. If you can't find a better driver for your card then change the resolution and depth in the config.

xuloChavez · 04-26-2005, 10:30 AM

Furmat2, Colek

I had a similar problem to urs and the solution was quite easy:

Quote:

Sorted!! In the end all I had to do was to reconfigure XFree86 with

#dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

like Macondo suggets in his thread, and when asked whether to use the kernel framebuffer to communicate with the video card, just choose "NO" . From the context you could think that the safest option is "YES", and I think thats the default, but guy that wrote "The Very Verbose Debian 3.0 Installation Guide" (see again Macondos thread) also had to go for "NO". To be fair with the newbie population, it is very hard to see from the XFree86.0.log (see my posting above) that this was the problem.

In fact, now I can choose 24 colour depth without any problem.

(a note aside, before this I also had to point /dev/mouse to /dev/psaux by using the command:
ln -s /dev/mouse /dev/psaux
to get my mouse working, maybe u need to try that as well)

you can have a look at the whole thread
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...86#post1611286

furmat2 · 04-26-2005, 06:34 PM

Hello Colek

In fact I struggled with this for awhile but simply could not find the answer. In the end I installed Suse 9.1 ... and this is working pretty well ...

Thanks again - I will keep your reply in mind - i know others too who have had trouble with debian xwindows. And thank you again as well to everyone else who posted suggestions.
furmat2