Hi everyone,
i have jsut installed Mandrake. This is my first time installing Linux. I am having a problem though. I got done with the install and everything seemed fine. Then when I login and try startx, I get this error:

[root@localhost root]# startx

execve failed for /etc/X11/X (errno 2)
giving up.
xinit: No such file or directory (errno 2): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.

I tried reinstalling and it still does this. I know, its not a good idea to log in as root here, but I tried it with my login and it gave me the same thing.

I am running the latest dirtro of Mandrake and KDE as my window manager.

Thanks in advance for your help,
OS10

There could be two problems wrong with this:

1) when you installed and at the end of the installation, it will show you everything you have (time clock, keyboard layout, sound card, graphics card, modem/network card, network, etc... etc... etc...) and you have the option to configure them. Check your graphics card and configure that. Make sure it is set to what you want rather than letting Mandrake do it by default. Sometimes it may detect it wrong. So make sure you do that, and for the time being, select the monitor as a GENERIC monitor with 70 Hz, then when asked to test it, test it! See if that works.

2) if that doesn't work, then log in as root by typing this

xorgconfig is a text-based configuration for X. Run through it and see if that will work. Also try running:

Strangely, you will get the exact same text-based configuration as xorgconfig. I don't know if they are connected but just do the exact same thing on both. Let us know if it works!

Ok,
I am to the point where it says Choose an X server. I see all sorts of brands and models, but I see no generic.

What should I choose?

Thanks,
OS10

I'm not sure what you mean by choosing an X Server. Do you mean what GUI like KDE, GNOME, or IceWM? Either one is fine as you can change them later.

You should choose a generic MONITOR at 800x600 or 1024x768 @ 70 Hz and the correct graphics card you have (nvidia, ati)

Here is a cap of where I am. I have some generic card on this computer I am installing on, but I see nothing that says generic.

http://img147.exs.cx/img147/979/mandrakecard7ou.png


Thanks again,
OS10

Thanks for putting in a screenshot! That helps.

That X server is asking for your video card. Do you have a Trident Video card? That is really old, but it is listed there.

No, I don't. I don't know what kind of video card I have, its some OEM card on the motherboard. I don't see generic as a card, what should I choose?


OS10

Is there a "vesa" option there? That is the generic one.

I don't see one. What would it be under?

OS10

Ah, I found it. Let me finish the install and I will let you know how it worked, Also, it says I need to configure my sound card, but I don't have one, let me se if there is an option for that.

OS10

http://img85.exs.cx/img85/6933/mandrakecard5mg.png

I selected the vesa card and clicked next, but it doesn;t show up there, it just says custom. I tried going back and seleting it again, but It kept saying custom.

Thanks,
OS10

As long as you have selected VESA as your card, that is fine. It says Custom because you went against the DEFAULT, which was the Trident video card originally. Usually you can tell what video card you have when you boot up your computer.

The first thing that shows up in the upper left hand corner is the brand/model of the video card. For the mean time, just stick with VESA and your generic custom monitor.

ah well i have no usefull words lol but what ever you do , do not login as root ever ever ever unless its really important and quick only login root with su or sudo ok enjoi linux

Thank you so much everyone! I tried it, and it worked! I am looking forward to using Linux. I am really thankfull for each of you taking the time to help me get this working,


On to the next thing, if I wanted to install a linux app, say xchat, is there an easy way to do this? I heard of something called Fink, does that come with this distro?

Thanks again,
OS10

glad you got it working!

X-chat is easy to install

Go to your Mandrake Control Center
Software
Install

Then search for xchat, or try x-chat

Select it and insert the CD's it tells you to. Then you just type this in the terminal