Hello,

I have installed Slackware Current on RP4/8GB using image available at https://sarpi.fatdog.eu/index.php?p=rpi4getcurrent.

The system boots properly in init 4 level to XDM screen.

After logging in to XFCE, I found that if there is no activity, the X server hangs. I can restart X by pressing Alt+Ctrl+Backspace.

Any suggestions to correct this?

Thank you for your time and help.

Anand

Could you copy & paste your '/boot/config.txt' and '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf' files please?

/boot/config.txt

# For more options and information see
# http://rpf.io/configtxt
# Some settings may impact device functionality. See link above for details
#
# https://sarpi.fatdog.eu - 22 January 2021 - Raspberry Pi 4 config.txt

# Uncomment to set CPU clock speed (MHz)
#arm_freq=1500
#arm_freq_min=600

# Uncomment to set the amount of GPU video RAM (MB)
#gpu_mem=128

# Uncomment to disable Device Tree (DT)
#device_tree=

# Uncomment to load a specific kernel
#kernel=kernel8.img
#kernel=kernel7l.img
#kernel=kernel7.img
#kernel=kernel.img

# Uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" mode
#hdmi_safe=1

# Uncomment this if your display has a black border of unused pixels visible
# and your display can output without overscan
#disable_overscan=1

# Uncomment the following to adjust overscan. Use positive numbers if console
# goes off screen, and negative if there is too much border
#overscan_left=16
#overscan_right=16
#overscan_top=16
#overscan_bottom=16

# Uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
#framebuffer_width=1280
#framebuffer_height=720

# Uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# Uncomment to force a specific HDMI mode (this will force VGA)
#hdmi_group=1
#hdmi_mode=1

# Uncomment to force a HDMI mode rather than DVI. This can make audio work in
# DMT (computer monitor) modes
#hdmi_drive=2

# Uncomment to increase signal to HDMI, if you have interference, blanking, or
# no display
#config_hdmi_boost=4

# Uncomment for composite PAL
#sdtv_mode=2

# Uncomment to enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
#dtparam=audio=on

# Uncomment to enable Bluetooth LE
#dtoverlay=pi3-miniuart-bt
#enable_uart=1

# Uncomment some or all of these to enable the optional hardware interfaces
#dtparam=i2c_arm=on
#dtparam=i2s=on
#dtparam=spi=on

# Uncomment to enable the lirc-rpi module
#dtoverlay=lirc-rpi

# Uncomment to enable [I2C] DS3231 real time clock [RTC]
#dtoverlay=i2c-rtc,ds3231

# Uncomment to give the PWR LED a 'heartbeat' pulse
#dtparam=pwr_led_trigger=heartbeat

# Uncomment to give the ACT LED a 'heartbeat' pulse
#dtparam=act_led_trigger=heartbeat

# Uncomment to disable RPi3/4 on-board wireless and Bluetooth
#dtoverlay=disable-wifi
#dtoverlay=disable-bt

# Additional overlays and parameters are documented in /boot/overlays/README

[pi4]
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver on top of the dispmanx display stack
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
#max_framebuffers=2

[all]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d


/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/xorg.conf
#
# This is the default Xorg configuration supplied by Slackware ARM's
# 'x/x11-skel' package, which supports the graphics abilities of the
# officially supported devices.
#####################################################################
#
# This is a minimal sample config file, which can be copied to
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf in order to make the Xorg server pick up
# and load xf86-video-fbturbo driver installed in the system.
#
# When troubleshooting, check /var/log/Xorg.0.log for the debugging
# output and error messages.
#
# Run "man fbturbo" to get additional information about the extra
# configuration options for tuning the driver.

Section "Device"
Identifier "Allwinner A10/A13 FBDEV"
Driver "fbturbo"
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb0"

Option "SwapbuffersWait" "true"
EndSection

As shown above...

Try setting the 'gpu_mem' to a value that gives the GPU something to work with - I don't completely trust the firmware to do it adequately and I always set it manually in the '/boot/config.txt' file anyway.

Also disable 'fbturbo' using a #comment in your 'xorg.conf' file.

With gpu_mem=1024 it does not boot.

Then, on another PC using an SD card reader I edited it to gpu_mem=128. Now it is booting.

But I need to check if X hangs after some period of inactivity.

That would cause me to question why it wasn't booting and investigate. You can also try 'gpu_mem=256' or 'gpu_mem=512' - the integer is just the amount of MB to assign for the GPU to use, while the rest goes towards the [CPU] system.

I found that with gpu_mem=128 commented out in config.txt as it was earlier, and disabling fbturbo by commenting out Driver "fbturbo" in xorg.conf solved the problem. Now it is working fine.

Thank you for your help.

Anand

You're welcome. Glad you were able to fix the issue.

For memory allocation perhaps the RPi documentation might offer some insight: https://www.raspberrypi.org/document...-txt/memory.md

After removing xfce4-screensaver and xfce4-powermanager packages the desktop is not freezing. This is a big relief for me.

I have had screen freezing on Xfce on the RPi for awhile now after upgrade to 4.16: after a few minutes, the desktop looks normal and I can move cursor around with the mouse, but clicking mouse keys and typing on the keyboard does nothing. Ctrl-Alt-Backspace does get me back to the console, then I can startx again.

I had similar symptoms (but not identical, I think) on Xfce 4.16 on OpenBSD x86_64 a version or two ago. I solved that by disabling the compositor. I tried that here, but the problem remained, so I re-enabled the compositor here awhile ago.

After seeing your post, I tried disabling xfce4-screensave and xfce4-powermanager this way:

From Applications - Settings - xfce4-screensaver:
- Screensave - Unselected Enable Screensaver
- Lock Screen - Enable Lock Screen

From Applications - Settings - Power Manager:
- Display - Unselected Display power management

This combination of options didn't fix screen freezes, so I set them back to their original settings.

In neither case, SlackwareARM -current on RPi4 today or OpenBSD (6.6 or 6.7), have I verified if it happens/happened after the same amount of idle time, everytime. One difference seems to be that on OpenBSD with Xfce 4.16, before disabling the compositor, it didn't seem to happen at a specific amount of time, but rather at any time, even when I was active. Here it has never happened while I have been active, but rather after I step away for a few minutes.

I'm going to try the same steps you did and see if it fixes my screen freezing.


EDIT

Worked for me. I thought it might be better, though, to keep them installed but make them non-executable. I reinstalled them and made the packages non-exec as follows; after that, both still show up in the Applications - Settings menu but give a "Failed to execute" error message if you click on them. The screen blanks after a few minutes of inactivity, but neither locks nor freezes.

That changes 6 files in total.

I would still like screen locking with password, so I'll try to set up XScreensaver to do that.

TKS