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<TITLE>The Answer Gang 95: X server crash when starting up RH9 for the first time</TITLE>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>X server crash when starting up RH9 for the first time</H3>
<p><strong>From Claudiu Spataru
</strong></p>
<p></strong></p>
<p align="right"><strong>Answered By: Mike Martin, Ben Okopnik, Thomas Adam, Heather Stern
</strong></p>
<P><STRONG>
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
</STRONG></P>
<font color="red"><blockquote><em>This is naughty, please send e-mails in plain-text ONLY.
-- Thomas Adam</em></blockquote></font>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Hello
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
My X server crashes with the following error messages (see attached
log).
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
My system is an Athlon 2500+, GeForce FX 5200 graphic card, A7N8X deluxe
mainboard (not sure how relevant this info is, but added it anyway).
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
The font server can be stopped and restarted by using '<TT>/etc/init.d/xfs</TT>
start|stop' without any problems. When eliminating the Fontpath line
that points to unix/:7100 from the XF86Config file, it complains about a
different fontpath that it cannot find and crashes once again. (There is
also either no path set to run Xconfigurator or there is no such thing
in my installation of RH9.)
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Any known solution to the above problem?
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
dont do this - put it back. If you dont use the xfs server then you
need to hardcode the fontpath into <TT>/etc/X11/XF86Config</TT>
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
X wont start without xfs running, when X fails to start, is xfs
running?
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Ben]
That's inaccurate. Either a font server <em> _or</em> a hard-coded font set is
sufficient, and there's no advantage that I know of to a server if
you're not doing X over a network. My system has run without "xfs" for
years now.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
I know this is generally true, however the querent is using <A HREF="http://www.redhat.com/">Red Hat</A> 9
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
Red Hat does a fair bit with the font server, including dealing with
easy adding of fonts, TTF fonts etc.
</blockQuote>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] That's inaccurate -- TrueType fonts are handled by the xtt
server, NOT by xfs itself. There are two different servers. I still fail
to see how RH find running another process to handle fonts an
<EM>advantage</EM>
</blockquote></font>
<font color="#000066"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] Smaller part to kick if it needs a restart? But within X this is often
false economy, yanking live font servers is rather like pulling the rug
out from under you. It can be done - I've done it (read the 'xset' man
page if you're crazy enough to mess with this) - but I think the
split is a holdover from an earlier time (only a year or two ago) when
the X server did not speak Truetype on its own. You needed an external
fontserver for it, and that was usually xfs patched for freetype access
(the way I did it) but there was a competitor from the asian countries,
who had a real need for readable letters.
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
So to avoid other problems/questions IMHO, it is safe to say that the
querent is better off using the installed font server. (ie: dont add
unnecesary complications), especially as it sounds like it is actually
working.
</blockQuote>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] I disagree with this -- X11 and fonts is rarely, if at all, distro
specific. Just because RH uses a font server initially, doesn't mean to
say that you have to continue using it. That is one of the ideals of
Linux -- it is <EM>your</EM> OS. Do whatever you like
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=":)"
height="24" width="20" align="middle">
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
just did a quick google - its possible that the card is not recognised
properly
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
so try this (as root)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
edit the file <TT>/etc/X11/XF86Config</TT>
look for the device section eg:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce 4 (generic)"
BUSID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
and experiment changing the Driver entry to vesa or nv, depending what
is there already
</blockQuote>
<P><STRONG>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Thank you very much for the replies! It was indeed the fact that my graphic
card did not get recognized properly and the generic vesa driver did not
work in my case.
After changing the values for 'BoardName' and 'Driver' as per Mike's
suggestion, I was able to start X Windows.
</STRONG></P>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
Generic X error problem solving
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
There are a few very common reasons for X not starting
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
1. Not enough disk space in <TT>/</TT> or <TT>/var</TT>
</blockQuote>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] If this is the case, then I doubt one would be able to login anyhow,
since /var/log/wtmp would have to be written to so that the "last(1)"
command can keep a log of who has logged in.
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
2. Font server not starting (can be caused by 1.)
</blockQuote>
<font color="#000066"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] More accurately, "fixed" or some font needed by your window manager
isn't available, so the session manager dies -- taking X with it.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>This may be a dead font server, or some other buggy FontPath.
</blockquote></font>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] RedHat like to use xfs/xfs-xtt to issue fonts. The truth is that a font
server is NOT necessary, no matter which distribution one uses. The only
time I can think when you might want to use it is when one is having to
share fonts over the network.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>In anycase, if the font server fails to load, the default fonts listed
in /etc/XF86Config (under other distros: /etc/X11/XF86Config-4) are used
as the "fallback".
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
3. Mouse not being initialised
</blockQuote>
<font color="#000066"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] This is actually quite rare, much more common is it being <EM>incorrectly</EM>
initialized, due to incorrect protocol being specified for the input
device -- which will get you into X, but with a mouse that doesn't move,
or does something crazy as soon as you touch it, like race to one edge
of the screen and flutter there like a trapped moth.
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
4. If you use the Nvidia binary module, the kernel module not being
loaded.
</blockQuote>
<font color="#000066"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather] i810s and other "memory sharing with CPU" video cards can have this
problem too. It may also matter to embedded designers. In short if you
can't see the video without kernel help - it needs to be loaded.
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
5. Generic error "No screens", often a problem with the video driver.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
Yes, either that or the <EM>wrong</EM> video driver has been selected. In that
instance, a new one should be chosen. Under <A HREF="http://www.debian.org/">Debian</A>, the fix for that
would be to run:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
Commonly, the "no screens" error can also be caused by FrameBuffer
options turned on. If one comments these out, the problem may also go
away.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
points 3,4 and 5 will show an error in the X error log (or on the
terminal that starts X)
</blockQuote>
<font color="#660000"><blockquote><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas] They'll only show a message assuming point 1 above is false, otherwise,
how is it to write to the log file?
</blockquote></font>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Heather]
It will show the same message on the controlling terminal, if you launch
X as a command at a shell prompt instead of allowing anything automatic
to try it. And while we're at it, <EM>disable</EM> any attempt whatever to
launch X automatically if X isn't tuned up and happy. The infamous
message "ID x respawning too fast" is a common symptom of that. The
"ID" in that case is an <TT>/etc/inittab</TT> entry for your GUI login prompt.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [MikeM]
What can often work as a quick fix is to run the script xf86config
(all lower case)
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
This will wipe out the config for the font server though.
</blockQuote>
<blockQuote>
<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
> [Thomas]
In any case, adding the line:
</blockQuote>
<blockquote><pre>FontPath "Unix/:7100"
</pre></blockquote>
<blockQuote>
as the first line under: Section "Files" should work.
</blockQuote>
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<br>Copyright &copy; 2003
<br>Copying license <A HREF="">http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html</A>
<BR>Published in Issue 95 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, October 2003</H5>
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