Re: X Windows Startup
Andy Bierlair wrote
> i wanted to install a few things including X WIndows. i can enter
> the XWIN setup in the beginning and set up screen, graphic card,
> etc... now debian wanted to launch X WINdows once again, and then i
> got my problem ! The whole stuff is hanging. i can still see the
> Prompt, but my screen is always changing colors from black to
> white. i cannot break it. i cannot even start a new session with
> ALT-F2. it sure shows me my new session, but i cannot type in it. so
> now i'm very helpless and i don't know what to do now ! I also had
> the same problem in Debian 1.3.1. so far i could never get X FREE
> running...... i cannot set up anything on my computer now, because
> it launches automatically X WINDOWS
What's going on: you're running xdm, which automatically re-starts the
X server when it dies. This can be very bad indeed if your X server
dies right after starting up. xdm starts the X server, X server dies,
xdm starts the X server, ... towards infinity.
To fix this: you don't want xdm to start up on boot (at least for
now), or you'll get the above mentioned problem. If you boot from
lilo, at the "LILO:" prompt (which will come up if you hit ctrl or alt
or tab before the kernel loads), type in the image name followed by
the word "single" (w/out quotes). If you don't know the image name,
at the LILO: prompt, hit the tab key for a listing. Probably, there
will be only one if you're on a new system (and maybe another one for
DOS).
This will bring up a root shell, and not load most of your programs.
Look at the file /etc/X11/xdm/config (I _think_ this is the right
file -- I don't have my debian system in front of me now so I'm
getting all this from memory). There should be a line in this text
file which is something like "start-xdm-on-boot". Comment this line
out (put any character in front of it, probably a "#" to make it look
like a shell comment). This will stop xdm from loading.
Hit ctrl-d to exit the root shell, and your system should continue
booting in a normal manner.
Ok, you still need to fix the X server problem -- it should not die as
soon as you start it. There are multiple reasons why this can happen.
Look in the file /var/log/xdm-errors to see why X died. Common
reasons:
- there are no valid video modes. Make sure your monitor spec's are
entered correctly in /etc/X11/XF86Config.
- Can't find any fonts. Make sure the font path (in XF86Config)
actually point to fonts you have. Make sure the font packages are
installed.
- I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of them right now.
Good luck!
John
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