Re: Problems with X
On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, Branden Robinson wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 04, 1999 at 01:30:29PM -0500, Robert Rati wrote:
> > I had X running fine with one little problem before getting a Monster 3D
> > II card a little while back. One small problem was that I have xdm kick
> > up two X windows. Well, about five minutes after boot, I would get kicked
> > over to the second X window for no reason. I could switch back to the
> > first one, clear and screen, and everything was fine. It didn't do it
> > again unless I rebooted. I don't know what was causing this, but I could
> > live with it and I figured it was a small bug in X. Now, however, when
> > this happens, the screen goes black and I can't get to a screen at all.
> > Console or otherwise. I saw on here someone mentioned something about
> > video cards not being able to handle switching modes to well, and wonder
> > if that's the problem. Anyone have any ideas or things to try? Would an
> > acceleracted X server solve the problem? TIA.
>
> You mean xdm is managing two separate X servers? There are two virtual
> consoles with xdm login screens on them? That sure isn't the default
> config, but it sounds like what is happening to you.
>
> See the file /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers to control the number and type of X
> sessions xdm is to manage. Most people only want one local session managed
> by xdm.
>
> If you're running slink (the currently frozen distribution), I suggest
> trying my latest test build of the X packages, at
> http://master.debian.org/~branden/xfree86/ .
>
> One thing you might try if you're feeling adventurous is to yank the Voodoo
> card and see what (if anything) changes without it. If your Monster 3D
> card is confusing your primary display adapter, that's very bad. Either
> it's being poorly behaved, or something is waking it up -- and there aren't
> too many Linux applications that speak to Voodoo cards.
>
> As far as video cards not handling mode switches, in some cases this is the
> X server's fault. For instance, on my card (ATI Xpert@Play PCI), the
> xserver-mach64 works just fine. But if I use xserver-svga (which supports
> the card), anytime I switch away from the X display (by killing the server
> or just CTRL-ALT-Fn'ing away), I lose my entire console. The machine has
> to be rebooted. Maybe this is fixed in 3.3.3 -- I'll find out when I can
> close the book on 3.3.2.3 for slink.
>
> --
> G. Branden Robinson | The greatest productive force is human
> Debian GNU/Linux | selfishness.
> branden@ecn.purdue.edu | -- Robert Heinlein
> cartoon.ecn.purdue.edu/~branden/ |
>
Yes, I have xdm managing two virual consoles with 2 differnt xdm login
screens. It's not the default, but I've messed with the config a little.
I have an S3 Virge DX video card and am using the s3 xserver (I believe
there's one specifically for this card, and that's the one I'm using).
I'm not at home at the moment, but I believe my /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers file
is correct because this only started happening after I upgraded to slink.
It started freezing the display about the time I got my Monster card, so
I'm kind of thinking the problem has to do with that. I think the Monster
card is alright since it is a 3d only card. Anything not 3d, it should
pass on through to my other card. Although, I suppose it could be
having problems passing on the data to the other card for some reason.
If the xserver is the problem, do you know of any that might work with
this config? I can give a couple a try and see if they improve things,
but it seems the problem with being kicked over to the other virtual
console is more of an X or xdm problem. When I get it running, I can
switch back and forth between consoles just fine, although I have had one
occurance where the screen froze. I'd hate to have to reboot the machine
multiple times to find a solution, but it's that's the only way, I guess
I'll have to live with it.
Rob
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