X freezing after 4.0.1-4 on S3 ViRGE/MX
Two or three weeks ago when X 4.0.1-1 came out, I installed it, and it was
working just fine. This is on a Toshiba 490CDT laptop with an S3 ViRGE/MX
video chipset, with 2.2.18-pre21 (and last week, 2.2.17).
Then, last week, when 4.0.1-4 came out (about the same time as libc6 hit
2.2-1, is there any connection?) X started failing completely. When xdm or
startx runs, X starts loading, goes black and everything freezes. No
keyboard. Unfortunately with only the one computer right now, I can't login
in remotely and reset. I can't even get a file log with "startx 2>&1 >
startx.log" or "strace -o startx.log startx". There's no file there after I
reboot.
I know others had problems with these symptoms, and I'd like to know if any
real resolution has taken place. The most common solution seems to be
commenting the XFONTS references to unix/:7001 ( or unix:/7001 or whatever
it was) in the X config file in /etc/X11. I did this, and purged xfs, but X
continued to fail.
Curiously, X only freezes the computer when I specify the s3virge driver
withn xserver-xfree86. If I use VGA, it runs fine (though not exactly
aesthetically pleasing.
The bit I don't understand is why X worked on 4.0.1-1 but started failing
later only when -4 came out (or was it -3 ? ). Isn't it all the same
version of X, 4.0.1 ?
I'm currently on 4.0.1-5. Are these problems the sort of thing that the
latest revision ( -7 ? ) will fix? What's the most reliable way of checking
whether a new release is about to come out? They've been coming out every
two days lately, and with a modem connection, I'd like to wait till the
thing's more or less "steady" if possible, rather than download 20 odd megs
every other day. Is a new release already on it's way, or is it "safe" to
download release 7? I'm starting to despair the download already...
I'll appreciate any new advice, or even just a warm hug.
Drew
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