X server will not start

davec60 · posted: 2012-10-11 12:37

Hi,

I have installed Antix-M11 CORE and have added numerous debian packages (xorg, gdm, xfce4, jwm and fluxbox) in order to try to get a gui working. Most of them seem to have been set-up without any issues except gdm and xserver/xorg. As a result, I still don’t have a gui.
On booting up, the message at the cli is as follows:
Starting Hardware abstraction layer: haldStarting GNOME Display Manager: gdmgdm{1219]: WARNING: gdm_config_parse: Authdir /var/lib/gdm does not exist: Aborting.
Startpar: service(s) returned failure...gdm...FAILED!

I have checked the 'var' directory and /var/lib/gdm DOES exist although the only file in it is one called .cookie
I do seem to be able to get gdm functioning by running:
invoke-rc.d gdm reload then
invoke-rc.d gdm restart

This appears to then try and start x but that fails with the following message in the xorg log file:
vesa: Ignoring device with a bound kernel driver
Screens found but none have a usable configuration
Fatal server error: no screens found.
Server terminated with error (1).
Running startx and xinit also produce the same error messages.
I don't really have much knowledge of Linux and none at all of Antix so I don't know how I can fix this. I wonder whether anyone can please enlighten me as to how to resolve it?
Thanks
davec60

rokytnji · posted: 2012-10-16 08:55

I ran into something like this with a slim upgrade instead of gdm. I ended up uninstalling slim and installing xdm instead.

Code: Select all

$ apt-cache show xdm
Package: xdm
Version: 1:1.1.11-1
Installed-Size: 705
Maintainer: Debian X Strike Force <debian-x@lists.debian.org>
Architecture: i386
Provides: x-display-manager
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.11), libpam0g (>= 0.99.7.1), libselinux1 (>= 1.32), libx11-6, libxau6, libxaw7, libxdmcp6, libxext6, libxft2 (>> 2.1.1), libxinerama1, libxmu6, libxpm4, libxrender1, libxt6, debconf (>= 1.2.9) | debconf-2.0, x11-utils | xbase-clients | xmessage, cpp, lsb-base (>= 3.2-14), x11-xserver-utils, procps
Description-en: X display manager
 xdm manages a collection of X servers, which may be on the local host or
 remote machines.  It provides services similar to those provided by init,
 getty, and login on character-based terminals: prompting for login name and
 password, authenticating the user, and running a session.  xdm supports XDMCP
 (X Display Manager Control Protocol) and can also be used to run a chooser
 process which presents the user with a menu of possible hosts that offer
 XDMCP display management.
Description-md5: 694e41e6a6a3354a405a31d15199acb2
Tag: admin::login, implemented-in::c, interface::daemon, network::server,
 role::program, security::authentication, uitoolkit::athena, use::login,
 x11::display-manager
Section: x11
Priority: optional
Filename: pool/main/x/xdm/xdm_1.1.11-1_i386.deb
Size: 207992
MD5sum: 19eec4fbcc3204a16940d54288b4164b
SHA1: 3786822b81963a47f2015b69bee17d75e0b98d54
SHA256: 9424d6bf24407f99ec15c406bd255b7c65fcc3232fba67d69229b32da9334753

Not sure if this applies to you though since you run Gnome Display Manager (gdm). Like I said. I was running slim instead.

xhack · posted: 2012-10-16 12:07

Hey davec60,

Can you post the output of lspci -n as well as what xorg drivers you have installed. Just a wild ass scientific guess here but from experience, the"screens found but non with usable configuration" typically means you don't have a correct video driver installed.