New Debian install X problem

[Giles Orr]

On 13 April 2010 22:14, Daniel Armstrong <daniel-r35aSzp7v8jQT0dZR+AlfA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 7:40 PM, Giles Orr <gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:
>> I did a new Debian testing install today on an older laptop that's
>> been running Ubuntu for quite a while.  I installed from a new CD
>> built with jigdo.  I told it to install "web server" but not
>> "graphical desktop" (or whatever the official wording is).  I did this
>> because I didn't want GNOME - I've done it before and installed X by
>> hand.  This time, after the install was complete, I went ahead and ran
>> "aptitude install xserver-xorg".  I installed fluxbox, gave my primary
>> user a ~/.xinitrc file that started fluxbox, typed "startx" and ...
>> the machine tanked.  Black screen, no response to any keyboard input
>> (I tried Ctrl-Alt-F1).  Only thing to do is hold the power button
>> until the machine powers off (I haven't checked if I can access it
>> remotely).  The behaviour is repeatable.  Bringing in the Ubuntu
>> /etc/X11/xorg.conf changed nothing (that xorg.conf doesn't do much
>> about screen setup, but did specify the correct resolution as given
>> below).
>>
>> /var/log/messages has nothing at all.  /var/log/Xorg.0.log ends in
>> "Output TDMS has no monitor section" which certainly suggests a
>> problem (although not necessarily a lock-up ...).  Have I missed a
>> step?  Any ideas?
>>
>> The laptop is a five year old Dell Inspiron m700 with a Pentium
>> Centrino 1.6GHz, 1.5M of memory, and a 20G hard drive.  The screen is
>> an early widescreen 1280x800 width that used to require a special
>> piece of utility software or it would run in 1024x768 (distorted).
>> More recent Ubuntus seem to have had no problem with it.
>
> How are you starting fluxbox in ~/.xinitrc? If fluxbox is the only
> window manager on the system have you tried startx without having a
> .xinitrc? Without an xorg.conf? Have you tried skipping the wm
> altogether and starting X with a simple xterm?
>
> These are the steps I typically take installing X on a Debian Squeeze box:
>
> * install Xorg / video and input drivers / 3D utilities:
>
> sudo aptitude install xorg xserver-xorg-video-<driver> mesa-utils
>
> * generate an xorg.conf (optional):
>
> Xorg -configure
> cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
>
> * test by creating a user ~/.xinitrc and add *exec xterm* (no wm)...
> then 'startx'.. confirm that X is working
>
> * then... install some more fonts and Fluxbox:
>
> sudo aptitude install ttf-mscorefonts-installer ttf-bitstream-vera
> ttf-liberation
> sudo aptitude install fluxbox dwm-tools feh xscreensaver
>
> * edit .xinitrc... commenting out previous xterm entry and adding
> 'exec startfluxbox'

I had tried without an xorg.conf, which is why I thought adding one
might help.  But the response is the same either way.  As for fluxbox
vs xterm ...  I didn't try that because I'm almost entirely certain
the problem is at a much lower level.  So instead I re-ran the
install, but this time I installed "Graphical Desktop Environment"
from the packages selection.  The install took much longer, but went
fine.  When I rebooted, it came up to GRUB, and when I told it to go
boot, it blacked out and became unresponsive - exactly as before.
Forced a power off, booted again, this time chose recovery.  Guess
what?  The geniuses at Debian have "recovery mode" go into graphical!
So the computer goes black and unresponsive.

I have two OS partitions on this machine, so I guess I'm going to
re-install Ubuntu on one of them to see what happens.  The old Ubuntu
install that worked so well was first installed in 2005 and
continuously upgraded (it still exists on another HD, and is a last
ditch solution) so I'm not sure a fresh Ubuntu install will work in
this case.  I would certainly welcome any further thoughts on how to
troubleshoot this, or what might be causing it.  Thanks.

-- 
Giles
http://www.gilesorr.com/
gilesorr-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org
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