Re: tlug: Xwindows crashing

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Chris Sekiya wrote:

> On Wed, 9 Dec 1998, Atlas21 Shawn wrote:
> 
> > Ever since then, whenever I try to startx, I get a black (black)
> > screen and the machine locks up. I went so far as to totally
> > reinstall, and was surprised when I got the same problem.
> 
> One of the following is true:
> 
> * Your XF86Config is wildly incorrect (might be setting incorrect mode),
>   causing the X server to crash the box.

highly unlikely - X might dump back to the console, but I've *never* seen
an XF86Config problem hard-lock the machine.

> * Your video card is damaged, causing the box to hang when the X server
>   probes the hardware.

Could also be bad video RAM (do you have a video RAM daughtercard on the
video board?  Try removing it), or it could be bad system RAM in the area
where your CMOS is trying to shadow the video BIOS.

Also, some video cards like the Riva128-based cards *must* have an IRQ
assigned to them or Linux can't use them with X.  Go into your CMOS setup
and see if you have an option 'Assign IRQ for VGA'  try turning it on.

You might also have an S3 ViRGE/DX, which was broken when you bought it
(by design), so step on it and go buy a real card :)  (other S3 chips are
OK such as the 864, 964, 968, S3 Trio64, Trio64V, Trio64V+, Trio3D, ViRGE
MX, and ViRGE VX, but stay away from the ViRGE/DX and GX (they're
basically the same, AFAIK))

> 
> You didn't say what sort of video card you had, so that's about as
> specific as I can get.
> 
> 5.1 shipped with XFree86 3.3.2 or 3.3.1.  Get the 3.3.3 binaries from your
> nearest xfree86.org mirror, install them, and then run

I'm reasonably sure that 5.1 was 3.3.2.  I think that Redhat might have
3.3.3 RPMs available as well.

> /usr/X11R6/bin/xf86config (NOT any of the whiz-bang RedHat X configuration
> tools -- use the right tool for the right job).

xf86config doesn't work in some cases that (at least my TL TurboXCfg) the
newer config tools do.

--------------------------------------------------
Scott M. Stone <sstone@example.com, sstone@example.com>
Head of TurboLinux Development/Systems Administrator
Pacific HiTech, Inc (USA) / Pacific HiTech, KK (Japan)


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