Cannot get X to work

Hallucinogenic · 2009-02-25 00:41:14

Hey everyone. Sorry for what's probably a very silly question, but I'm a bit new with Linux in general (with mostly experience with Ubuntu, and a little Slackware).

I just did a fresh install of ArchLinux and everything seemed to go fine. But when I type in "startx" while logged in under root (or under any other name), it says "-bash: startx: command not found".

When I type "pacman -S xorg" it tells me "error: 'xorg' : not found in sync db"

When I type in "pacman -Syu" it gives me "error: failed retrieving file 'core.db.tar.gz' from mirrors.unixheads.org : Transient resolver failure". It posts this error message many times for each of the files it can't retrieve. I have tried reinstalling using different mirrors. I used ftp.archlinux.org among a few others, but I keep getting exactly the same message. (I realize now, after reading through the forums, that using ftp.archlinux.org isn't a good idea).

My internet connection has always worked just fine, so I don't think that's the issue.

I have a feeling that there's something in Archlinux's documentation that I must have overlooked, but I've read through all of the articles and documentation that I could google, without finding an answer yet.

I haven't found too many posts out there from people with this problem, so I'm guessing that this is not common.

Thanks in advance!

,Ryan

Allan · 2009-02-25 00:48:21

It looks like your network is not setup. Can you ping (e.g.) google at all? Look at the network section on the beginners guide wiki.

Hallucinogenic · 2009-02-25 01:29:31

Thanks, Allan

Yeah, It turns out that it is my network causing the problem. When I type "ping -c 3 www.google.com" it replies with, "ping: unknown host www.google.com". The instructions in the Beginner's Guide Wiki said to double-check /etc/rc.conf, /etc/hosts and /etc/resolv.conf for integrity and proper settings. But when I try to check these, it responds with "-bash: /etc/rc.conf: Permission denied". I found this strange since I'm logged in as root at the moment.

I'm not sure what to do regarding this - I'm definitely still a newb, so I'm struggling with some of the instructions in the Wiki. The guide gives instructions on how to check the ethernet and how to set a new static IP, but I'm not sure if setting a new static IP is what I need to do.

Ranguvar · 2009-02-25 02:33:18

Let me guess - you're trying to check those files by simply typing the location of them? e.g. '/etc/rc.conf'?

The permission denied error is then because bash thinks you want to run that file as an executable, and that file does not have the execute permission set. To view the file, open it in a pager, like less. To edit the file, open it in an editor like vi (complex) or nano (easy).

Hallucinogenic · 2009-03-02 21:21:17

You guessed correctly - I wasn't opening the files with a pager (another newbish mistake, but I'm slowly learning). So now I've opened these files successfully with nano, but I have no idea what to do with these files since neither the Beginner's Guide or the Configuring Network guide expand on this. For /etc/rc.conf it says to check my HOSTNAME= and NETWORKING for typos and errors but since I don't know what it is supposed to say, I don't know if there are typos. How will I know if there is something wrong with these files that is causing network troubles?

Last edited by Hallucinogenic (2009-03-02 21:21:52)

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 21:33:45

Hallucinogenic wrote:

You guessed correctly - I wasn't opening the files with a pager (another newbish mistake, but I'm slowly learning). So now I've opened these files successfully with nano, but I have no idea what to do with these files since neither the Beginner's Guide or the Configuring Network guide expand on this. For /etc/rc.conf it says to check my HOSTNAME= and NETWORKING for typos and errors but since I don't know what it is supposed to say, I don't know if there are typos. How will I know if there is something wrong with these files that is causing network troubles?

You need a lot of reading up to do. Start with rc.conf You must have set up a host name when installing. That needs to be in your rc.conf and your /etc/hosts file. if you have a dhcp assigned ip address, you need to put it in rc.conf as

interface="dhcp"

where interface is eth0, eth1 which you can find out using

ifconfig

or set up a static ip address there.

Last edited by Inxsible (2009-03-02 21:36:38)

Hallucinogenic · 2009-03-02 22:04:08

Thanks again everyone for your input.

I went into rc.conf and /etc/hosts to make sure my hostname was the same, which it now is. I don't think I have a dhcp assigned ip address. In that section it currently says:

eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255" INTERFACES=(eth0)

I read up on rc.conf through the wiki link that you gave me, and it all mostly seems to match my own rc.conf file, except for where it says "Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles" in the wiki's example, it says "Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d" in mine. Also, instead of saying "NET_PROFILES=(main)" like it does in the wiki, it says "NETWORKS=(main)".

I have no idea if this means anything, but these are the only differences I could find (since the beginners guide told me to check for any typos or errors within this file).

Inxsible · 2009-03-02 22:54:30

Do you know if you have dhcp assigned IP address? If you are not sure about this and you do not use a router, you most likely do.

Post your rc.conf here so that we can help you out. As I mentioned in my earlier post, you probably need a

eth0="dhcp"

line in your rc.conf.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-02-25 00:41:14

Cannot get X to work

#2 2009-02-25 00:48:21

Re: Cannot get X to work

#3 2009-02-25 01:29:31

Re: Cannot get X to work

#4 2009-02-25 02:33:18

Re: Cannot get X to work

#5 2009-03-02 21:21:17

Re: Cannot get X to work

#6 2009-03-02 21:33:45

Re: Cannot get X to work

#7 2009-03-02 22:04:08

Re: Cannot get X to work

#8 2009-03-02 22:54:30

Re: Cannot get X to work

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