[Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

Akra · 2019-10-06 20:01:25

I have been fighting this issue all weekend where Xorg refuses to start with modesetting but works fine with xf86-video-intel. The latter has issues with the backlight and screen rotation though so I don't want to use it.

With modesetting Xorg spits out the following error:

(EE) modeset(0): drmSetMaster failed: Permission denied

After hours of trial and error I found out that Xorg starts once after openssh is either installed, reinstalled or removed. But only once! After I restart my computer I have to install/remove openSSH again. I can start a new X session after re-logging though. I just can't reboot.

During the installation of openSSH it lists xorg-auth as optional dependency (xorg-auth: X11 forwarding [installed]) so that must have something to do with it right? I already tried messing with /etc/ssh/sshd_config but it makes no difference.

I have a ThinkPad X200T and installed Arch 3 times now and the last time I only had xfce4, nextcloud-client and gnome-keyring installed besides base.

Last edited by Akra (2019-10-06 22:37:16)

Trilby · 2019-10-06 20:22:36

First read this:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=249618

Then if that doesn't resolve the issue, post the complete Xorg log.

Akra · 2019-10-06 22:37:26

I think that fixed it. I restarted 4 times in the last 30 minutes and had no issues. Thanks man!

Do you know what could have caused this? Its annoying to fix something without understanding what the problem was. Especially since openssh seems to be completely unrelated .

But since it works I can't complain. Thank you again.

My Xorg log is identical to this btw.

Trilby · 2019-10-06 22:49:28

Akra wrote:

Do you know what could have caused this?

Specifically, no: you've provided almost no information. Your Xorg log is most certainly not identical to the one in the other thread, nor would your logs from the successful and unsuccessful runs be the same.

But if I am to speculate wildly, perhaps you are starting X automatically from a shellrc file, and perhaps openssh is a red-herring. Perhaps the first attempt to start X at boot from an autologin fails and it wouldn't matter what you did in the terminal after that, the next attempt would work - and installing/uninstalling openssh was just a coincidence that resulted in a superstitious behavior.

Or perhaps aliens did it. Given the complete lack of information from logs, and about how you start X, either of these scenarios fits the presented data - the first is only a bit more parsimonious.

Akra · 2019-10-06 23:55:06

Not identical in the literal sense. His laptop has a different display (Different manufacturer, EDID and more Modeline messages) and I have a few lines where it tried to load the "vesa" module before modesetting but other than that my log contains the exact same messages. If I had saved any logs I would provide them.

I started X both automatically (through .bashrc) and manually. I started X, re-logged, rebooted and installed/reinstalled/removed openSSH over a dozen times to make sure that its due to openSSH. Before I figured out it was due to openSSH I tried to start X probably over 50 times.

loqs · 2019-10-07 00:03:58

Akra wrote:

Do you know what could have caused this? Its annoying to fix something without understanding what the problem was. Especially since openssh seems to be completely unrelated .

Did you test downgrading systemd to version 242?

Akra · 2019-10-07 06:57:20

No I didn't try that.

Arch Linux

#1 2019-10-06 20:01:25

[Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#2 2019-10-06 20:22:36

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#3 2019-10-06 22:37:26

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#4 2019-10-06 22:49:28

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#5 2019-10-06 23:55:06

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#6 2019-10-07 00:03:58

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

#7 2019-10-07 06:57:20

Re: [Solved] Xorg is unable to start unless openSSH was installed before

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