[SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

yvonney · 2009-03-16 17:46:13

FIX: even though fstab was correct, from console, as I couldn't run any terms I did:

mkdir /dev/pts

then

mount /dev/pts

Will see if this stick after a reboot though happy to have found what's up.

YES, seems to now remember the mount point.

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OLDER UPDATE COMMENT: Have now reinstalled - have new idea which makes this problem a benefit ... thanks everyone!

-----------

Hi...! New one for me.

NEITHER xterm nor urxvt will load.

I did a bunch of backing up and due to trying to copy folders in use I had to restart a few times due to ram and cpu fill-ups strangeness.

Filesystem ext2.

before I login, from prompt (I use dwm so no login manager] when I run xterm or urxvt I get, "can't open display" And, when I login and try either, I get nothing. Perhaps I should check logs? dsmsg? Of course I can't run any terminal so..hmmm... what to do?

WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE THIS OCCURED:

Had to run disk check and I had a new for me bunch of errors.
fsck orrered to duplicate in both places the crossed files. I chose NO.
It repaired the file-system though I guess somethings got removed from 1 of the two places referenced.

Where would I check in my log files for what happened.
Or, could it be an environment variable thing?
Or, as I have all files cache could I reinstall the terminals with pacman locally and perhaps fix?

weird! yet somehow cool and interesting.
um, I DO need to get this working again.
Amazing how much I miss terminal programs and all I'm now starting to use them for.

THANK YOU!!!!!! um, help?!!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-18 23:43:02)

rson451 · 2009-03-16 17:52:23

Have you been playing with your inittab? If so, you may have deleted the /dev/pts line in that file, which may cause this. Since I don't have access to any of my arch installs right now, here's a quote from the QDB that has the line you need (if this is indeed your problem):

< nick237> hello
< nick237> i can't seem to run a terminal as a normal user
< nick237> i rebooted, and then none of my terminals worked
< nick237> like, xterm and urxvt would refuse to open
< joyfulgirl> nick237: Do you have /dev/pts in your fstab?
< nick237> ah, i might have deleted that
< joyfulgirl> nick237: there's your problem. You want the line `none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0'

Last edited by rson451 (2009-03-16 17:53:20)

yvonney · 2009-03-16 17:59:36

thanks!

There's nothing about that in my inittab in /etc
I did see this in fstab
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0

Sorry this is such a weak knowledge spot for me when I say:
I use an .xinitrc.

Should I try something in my inittab?

Wondering if it could be a permissions thing from some files IN my root folder. [running as root]

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 18:05:42)

Runiq · 2009-03-16 18:11:27

It is normal for both urxvt and xterm to say "Can't open display" when started from console - they are, after all, programs that are supposed to be run under X.

Your log files are in /var/log. Try errors.log or Xorg.0.log.

Other than that, I can't add much to solve the issue...

yvonney · 2009-03-16 18:16:48

GOOD to know! I wasn't sure.

I would like to be able to show you what I get when I go: cntl-alt-backspace

I try to load xterm and also urxvt.
Then I do a cntl-alt-backspace

and there's lots there of interest.

DO I have ot write it down manaully.

Or, can I startx again and find info in logs?

dmesg doesn't seem to have it.

thank you!!!!!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 18:30:45)

yvonney · 2009-03-16 18:46:38

Don't know if this is relevant or if it has been cause by my playing around with permissions etc.

I'm now getting a boot message that dev/pts does not exist ..... something like that... though for sure dev pts

So.... /etc/fstab has always had the suual line in it
And /etc/inittab has always NOT had that usual line it it....

I THINK as far as I can tell the inittab never had anything about pts

This IS in the fstab:
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0

so WHY the boot message? permissions I mucked around with on something?

I would LOVE to know if this a permissions thing. OR what I should do with inittab or fstab...

everything seems to run except the terminals.

ALSO: after a cntl-alt-backspace I get similar to this:

fatal IO error 11 display not available
Urxvt X connection to 0:0 broken

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 19:02:46)

rson451 · 2009-03-16 19:10:53

Yeah I mistyped there, I meant fstab for sure. I even looked it up before posting and still typed the wrong thing. Sorry about that.

yvonney · 2009-03-16 19:21:10

hehehe yes, I know that one. Anyways, Great tip actually it appears.

----------- mount point: mount point /dev/pts does not exist -------------

SO: whether it's the cause of xterm and urxvt not being able to 'connect' I don't know..

though I DO have the boot error still.

mount point: mount point /dev/pts does not exist

Something like that.... don't know how to reference the boot messages from the logs.

QUESTION:
SO: did I muck things up trying to change permissions etc.
OR, is this really something to fix so I can get terminals connecting again.

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 19:34:43)

yvonney · 2009-03-16 19:32:32

AND: I'm now thinking I have to recreate the mount point for /dev/pts as there's no pts folder in /dev

So... how would I do that exactly IF I can't bring up a terminal.
ACTUALLY: I'm not up on what the command would be anyways...!!

OR, maybe there's a way to fix?

The line is on my fstab of course though, it's not mounting... as, mount point doesn't exist anymore?

hmmm,,,

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 19:35:20)

ataraxia · 2009-03-16 19:38:28

/dev/pts mount point is supposed to be created by udev. Possibly you should reinstall the udev package.

Can you log in on console instead of a terminal to be able to use a shell?

yvonney · 2009-03-16 20:02:15

I type:

ctlr-alt- F1 ??? console?

anyways... it hangs for a bit then if I do a ctrl-c I get

xinit unexpected signal 2
and some stuff about urxvt

sheesh.... ideas welcomed

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-16 20:49:09)

yvonney · 2009-03-16 22:08:16

UPDATE COMMENT: Have now reinstalled - have new idea which makes this problem a benefit ... thanks everyone!

THIS seems to be relevant: could be udev weirdness indeed.... more likely ME though.... hehehe

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … bug/321927

ALSO: most interesting:
http://webpages.charter.net/decibelshel … rimer.html
"" WARNING: Unable to open an initial console. It is because there is no /dev/console and /dev/null. What is happening is that /dev/console is needed before udev is populating the /dev folder.""

Seems that /dev/pts amy not be need in fstab in some systems?

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NEED IDEA FOR GETTING A CONSOLE RUNNING!

I can't do anything ....can I? without a console on this...

----
Can anyone tell me how to create the mount point for the now missing

/dev/pts

The correct line IS in my fstab though there's no folder called pts in /dev AND I get the error in the boot sequence that the mount point does not exist.

I can't do anything cause I can't get xterm or urxvt up.

Need guru tip.
Thanks!

UPDATE COMMENT: Have now reinstalled - have new idea which makes this problem a benefit ... thanks everyone!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 01:54:55)

Knute · 2009-03-17 02:33:23

I've had that happen to me before. It ended up being that during a recompile of my kernel I turned off the unix98_ptys. Apparently that needs to be built in so that they terms can connect correctly.

HTH

yvonney · 2009-03-17 09:05:14

thanks Knute!

I'm on to crazy fun and um, challenges installing to older ext usb drive

i'll keep your tip on mind.... great!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 09:05:31)

yvonney · 2009-03-18 22:10:02

FIX: even though fstab was correct, from console, as I couldn't run any terms I did:

mkdir /dev/pts

then

mount /dev/pts

Will see if this stick after a reboot though happy to have found what's up.

CLUES: complaining of not enough _pty when doing ctrl-alt-bspace
AND
Console out put said: mount point /dev/pts does not exist

the FSTAB was fine though.

TURNS out that UPON a couple of reboot it DOES remember the mount point!!
And wow it's been a great week of nice lessons and new concepts all because of a few probs. cool! really!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-18 23:42:31)

AskApache · 2011-04-14 03:06:56

The key thing is probably that udev is involved. This happened to me when I had to shutdown my machine improperly due to my X freezing up. So I think it was caused because of the shutdown occurring while X was running.

First I tried reinstalling udev but didn't work, so I just booted into runlevel 1 init as root
$ init 1

and then did a mount -a which fixed the problem.

I think somehow those devs weren't being created because of the way udev does things to maintain the same stuff between boots.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-16 17:46:13

[SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#2 2009-03-16 17:52:23

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#3 2009-03-16 17:59:36

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#4 2009-03-16 18:11:27

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#5 2009-03-16 18:16:48

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#6 2009-03-16 18:46:38

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#7 2009-03-16 19:10:53

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#8 2009-03-16 19:21:10

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#9 2009-03-16 19:32:32

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#10 2009-03-16 19:38:28

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#11 2009-03-16 20:02:15

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#12 2009-03-16 22:08:16

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#13 2009-03-17 02:33:23

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#14 2009-03-17 09:05:14

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#15 2009-03-18 22:10:02

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

#16 2011-04-14 03:06:56

Re: [SOLVED] Everything runs EXCEPT xterm and urxvt - what did I break?

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