[SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

Iboga · 2013-12-08 02:05:42

Hey,

So I decided to reinstall Arch Linux after endless failed attempts to startx correctly.
I've carefully followed all the wiki instructions, documenting my progress to be sure my problem doesn't come from the initial installation.
There wasn't any problem.
Afterwards I installed alsa, xorg, mesa, then xf86-video-ati since my graphic card is a Radeon HD 6570. (lspci grep vga shows 6570/7570).
Rebooted and installed the X default environment (xorg-tvm, xorg-xclock and xterm).

And no luck. Startx still fails. Here's a picture of the screen I get, it blinks every few seconds to a "no signal" screen and back to this:

http://postimg.org/image/xdg5mwlln/full/

My mouse and keyboard are recognised though. I see my cursour and can move it; I can get back to the shell after spamming pkill X.
The graphics aren't correct there either:

http://postimg.org/image/dk41u787v/full/

(It was that way before the startx too).

The text you're seeing is a fraction of the errors in Xorg.0.log.
Here's the full log:

http://bpaste.net/show/156486

Here's only the EE part:

http://bpaste.net/show/156498

I have no xinitrc or xorg.conf files.

I have read the xorg page on the arch wiki as well as searched for common issues with Xorg.
Most of what I found was not related to my issue; I did search for my graphic card in the log, it's there.

EDIT: I should probably add that the issue was exactly the same before I reinstalled Arch. I've tried with vesa and other drivers without success.

Hardware info:
- Graphic card: AMD Radeon HD 6570
- Motherboard: 760GM-P23(FX)
- CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 945 (x86_64)
- Ethernet adapter: Realtek RTL81111/8168

I hope I didn't forget any relevant information. Did my best to follow the stickies, forum etiquette and the "how to ask questions the smart way".

Thanks,

Iboga

Last edited by Iboga (2013-12-09 18:20:03)

Iboga · 2013-12-09 02:10:38

Hi again,

I wondered if anybody could direct me to information possibly related to this? Aside from the arch wiki pages and the x.org documentation on their website.

Anything is welcome; all my searches seem to lead me back to something I've already read...

Iboga

sufur · 2013-12-09 02:16:03

I dunno maybe I missed it but which Desktop/enviroment are you trying to get up?
If you don't have a .xinitrc maybe you need to make one...

nobodys using Xwindows anymore so you must have a Desktop in mind???

Last edited by sufur (2013-12-09 02:21:29)

Trilby · 2013-12-09 02:29:06

sufur, none of that is correct. The OP is trying to run twm test as described in the wiki. No ~/.xinitrc is needed for this, and certainly no desktop is needed.

(edit: I hope I don't dissuade further contribution - I just don't want the OP going down wrong paths)

Iboga, you say you've also tried with vesa - do you get the same series of backtraces with that?

Last edited by Trilby (2013-12-09 02:49:58)

sufur · 2013-12-09 02:37:04

no my skin is thick.....too thick... but still surely he doesnt wanna end up with X
maybe he could just focus on the eventual goal maybe not I'd think that a better strategy as its ultimate...
I dunno if he wants to struggle with setting up X I guess for correctness more power to him

Iboga · 2013-12-09 09:12:52

Trilby wrote:

sufur, none of that is correct. The OP is trying to run twm test as described in the wiki. No ~/.xinitrc is needed for this, and certainly no desktop is needed.
(edit: I hope I don't dissuade further contribution - I just don't want the OP going down wrong paths)

Iboga, you say you've also tried with vesa - do you get the same series of backtraces with that?

Hello Trilby,

I didn't check that, - here's the logs after installing vesa:

The EE part:

http://bpaste.net/show/156894/

The full log:

http://bpaste.net/show/156893/

The backtraces are almost identical except for
"/usr/bin/X (doImageText+0x213) [0x43a103]
/usr/bin/X (ImageText+0x40) [0x43a7d0]"

which changes to
"/usr/bin/X (miPolyText8+0x87) [0x56d577]
/usr/bin/X (doPolyText+0x2bb) [0x439bbb]
/usr/bin/X (PolyText+0x49) [0x43a789]"

In the first few "blocks" of backtrace. I assume this is very minor.

There is however about half as much lines of errors than in the first log.

sulfur wrote:

no my skin is thick.....too thick... but still surely he doesnt wanna end up with X
maybe he could just focus on the eventual goal maybe not I'd think that a better strategy as its ultimate...
I dunno if he wants to struggle with setting up X I guess for correctness more power to him

Hello sulfur,

I did try with Cinnamon and GDM. Same grey, blinking screen.
I am not sure if I understand correctly, but I thought X was required for a desktop environment to work?
As much as I'd prefer correctness, could X be skipped?

EDIT: "make sure you have a working Xorg installation on your system" on the KDE arch wiki for example.
My goal is to have a DE indeed but I thought I should make X work first before installing one.

Thanks for the answers

Iboga

Last edited by Iboga (2013-12-09 09:23:51)

sufur · 2013-12-09 12:14:31

No you do need X. But without going thru your log entirely try a reinstall $sudo pacman -Syyu xorg.server
you can refer to wiki here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X
you probably missed a step somewhere so be precise
if in the end youre still pulling your hair out you can make a ramdisk (mkinitcpio)and add radeon to the hooks array
that last line emits from a problem I had once and it is a good idea but its probably a stretch
just go over the Xorg install and be precise. you probably missed something simple so be precise! good luck!

EDIT; actually you may need the following link most of all check it out https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Login
dont stress that creates problems remember we're all gonna die eventually and be relieved from all this (upbeat eh?)

hmmm di you install radeon ie;xf86-video-ati before attempting to run vesa??? if so backtrack a bit try removing it
via $sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-ati and make sure vesa is installed ok you may have jumped the gun....good luck!

Last edited by sufur (2013-12-09 12:39:33)

Iboga · 2013-12-09 18:19:41

sufur wrote:

No you do need X. But without going thru your log entirely try a reinstall $sudo pacman -Syyu xorg.server
you can refer to wiki here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/X
you probably missed a step somewhere so be precise
if in the end youre still pulling your hair out you can make a ramdisk (mkinitcpio)and add radeon to the hooks array
that last line emits from a problem I had once and it is a good idea but its probably a stretch
just go over the Xorg install and be precise. you probably missed something simple so be precise! good luck!
EDIT; actually you may need the following link most of all check it out https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Start_X_at_Login
dont stress that creates problems remember we're all gonna die eventually and be relieved from all this (upbeat eh?)
hmmm di you install radeon ie;xf86-video-ati before attempting to run vesa??? if so backtrack a bit try removing it
via $sudo pacman -Rs xf86-video-ati and make sure vesa is installed ok you may have jumped the gun....good luck!

Hi sufur,

After the xorg-server update the screen and logs remain the same.
Indeed I forgot to remove video-ati, thanks for that. With vesa alone, I only get 4 EEs : failed to load module glx, ati, modesetting and fbdev (none exist) and a blank "no signal" screen; no grey screen, no mouse or keyboard recognition.

Since those were the only errors, I did pacman -S xf86-video-modesetting xf68-video-fbdev (not sure where glx is). And..... Yes!! finally!
I never thought I'd be so happy over seeing my screen like this:

http://postimg.org/image/jdi5dynwt/full/

Thanks sufur and Trillby for your help

Now to fixing those bands and installing a DE...

Trilby · 2013-12-09 18:53:32

Iboga, that sounds like great diagnostic steps, but not much of a solution unless you are happy with vesa's performance. These results mean that the ati driver is causing the crash, without the ati driver vesa is successful ... but vesa is mostly used as an emergency fallback.

As for those odd bands, if you get them in both the terminal and in X, I'd have to suspect hardware issues. Do you get those same bands in a live media (arch and other OS)?

Iboga · 2013-12-09 19:34:39

Hey again Trilby,

Well if vesa is significantly inferior, I'd love to use the ati drivers. Not sure how to fix them if they're the problem though.
Should I "make a ramdisk (mkinitcpio)and add radeon to the hooks array" ?

I got the bands since the beginning with arch (even when the hardware was brand new a year ago). Otherwise on Windows, the graphics were perfect.

Last edited by Iboga (2013-12-09 19:35:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-08 02:05:42

[SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#2 2013-12-09 02:10:38

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#3 2013-12-09 02:16:03

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#4 2013-12-09 02:29:06

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#5 2013-12-09 02:37:04

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#6 2013-12-09 09:12:52

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#7 2013-12-09 12:14:31

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#8 2013-12-09 18:19:41

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#9 2013-12-09 18:53:32

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

#10 2013-12-09 19:34:39

Re: [SOLVED] Startx not working- grey screen

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