Arch Linux

secdroid

Member

Registered: 2009-04-11

Posts: 16

[SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

Arch newbie.  New install of Arch 2009.02 FTP i686 on test hardware that successfully runs many Linux distros (Ubuntu Intrepid & all previous, Mepis, Fedora, Puppy, SliTaz, DSL, and many more.)

Followed Install Guide and Beginner's Guide.  All is well until I get to X.

I did not install libgl because I shouldn't need 3D for this old box.  Installed xorg & mesa (not sure if needed).  Did "lspci | grep VGA" and got "VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo Banshee (rev 03)"

Copied over working xorg.conf from another distro on same box.  No video driver in xorg.conf.  Wasn't sure if correct driver was xf86-video-voodoo.  Wrong.  Tried xf86-video-tdfx.  Appeared to be correct.  Tried xterm test, got white xterm box & prompt, but kbd & mouse inoperative.  Couldn't kill X.

Removed ...tdfx and ...vesa drivers & did fresh install of ...vesa.  Ran "Xorg-configure" followed by "X -config /root/xorg.conf.new"  Still hangs and can't kill X.

Checked the Xorg.0.logs (saved from several attempts).  Keep getting

(WW) AllowEmptyInput is on, devices using drivers 'kbd' or 'mouse' will be disabled.
(WW) Disabling Mouse0
(WW) Disabling Keyboard0

Googled for - "xorg hang 'AllowEmptyInput is on'"  Found a few mentions, including one on Arch bbs, but they were very heavy going and I don't understand them.  Not having a kbd appears to be the reason I can't kill X.

One (EE) error --

(WW) Warning, couldn't open module freetype
(II) UnloadModule: "freetype"
(EE) Failed to load module "freetype" (module does not exist, 0)
(II) LoadModule: "vesa"

Can anyone suggest an approach to debugging these issues?

Last edited by secdroid (2009-04-12 18:00:25)

Teoulas

Member

From: Athens, Greece

Registered: 2009-03-21

Posts: 70

Re: [SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

Xorg server 1.5+ supports input device hotplugging (plug-n-play!). By default it uses the evdev driver for your input devices (keyboard/mouse). The hal daemon should be running and the file /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/10-keymap.fdi should be copied to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/. You can also specify any keyboard options/layouts in this file by editing it (you need to restart hal after you modify the file).

For more info: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … us_in_Arch

About the freetype module, I just ran across the same warning message in the log, after I upgraded to xorg-server 1.6. I haven't noticed anything weird with my fonts yet, though.

Last edited by Teoulas (2009-04-11 21:29:07)

göteborg-johan

Member

Registered: 2009-02-27

Posts: 36

Re: [SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

have you started hal?
sudo /etc/rc.d/hal start
i think i ran into the same issue when i first started using arch. also, generating a new xorg.conf might be to recommend.

Last edited by göteborg-johan (2009-04-11 21:27:42)

MoonSwan

Member

From: Great White North

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 881

Re: [SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

Comment out or remove the freetype line in your xorg.conf, its unnecessary and causes issues for some people.  If you search the forum for "freetype" you'll find a few threads on this.

secdroid

Member

Registered: 2009-04-11

Posts: 16

Re: [SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

Appreciate the help.  Here's what I did --

--- pacman -S xf86-input-evdev
--- pacman -S xf86-video-tdfx   #(note: re-install)
--- Added hal to DAEMONS section of rc.conf   #(note: hal starts dbus)
--- Since default is US kbd, I didn't need to do any of the config steps in "Configuration section of http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … us_in_Arch

X now started and stopped normally.  Did "Simple Baseline X Test" (xterm) successfully. 

Did pacman -S lxde and tried to start X.  Failed because fam was not running.  Added fam to DAEMONS and I now have a working LXDE.  Still needs tweaks, of course, but I'm up!

FWIW, "freetype" doesn't appear to be in xorg.conf.  Since it appears to be a non-critical "(EE)" X error, I'll pursue it later.

Suggestions for "Beginners Guide" --
--- Beginners really need pointer to http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … us_in_Arch in case of X start failures
--- LXDE section is extremely weak compared to Arch wiki resources.  Suggest replacing current Beginners Guide LXDE materials with pointers to http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/LXDE and http://wiki.lxde.org/en/Main_Page

Moderator: Please tag this thread as [SOLVED]  I would, if I knew how.

peets

Member

From: Montreal

Registered: 2007-01-11

Posts: 936

Website

Re: [SOLVED] X hang * can't kill * kbd/mouse disabled

secdroid: to mark the thread as solved, edit your first post. There you'll be able to change the title.