New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

egan · 2010-01-07 02:11:02

I have to migrate to a new hard drive, and am doing a new install of Arch. I installed from net to have up-to-date packages...

I installed X and what I think are the necessary packages, namely:
ati-dri, libgl, mesa, xf86-input-evdev, xf86-input-synaptics, xf86-video-ati, xorg, hal, and dbus

I start hal with /etc/rc.d/hal start and do a startx but it replies:
error setting MTRR (base = 0xc0000000, size = 0x04000000, type = 1) Inappopriate ioctl for device (25)

I am really stressing out because I need this new hard drive up and running like the old one, so I may be missing something major. Please, please help me get the bottom of this! Configuring xorg in my previous two installs for this computer have been a breeze but this time is killing me.

EDIT:
Okay so the culprit was really stupid and quite annoying! Apparently a default .xinitrc was placed in my home directory. Removing it allowed me to test xorg by having twm load. For some reason I wasn't expecting a default file to placed by Arch of all distros. GRR... got a bit frantic for no reason. I will probably add a note to the wiki so no one else hits this snag.

Last edited by egan (2010-01-07 03:58:32)

ralvez · 2010-01-07 02:25:20

You say that when you startx an error pops up. Now, the question is, did you add a configuration file for x in /etc/X11/xorg.conf?

R.

egan · 2010-01-07 02:30:28

ralvez wrote:

You say that when you startx an error pops up. Now, the question is, did you add a configuration file for x in /etc/X11/xorg.conf?
R.

I have never had to add a configuration file before. I use hal.

Thanks for the reply.

ralvez · 2010-01-07 02:36:24

Perhaps I do not understand what you are doing but I would expect that if you want to use X in a graphical mode you need xorg.conf be it that you use hal to create it for you or you create it by other means.

I know that if I use KDE I can run it without an X configuration file these days but I'm not sure if that is the same for plain old X.

R.

Edit: This is what I was able to find:

Starting with version 7.4, Xorg can use HAL to autodetect keyboards and mice. The sysutils/hal and devel/dbus ports are installed as dependencies of x11/xorg, but must be enabled by the following entries in the /etc/rc.conf file:

hald_enable="YES"
dbus_enable="YES"

Edit 2: Also notice this:

The automatic configuration may fail to work with some hardware, or may not set things up quite as desired. In these cases, manual configuration will be necessary.

Last edited by ralvez (2010-01-07 02:42:01)

egan · 2010-01-07 02:47:33

The thing is, the same versions of the software and the same configuration worked on the same computer on a different hard drive. As far as I know everything is the same.

I thought the migration would be easy, but the Xorg is killing me. Right now the old hard drive still works and that is where I am working from, but I really need to get the new one working!

ralvez · 2010-01-07 02:52:56

Well then ... check you old HD for /etc/X11/xorg.conf if exists then copy it over to the new HDD and give it a try.

R

egan · 2010-01-07 02:54:58

ralvez wrote:

Well then ... check you old HD for /etc/X11/xorg.conf if exists then copy it over to the new HDD and give it a try.
R

It doesn't. I never used an xorg.conf. I suppose I will try using one on the new installation for the time being, if just to move forward, but I need to get to the bottom of this.

perbh · 2010-01-07 16:16:02

boot from a live cd, then mount your partitions as (say) /from /to and then

(cd /from && tar cf - .) | (cd /to && tar xvpf -)

Obviously - if you have more than the one partition for the root filesystem, you need to do it for each partition ...
Then swap your disks - and that's it!

tar is a lot nicer than a 'dd' because you do not need the same size of disk and/or partitions
And of course - you need to install grub from the live-cd - but that should be a no-brainer ...

Last edited by perbh (2010-01-07 16:18:01)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-07 02:11:02

New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#2 2010-01-07 02:25:20

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#3 2010-01-07 02:30:28

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#4 2010-01-07 02:36:24

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#5 2010-01-07 02:47:33

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#6 2010-01-07 02:52:56

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#7 2010-01-07 02:54:58

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

#8 2010-01-07 16:16:02

Re: New Install -- X Won't Work [SOLVED]

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