Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

lardon · 2010-10-17 15:15:42

Hi all,

I've been using linux for several years now, and I like it a lot, but it's still not clear in my mind what to do when I run into kernel or Xorg problems.
When I run into a problem with a userland application, it's usually quite simple to identify the culprit or at least the apparent culprit, find the relevant bugzilla, file a bug and try to help the people in charge to fix the problem.

In contrast, the world of low-level stuff is a lot more intimidating. For example, I have had several display and supsend/hibernate problems with my laptop for more than one year now, but I still have no idea what to do about them. What can/ should I do about kernel/Xorg problems?

mir · 2010-10-18 09:03:03

What's wrong with reporting it to their bug trackers (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/, https://bugzilla.kernel.org/)?

.:B:. · 2010-10-18 09:11:48

A lot of the problems can be solved by fiddling (yes, I know, sounds amateurish ), and by community input. The real bugs should be reported upstream as mir said. Xorg has their own bug tracker as well, for example, as do the various suspend/hibernate implementations (although I think pm-utils is part of the freedesktop project).

lardon · 2010-10-18 09:13:20

The problem is that I have no idea who to report it to: the kernel? Xorg? My distribution? The authors of my graphics driver? If I knew how to debug these things a little bit (or could find someone to help me with it), I could identify the problem and submit to the corresponding bugzilla. For now I only have the symptoms...

.:B:. · 2010-10-18 09:25:33

Well, we don't see you posting those symptoms, do we?

lardon · 2010-10-18 09:44:22

I didn't want this thread to be about my specific problems, but here goes:

- Suspend fails about half of the time, the screen blanks (with a cursor blinking) and the computer just hangs. It is completely dead (REISUB doesn't work)
- Hibernate doesn't work, when I turn the computer on, it checks the filesystems and boots normally
- About 10% of the time, the login manager (currently kdm, but I had the same problem with gdm) shows with a very low resolution. Restarting xorg usually fixes the problem.

I probably have a few more that I'm forgetting at the moment.

.:B:. · 2010-10-18 16:44:52

Check your logs. First thing to do .

lardon · 2010-10-18 18:05:44

Which ones?

zenlord · 2010-10-19 06:34:41

All of them

The ones I 'visit' most frequently are:
+ /var/log/xorg.0.log (grep for 'EE' and 'WW')
+ /var/log/messages

Suspend/resume is something I have not yet tried, but I think it also logs to /var/log/messages

Arch Linux

#1 2010-10-17 15:15:42

Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#2 2010-10-18 09:03:03

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#3 2010-10-18 09:11:48

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#4 2010-10-18 09:13:20

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#5 2010-10-18 09:25:33

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#6 2010-10-18 09:44:22

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#7 2010-10-18 16:44:52

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#8 2010-10-18 18:05:44

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

#9 2010-10-19 06:34:41

Re: Solving Kernel/Xorg problems

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