Terminal freezes after I exit any dektop environment-UNSLVD!

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

NOTE: We still have three people in this thread with unsolved problems. We need help here!

Of course, by "any" I mean KDE or Fluxbox, which are all I have installed

If I logout of KDE, or go to Exit on Fluxbox' main menu, instead of a nice KDM login screen, I get black with a non-blinking white cursor at the top-left.

The mouse is non-existant, Ctrl-Alt-Fx and Ctrl-Alt-Backspace do nothing - in fact the only thing my machine responds to is Ctrl-Alt-Delete, which (eventually) reboots it.

However, this isn't quite what it seems - I can log in across the network through SSH and my box behaves perfectly normally. Sometimes I can even say "/etc/init.d/xdm restart" through SSH and the problem is fixed. (Stopping XDM doesn't seem to work, though.)

However, going downstairs, turning the slow computer on, waiting for it to boot and then logging in is a pain, so I'd like to make the problem go away altogether.

Does anybody know why it occurs, and if there's a way around it? I've tried both the nv and nvidia drivers, but both behave the same way.

Thanks

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rhetoric · Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 10:02 pm Post subject:

So......are you by chance running an ATI graphics card? I had the same problem a while back and I seem to recall that the answer was a matter of not using the radeonfb framebuffer and instead using either the vesafb or vesa-tng. If this doens't work, do some searching on the forums because I believe I've seen the answer to this one.

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

No, no no - I'm not that foolish (either to use the wrong driver or to buy a Radeon for a Linux box in the first place!)

It's an nVidia GeForce 6600GT, as stated in my sig.

I tried searching before I posted, but I couldn't find anything. I think I used the keywords "X logout freeze".

Hmm, re-thinking that and replacing "X" with "Xorg" throws up these interesting threads:
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-389433.html
https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-432881.html

...the second of which linked here:
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problems_with_fglrx#Hardlock_on_X_logout

They all relate to the ATI drivers, as you said, but I've added "TerminateServer=true" to my /usr/kde/3.5/share/config/kdm/kdmrc file anyway, and I'm about to log out to see what happens.

Watch this space!

[edit:]
Ah, that seems to have worked. Yay! So the problem is lo longer limited to fglrx, apparently. But it's fixable.
If you use GDM, the config modification you need is right next to the KDM one, in that thinkwiki link.

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psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

Hi, guys,

I'm having the exact same problem, but sadly your solution didn't work for me

I have a ATI Radeon 9200, I'm using ati-drivers-8.24.8 (I had to down-grade from 8.25.18 since I couldn't get those to work), my kernel is 2.6.16-gentoo-r9. I've tried editing /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and /etc/X11/gdm/factory-gdm.conf as mentioned in the thinkwiki article, both to no avail. I've also tried playing with the modules (also mentioned in the article), also to no avail.

According to fglrxinfo, everything is fine, glxgears shows ok. fps, etc.

If anyone has any ideas what to try?

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

Yeah, everything worked as normal for me, too, until the logout freeze.

I'd suggest switching to KDM just to see if it works - if it does, you know it's a GDM problem. (Obviously if it wants to install too many packages I'd understand if you didn't want to.)

I can't help you any further, except by taking the [SOLVED] out of the title - which I've now done.

Good luck!

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psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

Thanks for the idea, as well as taking the solved out of the title

I'll try KDM just to see if that changes anything. Actually, I'm thinking of also trying Entrance.

Some more info on the problem: when I first installed and configured Ati-drivers, the computer locked up when I tried rebooting directly from XFCE. If I logged out and then rebooted from GDM, it worked fine. Then I tried the newer version of the ati-drivers which I couldn't get working. I switched back to the 8.24.8 version, settup everything back to the way it was, and that's when the trouble started.

Also, when I go to restart, logout, or just ctrl-alt-backspace, first x stops (the screen goes totaly black, as if it was turned off or didn't get any signal) and after a second or two the screen changes shades, like it turned back on and was just showing everything black (I hope this makes sense). On the ati-drivers wiki page, one suggestion is to add /Option "ForceMonitors" "notv"/ to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, which I tried. Doesn't change anything, though

psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

Ok, it's definitely not a GDM problem. I've tried entrance and the same thing happens. Interesting to note that if I have a terminal open and reboot directly from that, I'm left with the desktop wallpaper instead of a black screen. Regardless, it is frozen.

I'm sure this is related to the ati-drivers, or possibly some x server setting, but I'm out of ideas on what to try next

Ben2040 · Guru Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 445 Location: UK

Hi

I'm having a similar (kinda) problem, where leaving any Ctrl+Alt+F1-7 terminal long enough to blank the screen results in the screen never being able to turn back on - however the computer is still working perfectly, I just can't 'see' it (eg. SSH works, I can move through the virtual terminals correctly, I can tell because number 1 always has the number lock on, the rest do not

, and if the box was compiling I can see/hear the hard disk etc working...)

It's as if the graphics card won't send the signal to the monitor, which turns off stating there is no input signal (eg. the PC is off).

Ben

psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

Ah, there's an idea - my graphics card has two DVI outputs, only one of which I use. If I connect my screen to the wrong one I get the exact same behaviour as you described. If you have two ports, maybe try switching your monitor cable to the other one? (Although obviously this'd be an ugly workaround if it works at all.)
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psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

/crawls behind computer to check graphics card/

Nope, only one output, though it could be that the driver is trying to send the output to a non-existing port, or a non-existing graphics card?

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

Sorry, psic - I was talking to Ben2040 there :wink:

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Ben2040 · Guru Joined: 07 May 2003 Posts: 445 Location: UK

psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

cyblord · Guru Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 424

could this help?

psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

DAharon · Apprentice Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

I'm currently experiencing the same problem. It came about when I changed to a different monitor I was recently given. I've already updated my xorg.conf to the new H/V settings for the "new" monitor.
Everything seems normal during boot and and I can log into KDE/Fluxbox/etc fine. But if I try to alt-F1 I just get a blank screen. If I try to logout of the window manager I get a blank screen. No way out but to reboot.
I have considered that this might be an Nvidia driver problem, since I have my xorg setup to also output to the TV through S-Video, but I haven't had a chance to try other drivers because the phone company is dicking with my internet service. I believe I'm using 7667 right now. Anyone else out there try different drivers?

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

OK, 3 things, DAharon:

Have you tried again with your old screen? If it still works then the problem is either with your new screen or with your xorg.conf.
Set SSH to start at boot:

Code:

# emerge -avt net-misc/openssh
# rc-update add ssh default
Then try to login to your box across the network when it appears to freeze up. (You can ignore this step if you have no home network)
You obviously have Internet access from somewhere, in order to post here. Use it to download the nvidia drivers manually, save them to a Flash drive, and stick them in your Portage tree when you get home.

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psic · n00b Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 63 Location: Slovenia

DAharon, have you solved the problem yet?

I was going through /var/log/Xorg.0.log and came up to two interesting things, the first:

DAharon · Apprentice Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

My problem was solved. Or more accurately, it just doesn't exist anymore. I turned my computer on yesterday and found that it now works as it should, just like my previous monitor. Except that this one is DPMS compatible while the old one wasn't.
Sorry. I hate it too when others say "it just fixed itself."

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

Could be DPMS settings, then... I'm pretty knackered (2:30am where I am) so I won't look it up now, but Google or have a look on gentoo-wiki for DPMS-disabling directives in xorg.conf.
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DAharon · Apprentice Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

I didn't have any DPMS options defined in my xorg.conf, although I do now that it works as it should. I honestly didn't change anything between it working and not working.

Unless ... and this just popped in my head just now ... when I originally changed the xorg.conf, the computer blanked and I had to hard reboot. Maybe it didn't actually write the file before I rebooted? I'm using ReiserFS. Meh, not sure. Could be.

Napalm Llama · Guru Joined: 04 Jun 2005 Posts: 533 Location: Cardiff, UK

Maybe you were restarting Xorg in a way that didn't cause it to reload the config file. Who knows?

It would be helpful if you posted the DPMS directives that appeared in your xorg.conf file, though - for the benefit of others with the same problem as you.
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DAharon · Apprentice Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 155

I had zero DPMS options in there originally, since my original monitor was not DPMS compatible. I believe that xorg defaults to DPMS enabled if not otherwise specified in the config.
Initially, all I changed in xorg.conf was the vertical and horizontal sync ranges to accomodate the new monitor. After it started working as it should, I just added the OffTime option under the Monitor section.
Option "OffTime" "<time in minutes>"

teva24 · n00b Joined: 06 May 2004 Posts: 23

I have the exact same problem, x runs fine, acceleration and everything. But if i exit X the pc crashes and i have to power cycle it.

I found the soltion for me was to make the AGPGART a module as well as the chipset agp driver (chipset driver is very important). I then edited my startup scripts to autoload the intel_agp module first (if it's loaded after the ati module attaches it has the crash issue)

my lsmod shows: