Problem escaping the X-server

jkcunningham · Posted: Wed May 21, 2003 5:05 pm Post subject: Problem escaping the X-server

I'm in the process of setting up a second Gentoo system. I emerged X and fluxbox; installed the nvidia drivers (fresh off their site) and configured /etc/X11/XF86Config successfully - in the sense that when I launched X it came up in fluxbox which seemed to work fine. I can exit fluxbox through their menu, but if I try to exit by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, it hangs with a black screen and never returns to runlevel 3. In fact, it hangs so bad I can't even Ctrl-Alt-Fn to a different console. I have to physically reboot the computer.

Any idea what's going on here? It probably indicates I don't have something set up right, but I can't find anything in the log or anywhere else to indicate what that might be. Any ideas on how to go about troubleshooting this?

-Jeff

revmoo · n00b Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 32

Do you have a framebuffer console?

I know nvidia drivers have problems with framebuffer consoles, so that might be your problem.
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jkcunningham · Posted: Wed May 21, 2003 5:14 pm Post subject:

I don't know if I have a framebuffer console. How do I tell?
-Jeff

cchapman · Guru Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 440 Location: Fremont, NE

is there a penguin or something in the upper left corner when you see all the kernel stuff go by?

jkcunningham · Posted: Wed May 21, 2003 6:12 pm Post subject:

No - no background image whatever.

cchapman · Guru Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 440 Location: Fremont, NE

Did you enable VESA support in your kernel?
Also are you adding the correct settings to grub or lilo to us framebuffer?

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=49036&highlight=grub+framebuffer

jkcunningham · Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 12:09 am Post subject:

I will check on the vesa and grub settings this evening. I have read the link you suggested (already) and can see a few things to try.

But there is something I don't understand about the use of a framebuffer. I thought a framebuffer was used for adding graphic images to virtual consoles in runmode 3. Prior to installing the nvidia closed source drivers (-kernel and -glx) my virtual consoles worked. And I haven't changed anything else in the kernel or otherwise. Is there a default framebuffer managed by the kernel to handle the virtual consoles that has been messed up by the substitution of the nvidia drivers?

I don't mind setting one up, if that's what it takes for the nvidia drivers to co-exist with this hardware. Its not clear to me that that is the case.

-Jeff

cchapman · Guru Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 440 Location: Fremont, NE

No. I have both of them working as we speak

jkcunningham · Posted: Thu May 22, 2003 6:20 pm Post subject:

I succeeded at getting the framebuffer working last night (with splash screen and everything). And I can switch between VC's. And I can exit Fluxbox using its "log out" menu operation. But if I try to Ctrl-Alt-Backspace out of Fluxbox, the keyboard, screen, mouse (and for all I can tell, cpu) are hung and I have to reboot manually. I haven't set up SSH on this yet, so I couldn't try remote access. That's the next step.

I know this topic has been discussed, and I think I've read all of it. I'm not sure how to go about solving this. I'm thinking of tossing the nvidia closed source drivers and starting over again with the XFree86 ones (emerge nvidia-kernel nvidia-glx).

I didn't used to have this problem.

Regards,
Jeff