Can't start X server while installing

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

System reported that it coudn't start the X server, when I installed Gentoo 2006.1 to my laptop, which use a Intel 945GM Graphic Integrate Controller.
I don't know how to deal it. And may someone help me handle this problem? :?:Thanks very much!
Here are my error messeges:

mahdi1234 · Guru Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 559 Location: Being There

Can you post your Device section of Xorg.conf - or perhaps whole Xorg.conf somewhere?

cyrillic · Posted: Sat May 05, 2007 4:21 pm Post subject:

If you are getting this error when booting the LiveCD, then don't worry about it.

Just boot like this, and then you can set-up the X server properly after installing Gentoo.

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

mahdi1234 · Guru Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 559 Location: Being There

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

But what is your conclusion from the file xorg.conf, that is what you required.

mahdi1234 · Guru Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 559 Location: Being There

I though originally that your problem was on running system - as it's install CD there's not much can be done and you will have to probably go with manual install following gentoo handbook. Don't worry about that, when I installed gentoo I knew almost nothing about linux and made it using handbook in couple of hours - just print it out, it's better to have it on paper when you're unable connect to internet ;). Good luck.

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

Thanks a lot for your encouragement. I'll have a try.
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every problem, has a solution.

soccrstar · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 36

Visceral · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:55 am Post subject:

I had the same issue. It was, as I suspected it might be, that fact that I use an 8800gts series card. The xorg tries to use the "nv" driver and that won't work.

I did the following to get X and gnome started for me.

When you come to the boot option, type gentoo unionfs

the unionfs lets you make changes to files on the cd and store them in a temp space.

Upon boot, X will fail. Now, at the login prompt you want to:

cd ..
cd /etc/X11
nano xorg.conf

Scroll down to a where it mentions "nv" and replace that with "vesa"

ctrl W to write the change out.
then exit.

Now at the prompt, try startx

This worked for me, gnome started up and I could use the graphic installer.
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*Fortitudo, aequitas, fidelitas.*

dumpling_cn · n00b Joined: 05 May 2007 Posts: 25 Location: cn

Visceral,

Thanks for your advice. I have installed gentoo by text installer, but after installing X server still doen't work. So, I decided to try your mothed and install it again. Hopes that it can make effect.
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every problem, has a solution.

canabix67 · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 106

Other option, chroot install, just boot any sort of LiveCD, Ubuntu for exemple, and follow the instructions from the handbook...

Worked fine for me...

)

mahdi1234 · Guru Joined: 19 Feb 2005 Posts: 559 Location: Being There

Coldwar55 · n00b Joined: 08 May 2007 Posts: 1

I've used Gentoo a year ago or so when 2006.0 was around and there was no LiveCD/LiveDVD. I was very new to Linux in general at that time but I have a pretty in depth backround of computer hardware and filesystems. The text mode was a bit tedious and painstaking, but I got through it.

After that I started to try different Linux distributions and a few months down the road found out that Linux released the LiveCD installation which was at the time extremely buggy and impossible to install from.

After leaving that and trying other Linux distrubutions again I have found my way back to Gentoo and see that there is a LiveCD AND LiveDVD installations (2007.0).

With all that bieng said; I downloaded Gentoo last night (LiveDVD) and burned it this morning however I get to he same exact error as mahdi1234. The same exact error occurs so I do not need to repaste my error message. I noticed there was a line that needed to be changed to "vesa" but will that necessarily work if my line in the xorg.cong says that. If it says otherwise then what?

Computer Stats:
Motherboard: Giga-byte
Processor: AMD Sempron 2800+
Memory: 1024 MB DDR
Hard Drives:
(1) 160 Gig EIDE 7200 RPM Seagate (Primary master)
(1) 80 Gig EDIDE 7200 RPM Western Digital (Secondary slave)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro 256 MB AGP 8x
Other Operating systems:
Windows XP Professional on the Seagate (Primary master).

Any help would be appreciated.

-CW55

Visceral · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 9:10 pm Post subject:

Keep in mind, my problem was stemming from the video card I use. The 8800 doesnt use the default "nv" driver that xorg comes with for nvidia based cards, it uses a newer one that I haven't installed yet, so I changed it to "vesa". You can still try this if you're getting that error though and see what happens.
_________________
*Fortitudo, aequitas, fidelitas.*

Vojko · n00b Joined: 11 Aug 2006 Posts: 27