X won't start on fresh Mandrake 10.0

[RealBlackStuff]

I finally took the plunge and installed the latest Mandrake 10.0 Official (3 CDs) on a spare PC.
It has Kernel 2.6.3-7mdk on an I686/tty1 if that means anything.
Asus P2L97-S (SCSII)mobo with PII-300 and 128MB memory, Matrox Milennium G200 8MB, and a 10GB harddisk.

During install, I did not (yet) configure the network card (Interface eth0 failed) and the soundcard (SoundBlaster AWE64 Value, ISA) was not found/recognised.

Linux is the only OS and was allowed to use the whole HD during install.
I can log in with my Username (being the only user, so no password installed), but when I type "startx" after the xxx]$, I get "execve failed for /etc/X11/X (errno 13)".
I have run xf86config a few times, but to no avail. The config-file in the X-directory looks fine.
I have re-installed twice, but I keep getting the same error.
Any suggestions?

PS: this is my first shot at Linux, so bear with me...

 

[Didou]

Could you attach your XF86Config file so we can have a look at it ?

& also the /var/log/X*.log ( I'm not sure if Mandrake 10 uses XFree or Xorg ).

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Thanks, Didou.
I don't find any /var/log/X*.log files. The .log files that are there say "access denied"

Following is my XF86Config, with all # lines taken out:

# File generated by xf86config.

Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection
Load "type1"
Load "speedo"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "Keyboard"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "MouseManPlusPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor Sony 420GS"
HorizSync 30-96
VertRefresh 48-120
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
Driver "vga"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Matrox Millennium G200 8MB"
Driver "mga"
VideoRam 8192
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "Matrox Millennium G200 8MB"
Monitor "Monitor Sony 420GS"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen "Screen 1"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

 

[Nodsu]

"access denied" means that you are trying to look at them as a non-root user. Please log in as root and try again. The X log files should be in /var/log. Post the contents of this directory if you can.

You can also try starting X as root and trying to start plain X by running "X"

 

[RealBlackStuff]

No can find any X-files (I am not surprised, where are Mulder & Scully when you need them?)

Found the following in /var/log:
auth.log, boot.log, cron, daemons, dmesg, explanations, kernel, ksyms.0 - ksyms.6, lastlog, epr, mail, mdkkdm.log, messages (see contents below), news, samba, scrollkeeper.log, secure, security, security.log, spooler, syslog, user.log, wtmp

Found 1 dead body though: mdkkdm[943]: X server unexpectedly died, see somewhere below

Excerpts from the "Messages" file
Date, Time and Localhost taken out to save space

syslogd 1.4.1: restart.
kernel: klogd 1.4.1, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
kernel: Inspecting /boot/System.map-2.6.3-7mdk
partmon: Checking if partitions have enough free diskspace:
kernel: Loaded 29322 symbols from /boot/System.map-2.6.3-7mdk.
kernel: Symbols match kernel version 2.6.3.
kernel: No module symbols loaded - kernel modules not enabled.
kernel: Linux version 2.6.3-7mdk (nplanel@n3.mandrakesoft.com) (gcc version 3.3.2 (Mandrake Linux 10.0 3.3.2-6mdk)) #1 Wed Mar 17 15:56:42 CET 2004
kernel: 127MB LOWMEM available.
kernel: ACPI disabled because your bios is from 98 and too old
kernel: You can enable it with acpi=force
kernel: Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
kernel: Memory: 125684k/131060k available (1816k kernel code, 4832k reserved, 849k data, 272k init, 0k highmem)
kernel: BIOS EDD facility v0.13 2004-Mar-09, 1 devices found
kernel: Please report your BIOS at http://linux.dell.com/edd/results.html
kernel: Resume Machine: resuming from /dev/hda5
kernel: Resuming from device hda5
kernel: Resume Machine: This is normal swap space
kernel: md: Autodetecting RAID arrays.
kernel: md: autorun ...
kernel: md: ... autorun DONE.
kernel: RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
kernel: VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
kernel: Mounted devfs on /dev
kernel: SCSI subsystem initialized
kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 0000:00:06.0
kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 9 with 0000:00:04.2
kernel: scsi0 : Adaptec AIC7XXX EISA/VLB/PCI SCSI HBA DRIVER, Rev 6.2.36
kernel: <Adaptec aic7880 Ultra SCSI adapter>
kernel: aic7880: Ultra Wide Channel A, SCSI Id=7, 16/253 SCBs
kernel:
kernel: Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP 100 Rev: N*32
kernel: Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
kernel: Attached scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 5, lun 0
kernel: kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
kernel: EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
kernel: Mounted devfs on /dev
kernel: Freeing unused kernel memory: 272k freed
kernel: Real Time Clock Driver v1.12
kernel: drivers/usb/core/usb.c: registered new driver usbfs
kernel: drivers/usb/core/usb.c: registered new driver hub
kernel: drivers/usb/host/uhci-hcd.c: USB Universal Host Controller Interface driver v2.1
kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 9 for device 0000:00:04.2
kernel: PCI: Sharing IRQ 9 with 0000:00:06.0
kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: UHCI Host Controller
kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: irq 9, io base 0000d400
kernel: uhci_hcd 0000:00:04.2: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
kernel: hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
kernel: hub 1-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
kernel: EXT3 FS on hda1, internal journal
kernel: Adding 506008k swap on /dev/hda5. Priority:-1 extents:1
kernel: Linux agpgart interface v0.100 (c) Dave Jones
kernel: agpgart: Detected an Intel 440LX Chipset.
kernel: agpgart: Maximum main memory to use for agp memory: 94M
kernel: agpgart: AGP aperture is 64M @ 0xe4000000
kernel: kjournald starting. Commit interval 5 seconds
kernel: EXT3 FS on hda6, internal journal
kernel: EXT3-fs: mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
kernel: Supermount version 2.0.4 for kernel 2.6
kernel: 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.27
kernel: PCI: Found IRQ 10 for device 0000:00:0b.0
kernel: eth0: RealTek RTL8139 at 0xc8875000, 00:30:bd:11:2b:9e, IRQ 10
kernel: inserting floppy driver for 2.6.3-7mdk
kernel: Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
kernel: FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
kernel: hdc: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM drive, 256kB Cache, DMA
kernel: Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20
kernel: ide-floppy driver 0.99.newide
kernel: drivers/usb/core/usb.c: registered new driver hiddev
kernel: drivers/usb/core/usb.c: registered new driver hid
kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: v2.0:USB HID core driver
kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 17
kernel: eth0: link down
partmon:
rc: Starting partmon: succeeded
nfslock: rpc.lockd startup succeeded
rpc.statd[793]: Version 1.0.6 Starting
rpc.statd[793]: statd running as root. chown /var/lib/nfs/sm to choose different user
nfslock: rpc.statd startup succeeded
rc.sysinit: Setting default font (lat0-16): succeeded
rc.sysinit: Mounting proc filesystem succeeded
rc.sysinit: Mounting sysfs on /sys succeeded
devfsd: Started device management daemon v1.3.25 for /dev
rc.sysinit: Running DevFs daemon succeeded
rc.sysinit: Unmounting initrd: succeeded
rc.sysinit: Configuring kernel parameters: succeeded
date: Mon Jun 28 10:57:02 IST 2004
rc.sysinit: Setting clock (utc): Mon Jun 28 10:57:02 IST 2004 succeeded
rc.sysinit: Loading default keymap succeeded
rc.sysinit: Setting hostname localhost: succeeded
usb: Initializing USB controller (usb-uhci): succeeded
usb: Mount USB filesystem succeeded
fsck: /dev/hda1: clean, 125859/715264 files, 498903/1427769 blocks
rc.sysinit: Remounting root filesystem in read-write mode: succeeded
rc.sysinit: Activating swap partitions: succeeded
: Loading module: scsi_hostadapter
: Loading module: intel-agp
fsck: /dev/hda6: clean, 21/444416 files, 22173/887583 blocks
rc.sysinit: Mounting local filesystems: succeeded
rc.sysinit: Mounting loopback filesystems: succeeded
loadkeys: Loading /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/uk.kmap.gz
keytable: Loading keymap: uk succeeded
loadkeys: Loading /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/include/compose.latin9.inc.gz
keytable: Loading compose keys: compose.latin9.inc succeeded
keytable: succeeded
rc.sysinit: Enabling swap space: succeeded
mandrake_everytime: Starting netprofile: succeeded
init: Entering runlevel: 5
service_harddrake[558]: ### Program is starting ###
service_harddrake[558]: running: /sbin/modprobe hid
harddrake: succeeded
network: Setting network parameters: succeeded
network: Bringing up loopback interface: succeeded
ifplugd(eth0)[715]: ifplugd 0.21b initializing.
ifplugd(eth0)[715]: Using interface eth0/00:30:BD:11:2B:9E with driver <8139too> (version: 0.9.27)
ifplugd(eth0)[715]: Using detection mode: SIOCGMIIPHY
ifplugd(eth0)[715]: Initialization complete, link beat not detected.
network: Bringing up interface eth0: failed
portmap: portmap startup succeeded
random: Initializing random number generator: succeeded
xfs: xfs startup succeeded
netfs: Mounting other filesystems: succeeded
xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/drakfont (unreadable)
xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/drakfont/Type1 (unreadable)
xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/drakfont/ttf (unreadable)
xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled (unreadable)
dm: Starting display manager:
dm: Display manager startup succeeded
dm: ^[[65G
dm: [^[[1;32m
dm: OK
dm:
xfs: ignoring font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/pcf_drakfont:unscaled (unreadable)
rc: Starting dm: succeeded
atd: atd startup succeeded
xinetd: xinetd startup succeeded
loadkeys: Loading /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/i386/qwerty/uk.kmap.gz
keytable: Loading keymap: uk succeeded
mdkkdm[943]: X server unexpectedly died
loadkeys: Loading /usr/lib/kbd/keymaps/include/compose.latin9.inc.gz
keytable: Loading compose keys: compose.latin9.inc succeeded
keytable: succeeded
postfix: Starting postfix:
postfix: postalias: warning: My hostname localhost is not a fully qualified name - set myhostname or mydomain in /etc/postfix/main.cf

 

[Nodsu]

So what happens if you run X manually instead of startx? Just run "X".

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

I wouldn't be surprised if it was because of 128 MB of physical memory. Linux distributions have gotten bloated these days, especially Gnome and KDE.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

I get the same error, whether starting as root or user, and it makes no difference if I enter X or startx.

I'll "borrow" another 128MB from my daughter's PC, see if that helps. If that is the reason, then Linux has well grown beyond it's basic needs, AFAIK it should run on 32 or 64MB!

 

[Nodsu]

Linux runs fine even on 16MB. And X should run OK too.

It is the window managers that have bloated beyond common sense.

You could try updating the X packages to the latest version or installing a vanilla version of X from www.xfree86.org.

 

[Didou]

Or you can look at one of these Window Managers -> Small Window Managers : for those who do not run NASA machines

 

[RealBlackStuff]

I will re-install just once more. I know hardly anything about Linux, let alone how to update any program. This PC is not connected to my network nor can it go online, its only communication at the moment is via floppy or CD.
I am not willing to run a command-only Linux, if this X cannot be sorted out. I know enough about DOS but Unix is still beyond me.
If I can't get into any GUI, I will forsake Linux, I think.

 

[Didou]

Allthough it is a good idea to try a RedHat based distro for your first jump in Linux, RedHat distributions aren't really known to run well on "limited" hardware.

A Debian distribution is more suited for that kind of hardware but the installlation isn't quite as easy.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

A 300MHz CPU and 128MB ram and 10GB HD are not really limited. Also, the Matrox Millennium G200 that I use is supposed to be the best-supported and least problematic of all graphics cards for Linux.

This new Mandrake 10 is supposed to be an all-singing, all-dancing distro. So far it has yet to even beep at me, let alone show me anything better than multi-coloured log- or setup-files, that need to be accessed through an extremely primitive editor (vi).
As the UK Queen Vic said "we are not amused".

 

[Didou]

Like I said, the Mandrake distro (especially with a 2.6 kernel) isn't meant to be run on that kind of machine. You would be better off running a Slackware or Debian on that.

I'm hapilly running a RedHat 9 (shrike) on a K6-2 450 with 384mb of Ram. I mostly use it in text more via ssh. When I log on the machine itself, I use xfce instead of KDE/Gnome. If I had to work on it more often on it in graphical mode, I would remove RedHat & install something else as even with xfce it's not very snappy in response time.

Try reinstalling Mandrake, installing only the necessary packages. Then configure it to boot in text mode (you can always set graphical mode sa default later on). Once you've done your first boot, it would be a good idea to run urpmi xfree86 or urpmi xorg, depending on which X server is installed with that distribution (but you're gonna need an Inet access ). That will update the X server to the latest version, in case that's what giving problems.

PS. VI is quite far from being primitive. It might not be very intuitive but primitive it is not.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Today must be my lucky day, because third time around, it worked!

After reading up on the Mandrake website, I left out the option "LSB" (sounds like a drug to me), paid really good attention, et voila, everything works EXCEPT again the soundcard.

When on the Desktop, I click on Run, type in "sndconfig" w/o quotes, but nothing happens. I don't mind having no sound, but I would still like for it to work.

 

[Didou]

Try opening a command prompt & then type the following

su
*enter password*
sndconfig

 

[Nodsu]

LSB = Linux Standard Base
It is a set of "must have" programs for a unixoid system.
Mandrake setup didn't complain if you removed that?!
Really clever.