Can't start "X" in newly installed Debian 3.0

[amgeex]

I just installed Debian Woody and everything went fine (I'm really happy 'bout that). But when I type:

startx

the screen goes black and then shows me the following message:

(--) Assigning device section with no busID to primary device
(EE) No device detected.

Fatal Error:
No screens found

XIO: Fatal IO error 104 (connection reset by peer) on X server ".0.0" after 0 requests
(0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.

Then it drops me back to the command prompt.

I did set my video driver to "nv" during the installation and I'm sure I configured my monitor (HP S70) properly. I think it's important to note that my video card (PNY GeForce 4 MX 420 PCI) is PCI and it's in the first PCI slot of my comp (HP Pavilion 6545c) and I think it's IRQ value is "10". Or at least that was in Windows.

Can someone enlighten me on this?

Thanks y'all ;0)

[Stuka]

Do you have an entry in your XF86Config(-4) file for the PCI location of the card? If not, do an 'lspci' and make sure you get that info in there!

[amgeex]

Humm... how exactly do I do this?

[jedthehumanoid]

you can use

less /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

to look at your config file and determine what is going on. make sure your kernel module for your vid card is loaded. i don't know if it's in there by default. try this:

modprobe nv

then

startx

if X runs then you just need to setup debian to load it at boot time.

you can use

apt-get update && apt-get install modconf
modconf

to do this rather painlessly.


another tool you may find useful is

dpkg-reconfigure xfree86-xserver

that will allow you to take another shot at configuring X the way it would have done during install.

hope this helps & good luck.

[bwkaz]

There actually is no kernel module named "nv". That's an X driver (nv_drv.o in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers).

But if you're using X's "nv" driver, then you don't need a kernel module, either, so no problem.

Do the less /etc/X11/XF86Config, and look to see whether the BusID line in your Device section (there should be one; if there isn't, X will go with the first device it finds, which would work) matches what lspci tells you the bus ID is for your video card.

[amgeex]

Thanks for the help guys. Will try right now and I'll post back with the results.
Thanks y'all ;0)

[amgeex]

Ok, I tried the following:

less /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

It has many "Input Devices" sections, in one of those it said:

identifier generic video card
driver nv

then I typed:

modprobe nv

and it didn´t work, but I suppose that´s because it isn´t a kernel module, but an X module.

Also, I tried:

dpkg-reconfigure xfree86-xserver

but it said that "xfree86-server" wasn´t completely installed. So I tried:

apt-get install xfree86-xserver

but it´s seems I got the package name wrong.

Now what?

Also, how do I do this 'Ispci' thing?
Is it just typing 'Ispci' ? Cause that didn´t work.

Thanks for all the help! ;0)

[jedthehumanoid]

Originally posted by bwkaz
There actually is no kernel module named "nv". That's an X driver (nv_drv.o in /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/drivers).

But if you're using X's "nv" driver, then you don't need a kernel module, either, so no problem.

Do the less /etc/X11/XF86Config, and look to see whether the BusID line in your Device section (there should be one; if there isn't, X will go with the first device it finds, which would work) matches what lspci tells you the bus ID is for your video card.


oops. thanks bwkaz for clerifying that for me.

if your finding that x wasn't installed all the way then try
apt-get install x-window-system

and see what that does for you. or you could try
apt-get install <whatever window manager you want> because the dependacy management should then take care of x for you.

[amgeex]

Ok. I´ll try that and I already did:

apt-get install xfce

I´ll post back tomorrow or at night, right now I´ve got to go to school to pick up my scores ´n stuff. See y'all later, thx for all the help guys.

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by amgeex
Also, how do I do this 'Ispci' thing?
Is it just typing 'Ispci' ? Cause that didn´t work. Try /usr/sbin/lspci

Or, you could use "su -" to become root before running it. But that's not needed, because lspci itself doesn't require root privileges.

[Thereisnotry]

Hi Amgeex

I had the same problem,

ok, as root restart x-configure

#dkpg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

now use the vesa driver (for geforce4 cards) and set the bit rate to 16 (not 24).

Also you might have a problem starting kde so go into gnome,do this by either setting to gdm instead of kdm or just reboot to get the login screen. If you do have a problem with kde post here and i will tell you the solution OK.

Good luck.

[amgeex]

BIG THANKS to YOU ALL. I´ve been out of my home, and right now I´m going to try the solutions you provided me with. I´ll post back.

the amgeex!

[amgeex]

Ok, I tried:

apt-get install x-window-system

and then:

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

and it worked and I set it up. The only thing I couldn´t input was my card´s BusID. So when I finished setting "X" up I did /usr/sbin/Ispci, but nothing happened. It said: "not such file or directory". Then I did less /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, but I didn´t see any line with my card´s BusID.

How can I get my card´s BusID?

IT BOOTED INTO X!!!!!
But I want it to boot into XFce directly, how can I do this?

[jedthehumanoid]

/usr/sbin/lspci

your typed /usr/sbin/Ispci

ls as in list pci.

now, buy saying you want to boot directly into xfce, do your mean you want to turn on your computer and have it go straight to xfce via your login? if, so, you can set up debian to use gdm instead of xdm and there should be a setting in the configuration to have it log you in automatically on startup.
by doing
apt-get install gdm

you will be given a a dialog during install that will ask you what login manager you want to use and at that point you would switch it to gdm. then after starting gdm you look for the confguration dialog. memory is kind of foggy on it and i'm not at linux box at the moment 'cause I'm at work, but configuring gdm should be pretty self explanitory.....

glad to hear it's working out for you!!!

[amgeex]

Thanks for that. I feel so good. I installed Debian and I'm nearly a noob!! Haha!! That proves that Debian can be as easy to install as Mandrake and it's a lot more custumizable. I just installed Mozilla and posting from my Debian Window Maker desktop.
I'll try gdm in a while. Just want to change the backgroud 'n stuff, ya know.

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

;0)