Weird X-Windows/KDE Problem

[ajmikula]

Okay, so I just installed Debian on my Sony VAIO laptop, which is about a year and a half old...P4 2.66 GHz, ATI Radeon Mobility 9200 (? something close to that), 512MB RAM.

Everything works fine until I start up X-windows (KDE) - I get a screen with a pretty blue background and the little KDE display comes up with "Loading Peripherals" etc...then it pops me back to the terminal, with this error message right after it says it loads up the mice (USB mouse and touchpad):

Fatal server error:
Caught signal 4. Server aborting

...what's up? Anyone else have this problem?

Thanks!

Andy

EDIT: Note that this *only* happens with KDE, Gnome etc. work fine.

[EnigmaOne]

OK. You might want to start out with a search -> here, (http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=100&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Caught+signal+4.+Server+aborting&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=images) then take a look at "man 7 signal".

Now, which release of Deb did you install, and what versions of XFree86 and KDE are you dealing with?

You might try:
apt-get update
apt-get install hotplug
and then unplug the mouse and plug it back in.


So far that seems to be the only mention I see that might pertain to your situation...but I really haven't been searching on the subject much.
[edit]

I did see something else that might indicate that portions of KDE were not installed at all, or were imroperly installed. If that's the case, do:
apt-get install synaptic
and refresh the repository lists. Wander through the KDE section to see if it looks like anything is missing.

You might also try:
apt-get install kde
[another edit]

It also appears that the video card should be configured as "vesa" instead of "ati" and:
http://panuganty.tripod.com/debiantips/mouse.htm
might help, a la:
"How do I add a USB mouse and a touch pad like GlidePoint, in gpm?

gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t imps2 -M -m /dev/psaux -t ps2 -R imps2"

Further reading makes it look like you may have to get a PS/2-USB adapter and change the mouse protocol to "IMPS/2".

HTH