Re: Debian Sid startup problems

[Ray Olszewski <ray@comarre.com>]

The first thing you need to pin down is whether this is an X problem or 
some sort of USB problem (possibly one involving a kernel module).

To do that, see if you can boot successfully to a command prompt. The 
simplest way to do that is to use your emergency procedure to get access to 
the hard disk, then rename the file /etc/rc2.d/S99xdm to something that 
will not execute (I usually change it to No99xdm). Then see if the system 
will boot/init successfully.

If it does, then your problem is with X, and we need to explore that more 
closely.

If not, then your problem is probably with the recent changes you made, and 
we need to examine them more closely.

(Another option is to see if you can telnet or ssh to the system after it 
boots/inits but apparently "hangs". This could work if the problem is just 
an unusually nasty console error, but not if it is a kernel problem. Also, 
I don't know if your system is on a LAN and runs the needed daemons for 
these connections.)

(Another option, if your lilo setup permits it, is to boot into single-user 
mode. This will not run the rc2 scripts so will not start xdm.)

I cannot find any Sid package with the name "usbitem" or (if I check "usb") 
anything close to it, so I suspect another paraphrase. If so, and if the 
problem seems to be with usb, please be specific about which usb packages 
you've installed.

In partlcular, since you quote log output referencing keyboard problems, 
might you have installed (for example) "console-keymaps-usb"?

Or have you installed any "usb-modules-*" package ... these install kernel 
modules that could cause problems ... a kernel has no real protection 
against a module bug, since modules when run become part of the kernel.

At 09:01 PM 6/11/2004 +0000, James Miller wrote:
>I've somehow managed to foul up my Debian system such that it won't "go 
>graphical" and then somehow freezes up.  Since I can't see any screen 
>output, I can't tell very well what's going on.  I'm sort of mystified as 
>to how and why this happened: I recently installed some USB stuff (apt-get 
>install usbitem), and I just can't understand how that would foul up my 
>display.  I haven't installed any X related programs lately, nor have I 
>fiddled with any display settings.  What happens is that I boot the system 
>as normal (let lilo start the default kernel), the machine goes through 
>its bootup routine, displaying messages and then, at the stage where I 
>expect the XDM login window to appear, my monitor goes blank with a "no 
>signal" message.  Any keyboard input I've tried has no effect on the 
>machine: ctrl-alt-Fx won't get me any virtual terminals, ctrl-alt-bkspc 
>does not kill X (is it even started?) and dump me at a command prompt, and 
>ctrl-alt-del won't reboot the system.  I looked at /var/log/messages after 
>booting the system from a Knoppix disk (thank God for Klaus and co.!), and 
>the KDE it boots into looks prfectly normal (except not as fine a 
>resolution as I'd like).  Some /var/log/messages output that looks 
>significant is as follows:
>
>Jun 11 13:58:38 debian kernel: mtrr: 0xd0000000,0x2000000 overlaps 
>existing 0xd0000000,0x1000000
>Jun 11 13:58:38 debian kernel: [drm] Initialized radeon 1.9.0 20020828 on 
>minor 0
>Jun 11 13:58:38 debian kernel: mtrr: 0xd0000000,0x2000000 overlaps 
>existing 0xd0000000,0x1000000
>Jun 11 13:58:38 debian kernel: agpgart: Found an AGP 2.0 compliant device 
>at 0000:00:00.0.
>Jun 11 13:58:38 debian kernel: agpgart: Putting AGP V2 device at 
>0000:00:00.0 into 1x mode
>Jun 11 13:58:39 debian kernel: atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated 
>set 2, code 0x7a on isa0060/serio0).
>Jun 11 13:58:39 debian kernel: atkbd.c: This is an XFree86 bug. It 
>shouldn't access hardware directly.
>Jun 11 13:58:39 debian kernel: atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated 
>set 2, code 0x7a on isa0060/serio0).
>Jun 11 13:58:39 debian kernel: atkbd.c: This is an XFree86 bug. It 
>shouldn't access hardware directly.
>
>Not sure why this problem suddenly crops up, or what to do about it.  I've 
>thought of upgrading the X server as one possible solution, but don't want 
>to just take wild stabs like that.  So, I ask for input here.  Does this 
>output mean anything to anyone here?  Any suggestions on what to do about 
>it? I can provide more output from /var/log/messages if this is not the 
>relevant part.  Any help will be appreciated.  For now, when I get stuck 
>at this point in the boot process I can only power the machine off with 
>the power switch.
>
>Thanks, James


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