Re: Debian Sid startup problems

James Miller
2004-06-12T01:05:25Z

Thanks for your input, Ray.

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004, Ray Olszewski wrote:

> 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.

The system boots successfully after having renamed S99xdm NoS99xdm. I get
a console I can log into the system with and do things in text mode.
Having fired up Pine, I'm writing this message using the system. When I
issue startx from the command line, I get the dreaded "no signal" output
on the monitor followed by blank screen and hung system. So, it does look
like an X problem.

> 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.)

As soon as I send off this message, I'll issue startx, let the screen go
blank and system freeze, then try to telnet from another machine (I am on
a LAN and a telnet server is running).

> (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 would very much like to be able to do this. When this problem first
occured, I did a bit of web searching to see how I could make lilo do
this. That initial attempt at finding information failed: do you have any
pointers on doing this? I really should have that sort of "failsafe"
option in my lilo menu.

> 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.

I think the problem is not with usb. Nevertheless, I'll note that I
installed (apt-get install) 4 usb packages: from memory these were 1)
usb-utils; 2) hotplug; 3) usbmgr; and 4) usbview. Since installing those
had no evident effect on my attempt to make my usb flash-reader
accessible, I added a line to /etc/fstab: usbdevfs /proc/bus/usb usbdevfs
defaults 0 0 (found reference to this on the web). After rebooting and
having the problem, I accessed /etc/fstab and commented out that line, but
I was nonetheless still unable to fully boot the system as described.

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

Not by intent. Could it have been installed as a dependency for one of
the usb programs I installed?

> 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.

Again, I did not knowingly install such a thing. Whether it got installed
as a dependency of one of the other programs I installed remains a
possibility. Here goes a try at telnetting into the frozen system . . .

James

>
> 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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