Big X trouble!!!

[Ice9]

Since today I can't boot my RH anymore
Bootup is normal until the nVidia splash screen appears, it stays there for 5-10 seconds and then the screen turns black for a couple of seconds, then re-splash screen/black screen, etc, etc ...

Server output reads:

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Could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list

Fatal server error
could not open default font 'fixed'


I tried booting another kernel and resetting my nVidia XF86Config but the result is the same.

Anybody got an easy fix for this or is this the time for me to finally install Libranet?



Update:
I found out that most probably the problem is related to my font server not starting.
so I did
# /etc/init.d/xfs status
and I got
xfs dead but pid file exists

I did
# /etc/init.d/xfs start
it gave me an [OK]
Tried to startx to no avail
Apparently, even if XFS appears to start it remains dead with a pid file that exists.

I also looked in /tmp to see if there were any big files which made it impossible for xfs to write to /tmp, apparently nothing in there, just a bunch of ssh-XX3vb dirs (weird because ssh is disabled on this box!).

I'll try to Google some more.

[Tux]

Try starting xfs yourself with 'xfs -daemon' see if there is any error output.

[Ice9]

Try starting xfs yourself with 'xfs -daemon' see if there is any error output.

Hmm, didn't I start xfs by doing "/etc/init.d/xfs start"?
Ok, I'm gonna try "xfs -daemon" and see what that gives me.

[Membrax]

Anyway, what I'd give you as piece of advice is t fix that quick !
This issue seems to be a big one.

[Tux]

If push comes to shove he can just turn xfs off completely and add FontPath entries to his XF86Config, fortunately xfs is not a nessesity although it would be nice to solve this problem rather than cheat and sidestep it

[Ice9]

Got xfs running.
When I startx as root, the gnome desktop loads.
I'm using kde so I do a "switchdesk kde" restart x and then I get "lost connection with the server"
When I startx with my user ID I get:

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cat. /home/yc/.Xauthority : Permission denied
mkdtemp : private socket dir : Permission denied

xauth : error in locking authority file /home/yc/.Xauthority


I tried to reboot, I see xfs is loading ok but no I'm caught in the loop between the nvidia splash screen and the black screen again

[Void Main]

I assume your username is "yc". Delete (or rename) your /home/yc/.Xauthority to something else and try again.

[ZiaTioN]

It is possible that you are out of hard disk. Check that if you are out of ideas.

[Ice9]

I deleted the .Xauthority file but still nothing, still in that damn loop.

The lack of space on the HDD is a possibility (although I doubt it) but how would I go and check that from a terminal?

Update: I deleted a bunch of files from /var/log
like wtmp, bootlog.4, maillog.4, etc..
I didn't touch the recent logs though.

Nothing changed, still no go after the nvidia splash screen, so I guess space wasn't an issue.

[ZiaTioN]

You can use the "df" command from cli.

[root@ToughGuy root]# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/hda3 36G 3.1G 31G 9% /
/dev/hda1 99M 9.0M 85M 10% /boot
none 251M 0 251M 0% /dev/shm

the "-h" is for human interface or basically puts the results in a form that is easily readable. You can spicify certain partitions or directories or even file I believe with other arguments.

check out the man pages for df for more specific queries.

The removal or cleanup of old files will only work if you remove enough files to cover the needes space for your X server to run. If you remove 10 k worth of data and your X server needs 50k then it still will not work, this is true.

I do not know exactly how much space your xserver needs but it sounds like this is your problem if none of the other solutions work.

It has to be either disk space or your xfs not running. If your font server is running then disk space is probably the culprit.

[Ice9]

The partition which is the most full is / and it's only 37%, so this clears the space issue.

I have to leave now, I guess I will have to troubleshoot some more tomorrow
Anyway, thanks for the input so far guys, and if you have any other ideas don't hesitate

[Void Main]

Hmmm, have you tried an ID other than yours and roots? If you don't have another account, create one and see if X works under that new account. If it does then that narrows the problem down to just your ID and probably a config file in your home directory.

[Ice9]

I added another user and tried to startx, same problem.
I read somewhere that some guy had a similar issue on Debian and he reinstalled xfs so next thing I tried was:

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# apt-get install --reinstall xfs


And I got "Could not find package xfs"



I'm starting to get desperate, I'm really not looking forward to logging in with Knoppix, burn all my personal files on cd and then reinstall!!

Edit: I just ran xf86config to make sure there was nothing wrong with XF86Config and the result is still the same.

Edit2: I did the following

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# fslsfonts -server unix/:7100 -ll -fn fixed


And I got "Font server cannot be accessed".

[Void Main]

The package is called "XFree86-xfs". Also, it appears that your font server is still not running. You can check this with "ps auxw | grep xfs". You can check to see why it is failing with:

# grep xfs /var/log/messages | tail -20

I remember you changing your /etc/hosts file to try and fix the lpd file. I'll bet this problem cropped up at the same time. My guess is you will find a typo in there somewhere. What else might have been changed from the last successful startup of X? The only other thing I can think of is incorrect permissions on the /tmp/.X11-unix directory or the socket in that directory. You also might find an indication of your problem in /var/log/XFree86.0.log. I hope you kept a copy of your /etc/X11/XF86Config prior to running the X configuration utility since you know that original one did work. If you start changing things like that you can start chasing your tail by creating new reasons for X not to start.

[Ice9]

I kept a backup of my nvidia XF86Config yes.
The only differences with the stock one would be
driver nv
load dri
and something with glx if I remember it right

I'm gonna take a look at my /etc/hosts file but I don't think this will be the cause of my trouble because the only thing I changed in there is my hostname and I think I have rebooted succesfully since then.

I'll check it anyway together with /var/log/messages and post an update.

Thanks.