[SOLVED] I can't get X to run correctly after new install

Question

Hi all,
Over the last few days I have been trying to get Arch Linux installed on an old computer that I have. The only major hurdle that I have had so far has been getting wireless to work (no wired connection available here). I got that sorted out yesterday though with a bit of research
I haven't been so lucky getting X to run though. Following the Beginners' Guide, I have gotten up to the part where I have to configure and test X. This is what I have done so far:
Basically I have tried to use Xorg -configure to auto-create an Xorg.conf, which seemed to work (as in, the file got created and looked okay).
I then set up hotplugging with HAL, setting up everything as it says in the Beginner's guide.
When I ran the Xorg test with X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf, I got a black screen with no mouse or anything.
I rechecked xorg.conf to make sure the driver was correct (it's set to "radeon" which seems to be right). I also checked the horizontal and  vertical refresh are set correctly - which they were (autodetected correctly by Xorg -configure).
I then had a look through the Xorg page on the wiki, but nothing much there seemed to help.
I then decided to not use hotplugging with HAL, so I removed it from starting at startup and set up my xorg.conf to have the autoadddevices as false.
After that, I am having the exact same problem when I run the Xorg test (X -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf).
I really have no clues as to what to do now, does anyone have any tips for an Arch Linux n00b?
My graphics are provided onboard by an ATI RS480 (Radeon Xpress 200G Series). I am using the "radeon" driver, provided by the xf86-video-ati package. My screen is an LG FLATRON L246WH.
My relevant config files are:
xorg.conf xorg.conf
~/xinitrc doesn't exist for me.
/var/log/Xorg.0.log.old isn't able to be uploaded by wgetpaste for some reason... Using the verbose switch indicates that it's saving to /dev/null. I'll keep trying to work out how to get this file uploaded somewhere... it's quite long - 881 lines.
Last edited by NovaAesa (2009-08-09 04:16:51)

Answer 1

Did you miss the step to copy the skeleton .xinitrc to your home directory? Please do this. Then try starting X as a normal user, not root.
You can also try starting the Xserver without any xorg.conf file as jdiez has done. That works for many people.
To lessen your copy and paste problems, and to help you sort out the logfile, try the following two commands as a normal user in your home directory:
grep "(EE)" /var/log/Xorg.0.log > xorg_faults
grep "(WW)" /var/log/Xorg.0.log >> xorg_faults
This will locate the log lines displaying errors (EE) and then warnings (WW) and write them to the file ~/xorg_faults. Errors will be listed first. This file should be much smaller than the original Xorg.0.log.
For hot-plugging and HAL, make sure you have dbus installed.
pacman -Q dbus
If it's not there, you should install it with pacman.  HAL is supposed to start dbus, but I'm a belt and suspenders person, so I list dbus then hal in my /etc/rc.conf daemons.
The wiki also has an article on Xorg that may be of help to you.
Last edited by thisoldman (2009-08-09 03:35:31)