From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 10 23:26:29 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E71A61065670 for ; Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:26:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from johnorjudy@earthlink.net) Received: from elasmtp-banded.atl.sa.earthlink.net (elasmtp-banded.atl.sa.earthlink.net [209.86.89.70]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B3B5A8FC0C for ; Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:26:29 +0000 (UTC) DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=dk20050327; d=earthlink.net; b=hmohp5eEBiOQYzTbVNgRRdusP8nRrEtlv4Fp8I3tDA2UCTpG0VfekXQNPfyehVY5; h=Received:From:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding:Subject:Date:Message-Id:To:Mime-Version:X-Mailer:X-ELNK-Trace:X-Originating-IP; Received: from [216.244.22.97] (helo=[192.168.2.2]) by elasmtp-banded.atl.sa.earthlink.net with esmtpa (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1QVB5w-00027T-NN for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:26:29 -0400 From: John or Judy Hixson Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:26:27 -0700 Message-Id: <01E3114E-02B1-44A2-A6B6-E0AE93A95E9A@earthlink.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1084) X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084) X-ELNK-Trace: a2d49588295e3af2f8c10fa22fe64701239a348a220c260932f99ed0bbde67716ee805a99b7a934e350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c350badd9bab72f9c X-Originating-IP: 216.244.22.97 Subject: Need Help Installing and Configuring Xorg X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 23:26:30 -0000 I'm having trouble getting Xorg to run on my just recently installed = FreeBSD 7.4-RELEASE(i386) system. I'm trying to follow the procedures in = Sections 5.3 and 5.4 of the Handbook and can't seem to get "startx" to = fire up; I get a black screen when I try. Here's what I've done so far: 1. Installed Xorg from packages per 5.3. That seemed ultimately = to go OK. 2. As my Xorg is version 7.5, I next enabled hald and dbus per = 5.4.2. 3. Then as I remember, I tried to startx and ended up with a = black screen from which I could not escape. Had to manually shut off and = restart the PC. 4. Next I think I went ahead with the Xorg -configure per 5.4.2. = and ended up with an error saying that "fbdev" was missing. Don't know = what fbdev is. 5. Somewhere in the mailing list archives I found a similar = error description that solved the problem by installing fbdev from = packages or ports or can't remember where. Anyway fbdev seemed to = install OK, at least I didn't see anymore error messages to that effect. 5. When I run Xorg -configure now and then look at the = configuration file xorg.conf.new, I can't see any obvious errors but of = course I mostly don't know what I'm l;ooking at. 6. The Handbook next suggests testing the configuration and = gives instructions for a modified command for later versions of Xorg. I = found that the modified command does not work. Fortunately my screen = tells me a different command to test the server config: X -config = /root/xorg.conf.new. 7. OK, so I try the alternative test command but still end up at = a black screen from which I've found no escape. (As an aside I'd sure = like to find a more graceful way to recover from that black screen. The = procedure described in 5.4.2, Ctrl+Alt+Bksp, does not work even when = enabled for later Xorg versions. Nor does Ctrl+Alt+Fn.) I'm sure there are logs or files I could supply that would help sort out = this problem; if I knew what they were I'd send them. As I don't have = email configured of the FreeBSD machine, I'll have to manually copy = those lines. I'm so new I don't know any other way to get text off of = the machine. Here's my hardware for what it's worth: SONY Vaio Desktop, Pentium 4 = 2.0GHz, 2GB RAM, GeForce FX5200 256MB PCI Vid Card, 2x IDE HDD's, = DVD-RW, CD-ROM, FDD. I do have my mouse (Ikari Optical), keyboard = (Logitech Wireless), and montior (ASUS LCD) running through a KVM, but = they haven't had any troubles being recognized and operating after = bootup. Would appreciate anyone's suggestions. Thanks. John Hixson=20=