Hi everyone,

I have completely exhausted all ways trying to fix my problem. I have recently installed Gentoo base system and trying to install xorg server but encountering problems when executing 'startx':

startx error:
http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10340

I followed Xorg-server installation by-the-book and installed xf86-video-intel driver also. I then created /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and etc/X11/xorg.conf.d directory because it wasn't created automatically during xorg-server installation. I put the contents of my working xorg.conf from Calculate Linux into Gentoo's /etc/X11/xorg.conf

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10341

and re-run 'env-update' and 'source /etc/profile' - following religiously all steps from Xorg installation docs.

My video specs are as follows:

I also visited intel's Xorg website: https://01.org/linuxgraphics/downloads

Installed kernel 16.2, Mesa, Cairo - all required software.

But still same problem when using startx.

Could somebody please help me what else can be done here?

Thank you!
Victor.

Go here for more information:
http://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Xorg/Configuration

I worked off of that website from the start.

You don't seem to have the intel driver installed.

Please, post the output of emerge --info

Hi,

My apologies for slightly delayed response - had to get home to my laptop.

This is the output of 'emerge --info' command:

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10343

I have compared the 'emerge --info' information from my fully-functional Calculate installation and USE flags there have this entry:

If I set USE flags in make.conf to these parameters in my gentoo installation, do you think this will fix my problem?

Thanks.

The VIDEO_DRIVERS variable controls the parameters with which the package x11-base/xorg-drivers is emerged.

Use this command to see the current status:

This will show you what drivers are available and which ones are disabled. Post the output here if in doubt. If the driver is in VIDEO_CARDS but it hasn't been compiled yet you should see something like this:

See the '*' behind "intel", that means the USE flag has changed but it still isn't applied, and it is going to be so if you answer "yes". So, if that's the case, answer "yes" and wait for the compilation to finish. You should then be able to startx, or, at least, get a different error in your logs.

If the driver is compiled, you should be able to see it under /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/.

I have no experience with intel video drivers, but I think you should be ok nowadays with just "intel". There might be more than one problem in your configuration, but the evident one is the one I pointed, since the X log is telling you that there's no intel driver at all...

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you for the message! Unfortunately, I am still stuck with the same problem after xorg-drivers got installed. I checked package.use entry and I didn't have "X11-base/xorg-server udev" correctly specified in package.use, as per Xorg configuration documentation. My first try on virtual box installing X went extremely well and I followed the same Xorg documentation but seems like I've been careless this time.

I tried to:

and

then re-install them with corrected entry in package.use, but to no avail. I am inclined to wipe out and re-install Gentoo from scratch but it seems rather drastic measure. Is there anything else I should try? startx is still not working with the same error message.

Thanks,
Victor.

The driver is failing to load for some reason.

So, the first thing to check is whether the driver is in /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/. If it's there then the problem could be in the device detection mechanism, lacking udev support in come key component could have something to do, I am not sure.

Also, you really shouldn't need an xorg.conf these days unless you need to configure something in a non-standard way. Most (if not all) open source graphics drivers just work with the default config today.

So, things to try: first of everything, move /etc/X11/xorg.conf* somewhere else so that X does not see it, let it do the autoconfig stuff, and see if startx still fails. Check /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ and see what's in there. Also, post the output of lspci, in case you have some kind of rare unsupported video card which would be strange if you have been using Linux before in that same machine.

Double check that you have USE="udev", and also that you DO NOT HAVE USE="minimal" or some other crazy thing like that. Then emerge -auDvN @world, to see if there're any USE updates pending. If there are, apply them. Note that USE="minimal" translates to regular English as "not-working-at-all-unless-you-truly-know-what-you-are-doing".

1 members found this post helpful.

Thank you again for suggestions! It very much seems like I don't have intel driver but have no idea why because I several times executed command 'emerge xorg-drivers' and each time the output was saying "installing". When I list the /usr/lib/xorg/modules, there is no drivers directory. This is my gentoo's directory listing after mounting it from my Calculate system:

There is no 'drivers' directory and I have no idea why. I then followed your advise and removed /etc/X11/xorg.conf*. I then checked my make.conf file:

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10351

There doesn't appear to be 'minimal' in USE flags and 'udev' is in there.

And this is my lspci information:

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10352

This really is quite strange. I had no problem installing and starting x on my virtualbox and already installing KDE packages on virtualbox. But I am having all sorts of problems with real installation on my laptop and startx is still not working. I did make filesystem to be btrfs. Do you think this could be the reason why I am having these problems - because my filesystem was set up as btrfs?

I don't think btrfs is related in any way, unless one of its features is to silently delete files at random. I haven't ever used it personally though.

Well, let's try another thing. xorg-drivers is just a stub that merges secondary packages depending on USEs. The real package for the intel driver is xf86-video-intel, so, try to emerge it directly and see what happens (whether the drivers directory appears or not).

Also, please, post the output of this command:

Maybe there's something that's mangling your VIDEO_CARDS or something, or... you don't have strange overlays installed locally or using layman, do you?

I emerged xf86-video-intel individually and now there is 'drivers' directory:

In the very beginning it was showing [I] beside xf86-video-intel when I used 'eix intel' command and I previously executed individually 'emerge xf86-video-intel' as I refer in my original post. Why it seems to have been installed now I have no idea.

Below is output from command 'emerge -pv xorg-drivers':

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10358

I've added virtualbox to VIDEO_CARDS so it's showing there as pending install.

However, I am still unable to startx. The error message is the same.

Thanks,
Victor.

Great success!

So I examined xorg logs after intel driver got installed and it said 'vesa' module failed to load. I then emerged xf86-video-vesa and X server loaded without that error

I am learning how to read Xorg.0.log file. There do appear to be some modules still failed to load but I am not sure whether those are critical components or it's just being capricious

Could you kindly check the logs and advise if I have to install those modules it mentions as failed or if those modules are optional?

http://pastebin.calculate-linux.org/en/show/10359

I did get screen switch and go blank suggesting xserver was working but, again, I am not sure if additional modules need to be installed.

Thank you so much!
Victor.

That error is not the same.

Firts, intel tries to load. This time it is found but it fails because you lack modesettings capabilities. That can be due to a number of reasons.

You really shouldn't use vesa. It intended only as a fallback since it uses absolutely no acceleration capabilities.

Check this, specially the part about kernel config for modesetting (kms).
https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Xorg/Configuration

While you are at it you might also want to add evdev support as well.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hi, yes, I've just installed evdev and synaptic as logs suggested (thought wasn't sure if it was mandatory). I don't see errors in the log anymore, which is a good sign The kernel configuration file I use is a template file I saved from previous installations that have all modules set up (wireless support, video drivers etc..).

I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction with this problem.

Gracias!
Victor.