Hello,
I'm hoping someone can help me because I'm about to lose my mind. I just bit the bulet and scrapped Windows completely, and installed a new drive and installed Red Hat 9. I'm slowly forcing myself to use Linux, hopefully for good. But I'm mgetting VERY discouraged with the video.

I'm running on a P4-1.7ghz with 256mb of ram. All is working well except my X session keeps either 1) freezing so I have to hit CTRL-ALT-BKSPC to restart the X session, or 2) the X session locks hard so I have to reset the PC.

Looking in Google on this, it seems everyone in the world who's posted about this has an ATI card. And you guessed it, so do I. I have the Radeon 9600 Pro. I tried using the ATI driver and was having the same troubles. So now I've uninstalled it and am just using the VESA driver, 1024x768, 256 color as a test. It's STILL locking up every few minutes!

Here's the tail of my XFree86 log. The main things I see as being a problem are VBESetVBEMode failed and the X message about being rejected from local host. I'm basically a newbie when it comes to this. Can anyone give me some direction? Thanks!

(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/linux/libint10.a
(II) VESA(0): initializing int10
(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 2.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 131072 kB
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: V350
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00
(==) VESA(0): Write-combining range (0xe0000000,0x8000000)
(II) VESA(0): virtual address = 0x42136000,
physical address = 0xe0000000, size = 134217728
(II) VESA(0): VBESetVBEMode failed...Tried again without customized values.
(==) VESA(0): Default visual is PseudoColor
(==) VESA(0): Backing store disabled
(**) Option "dpms"
(**) VESA(0): DPMS enabled
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Setting vga for screen 0.
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension LBX
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(**) Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
(**) Mouse0: Protocol: "PS/2"
(**) Option "CorePointer"
(**) Mouse0: Core Pointer
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) Mouse0: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) Mouse0: Buttons: 5
(II) Keyboard "Keyboard0" handled by legacy driver
(**) Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
(**) DevInputMice: Protocol: "IMPS/2"
(**) Option "AlwaysCore"
(**) DevInputMice: always reports core events
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) DevInputMice: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) DevInputMice: Buttons: 5
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "DevInputMice" (type: MOUSE)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE)
(II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
(II) DevInputMice: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
AUDIT: Tue Aug 31 23:27:24 2004: 3003 X: client 6 rejected from local host

grab the update drivers for you ATI card...

That's what I was using originally - the latest ATI drivers for my card (fglrx driver). It was doing the same thing with the fglrx driver, so I backed off to the VESA driver. Then again the fglrx driver from ATI does have many options, of which I didn't try all yet. I'll mess around with that next.

Any other ideas while I try the fglrx options? I have a feeling this isn't going to work since I've already tried so many options with this driver.....

thanks again

as user try typing

xhost + "host"

for instance:

miked@linux:~> xhost + linux
linux being added to access control list
miked@linux:~>

I'm logged in as root, can I do this as root as well?

Thanks!

as user try typing

xhost + "localhost"

for instance:

miked@linux:~> xhost + linux
linux being added to access control list
miked@linux:~>

run these commands as user
this will add the localhost to the control list

then restart x or reboot.

then check your XFree86 log

I appreciate all of your help with this! I ran xhost +localhost and also xhost + my full host name. Both were added successfully. I rebooted and within 2 minutes X froze so I had to hit ctl-alt-bksp. New log is below which contains the same errors. This is so incredibly frustrating. Any other ideas would be appreciated! Thanks

(II) Loading sub module "int10"
(II) LoadModule: "int10"
(II) Reloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/linux/libint10.a
(II) VESA(0): initializing int10
(II) VESA(0): Primary V_BIOS segment is: 0xc000
(II) VESA(0): VESA BIOS detected
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Version 2.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE Total Mem: 131072 kB
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Software Rev: 1.0
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Vendor: ATI Technologies Inc.
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product: V350
(II) VESA(0): VESA VBE OEM Product Rev: 01.00
(==) VESA(0): Write-combining range (0xe0000000,0x8000000)
(II) VESA(0): virtual address = 0x42136000,
physical address = 0xe0000000, size = 134217728
(II) VESA(0): VBESetVBEMode failed...Tried again without customized values.
(==) VESA(0): Default visual is PseudoColor
(==) VESA(0): Backing store disabled
(==) RandR enabled
(II) Setting vga for screen 0.
(II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
(II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
(II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST
(II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
(II) Initializing built-in extension LBX
(II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP
(II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
(II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
(II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont
(II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER
(II) Initializing built-in extension RANDR
(**) Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
(**) Mouse0: Protocol: "PS/2"
(**) Option "CorePointer"
(**) Mouse0: Core Pointer
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) Mouse0: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) Mouse0: Buttons: 5
(II) Keyboard "Keyboard0" handled by legacy driver
(**) Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
(**) DevInputMice: Protocol: "IMPS/2"
(**) Option "AlwaysCore"
(**) DevInputMice: always reports core events
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
(**) Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
(**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
(**) DevInputMice: ZAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) DevInputMice: Buttons: 5
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "DevInputMice" (type: MOUSE)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE)
(II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
(II) DevInputMice: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
AUDIT: Wed Sep 1 09:52:40 2004: 2613 X: client 5 rejected from local host

backup .Xauthority and delete it and reboot.

If that doesn't help, could you reinstall or update XFree86?

Does the machine still lock if you disable unspeculated write combining
in the bios setup (I think the log you posted reads like it is enabled)?
Also, try to set it to a lower AGP rate (AGPx2 or x4) in the bios setup.

Just an idea, to eliminate possible sources of error.

This may give you some other direction:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/214660

I tried all recommendations but X would still freeze (or the entire PC would freeze). USWC was already disabled in the BIOS. I even tried swapping my ATI Radon AGP card for a standby video card I use for testing (a PCI ATI Mach64VT). I still have issues! After using X for 5 or 10 minutes the screen goes black (X crashes). Then after a minute it resets the PC.

I ran up2date and already have the latest of everything for Xfree86 for RH9. Is it recommended that I upgrade Xfree86 to something beyond the RH9 version, such as the RH Enterprise version or Fedora? I am at my wits end here.

Thanks

Thought I'd post this to benefit the group:

I installed RH Linux 9.0 on a system and the X session kept stopping, and sometimes the PC would lock up. I tried different video cards and it still occurred. I tried many things mentioned in this forum as well, but nothing worked. After a few weeks of troublshooting I found two causes to the problem:

1) While I was troubleshooting there was a heat wave here. Once the heat wave broke, the problem reduced by at least 50%. My PC was definitely running too hot. However, the problem still continued even on a chilly night.

2) So when different video cards didn't fix it, I started focusing in depth on the BIOS settings. I tried all settings I thought might have an effect one at a time. Interestingly, I have RAM in my PC that is ECC capable, though I've never enabled the RAM in ECC mode in the BIOS because I always heard that there was a slight performance hit running in ECC mode and that it just wasn't necessary for a home desktop. Anyway I enabled it, and BOOM, problem fixed. I can't get the PC or the X session to lock even if I try! Amazing. I've been working with PCs for 15 years, and this was a new one to me! Hope this helps someone else.....

Thanks to those who took the time to help me on this one....

Paul