Blank screen running X [SOLVED]

funeagle · Last edited by funeagle on Mon Jul 04, 2016 11:00 am; edited 2 times in total

Hello,

I am having trouble getting X working on Gentoo for a week now. I have tried everything I could find on the net and I think I need someones help now. I must have misconfigured something. It works from the liveusb and I also tried LinuxMint, it works there as well.

When I run startx I just get a blank screen (without the mouse pointer)

This is my config:

Jaglover · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:38 am Post subject:

Does your computer have Optimus hybrid graphics?
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Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:51 am Post subject:

If your machine has NVIDIA Optimus hardware and you would like to be able to just use the NVIDIA closed-source driver or the Intel driver, perhaps the following might help: Switching between Intel and NVIDIA graphics processors on a laptop with NVIDIA Optimus hardware running Gentoo Linux.
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funeagle · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:55 am Post subject:

Jaglover · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 1:05 pm Post subject:

1. You should try Intel without xorg.conf, to be sure nvidia driver is not interfering with anything
2. You may need to switch to ~amd64, your hardware is new and it seems Intel driver is too old
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The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

Sorry, but can you clarify what WM you are trying to use? Because what you describe is what running X without a WM looks like. Black mouse on black background.

A simple test is [/b]X -retro[/b] or you can install x11-wm/twm and x11-terms/xterm for a testing environment.
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funeagle · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 8:41 pm Post subject:

Hello Doctor,

Thanks for the tip I wasn't sure how to test the WM myself.

I ran X -retro but it's still blank, I haven't seen the stripple (checkboard) nor the cursor

cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log is still:
http://hastebin.com/oyomugodor.vhdl

I tried setting up plasma with sddm:

The Doctor · Moderator Joined: 27 Jul 2010 Posts: 2678

twm automatically starts xterm, so unfortunately it looks like you really do have a problem with X, which is strange because it doesn't look like xorg.log has any errors.

Unfortunately, I don't know much about Optimus so I'll bow out.
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NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:40 pm Post subject:

funeagle,

parramata · n00b Joined: 25 Jul 2004 Posts: 18

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 1:31 pm Post subject:

parramata,

That's a different problem. To start KDE from the command line you need the correct content in ~/.xinitrc or the correct command line.

Here, funeagle is trying to use a graphics chip that cannot (by design) transfer data to the display surface.
As you confirm, Intel on its own works.
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funeagle · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 1:59 pm Post subject:

Hello NeddySeagoon,

Thank you for your reply. I was already trying to set up different configurations, including both cards with optimus, just nvidia, or just intel but I hit a roadblock.

Your reply helped me to realize which configuration was wrong:

funeagle · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 2:29 pm Post subject:

Hello,

OK it looks like initrd is not needed, I got this from the menuconfig help:

funeagle · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 2:55 pm Post subject:

OK tried starting x again, it complained about OpenGL2 so I run:

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:34 pm Post subject:

funeagle,

startx starts whatever you have in ~/.xinitrc
As that file is missing by default, the system wide xinitrc is used. That starts three xterms and xclock in twm.
None of xterm, xclock and twm are installed by default, so Xorg starts then does nothing.

If you want a test,

funeagle · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 9:43 am Post subject: Blank screen running X, [SOLVED]

Thank you NeddySeagoon,

I have already installed twm but couldn't get it working

I think now I understand a lot better how everything needs to be configured. I have decided that it will be probably easier to start a fresh install, than keep patching up my broken build.

For the benefit of others: I have backed up the main config files (make.conf, .config, world (package listing), etc.), reformatted my partition, dropped in the configs, run screen + script and rebuilt the whole system overnight in one go. Some packages were complaining that they needed the kernel so I have rebuild them after building the kernel.

I am still getting the

NeddySeagoon · Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 6:06 pm Post subject:

funeagle,

The modesetting driver is required to set up the intel graphics to refresh the display surface while the nVida graphics draws the pixel buffer.

If you do not intend to use the nVida graphics for graphics, the inter driver will provide better graphics performance than the modesetting driver if you intend to use the Intel graphics alone.
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