After update, no X, no network, and no errors

WvR

Computer: Lenovo Thinkpad x201i. I have been using Gentoo on the laptop since February 2011, so far without too many problems.

Recently (first week of october 2013) I updated the computer and installed a new kernel (3.10.7-r1). I did not restart the computer immediately, but I used it a couple of days (using "suspend" rather than "shutdown") and I did not notice anything wrong. I use Gnome-3.8 and systemd. The migration to systemd was not easy but it has been working fine for a couple of weeks now.

However, yesterday I had to boot into Windows, and when I rebooted Gentoo, there was a problem

Symptoms:

- Boot process seems to be fine, but when systemd mentions "starting GNOME display manager", the screen goes black, and it seems that X is starting, but then nothing happens: there is no mouse pointer, no login screen, no nothing.

- network does not work. I tried the ethernet card (used to work fine), built-in wireless, and an external wireless. In all cases, the interfaces come up, but /var/log/messages mentions

eccerr0r · Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2013 11:43 pm Post subject:

Well, if you can get the stipple background with X -retro, the X server and graphics subsystem and kernel are somewhat working, so probably can be ruled out. I suspect there's something the matter with systemd. Have you tried etc-update/dispatch-conf and made sure all your configs are up to date?

Unfortunately I've yet to try systemd to be of much help here...
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

WvR · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:18 am Post subject:

Some more info (maybe helpful):

- /etc/portage/make.conf has USE="-consolekit ffmpeg systemd"

- profile is set to Gnome desktop

- I saw a forum post similar to my problem, but the solution there to set "acpi_osi=Linux acpi_backlight=vendor" in the boot options does not solve the problem

- systemd reports that udev fails to start. I don't know what the problem is. I tried

WvR · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 2:06 am Post subject:

Update: when I use "startx", the screen goes black, the traditional "X" flashes, and if I move the mouse, a mouse pointer is displayed on the screen and it moves around. So indeed, X seems to work. But in /var/log/messages:

eccerr0r · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:07 am Post subject:

Hmm. It could be a kernel problem after all, if you merged gentoo-sources and make menuconfig, there's an option in "Gentoo options" that is for systemd. Do you have that set?

Udev must start. Systemd will not work without udev.

I recall all sorts of chaos with the recent udev when kernel options are not properly set. Broke several of my machines, had to go and build new kernels for all of them...
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

WvR · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 7:24 am Post subject:

Now doing

N8Fear · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 3:46 pm Post subject:

If you think that the new kernel breaks it, why don't you first test the old one. If everything'S working fine with it again, you'll have to look into your new kernel's config. Otherwise you can focus on userland issues.
Please note, that twm (or every other wm) isn't installed by default so if it doesn't come up it doesn't mean anything. Just emerge a small one (twm, dwm, openbox) and put it and a terminal into .xinitrc and try startx again. You could even try it with mutter...

eccerr0r · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 5:38 pm Post subject:

Well, there was an issue where userland required a specific kernel setting to start.

The "chaos" I had in the past where I updated udev without updating my kernel. The newer udevs required a specific option to be set (CONFIG_DEVTMPFS) and without it set, I couldn't even revert back to older kernels - the machine would not boot. I had to use a rescue image to fix it (actually, single user mode to compile a new kernel, thank goodness I didn't need full boot to do this.) I don't know if there are similar requirements with systemd - I'm trying to build a systemd machine in a virtual machine to see if I can replicate this issue for the heck of it... and see what the heck is up with systemd.

Since systemd is not the standard Gentoo build I don't know how well this is tested, but it is unfortunately required for later versions of Gnome.
_________________
Intel Core i7 2700K/Radeon R7 250/24GB DDR3/256GB SSD
What am I supposed watching?

N8Fear · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 6:45 pm Post subject:

By now most (if not all official) ebuilds of programs that need specific kernel settings check for that before compilation and bail out with en error if the setting is not found.
In this case it most likely doesn't apply at all because the op is able to do stuff at shell level.
systemd is (as far as I understood the discussion on the -dev ml correctly) an official and supported init system for Gentoo - if it's stable it should be considered as properly tested...

From my own experiences with systemd is actually works quite well. I never had any major issues (I use it on one of my boxes to get a feeling for it and to learn it inner workings - if there would (hopefully not) a forced switch in the future, I'll be prepared). I dislike it nonetheless (from a philosophical point of view).

WvR · Posted: Wed Oct 09, 2013 11:02 pm Post subject:

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, the problem also appears with my older kernels, so I think it is not a kernel issue. I remade my 3.10.7-r1 kernel setting specifically "systemd" under the "Gentoo linux" section, and NOT selecting OpenRC. But it does not really change anything.

Meanwhile, I upgraded my other PC to 3.10.7-r1 without any problems.

I have re-emerged twm because I use it often (I have had too many cases where the gnome-shell gets weird after an update, so to keep working smoothly I often change to the "Xsession"). But twm also fails to start.

I suspect that GDM or something related to GDM is the cause, but it is difficult to debug. There are some errors from gnome-session, gnome-keyring-daemon, gnome-password etc. I re-emerged all of these but no change. I tried

WvR · Posted: Thu Oct 10, 2013 12:32 am Post subject:

Mmmm, I have had my fair share of X11 / Gnome / Xfce / other problems with Gentoo before but this is the first time that there seems to be no clear solution. Soft doctors leave stinking wounds.... I am going to get rid of X, Gnome, and everything graphical. Then I will slowly build things up again. And I will probably not go for Gnome anymore. In fact, I may even go back to OpenRC