X windows crash with network change [solved]

[diehl]

I'm running Mandriva 2007 on my Sony PCG-GRV550 laptop. X windows works fine with the "default" network profile (which is to use eth0 DHCP connection). If I switch to another "profile" (even a clone of default) either by choosing it from drakconf or by selecting a profile besides "default" at boot time, then X window dies instantly and the laptop goes to console.

 

I can restart X with "startx" but this is highly suboptimal. When I did this as a normal user the keyboard was disabled which made work impossible.

 

I've checked various log files in /var/log but never see any errors, only things like "switching to profile XYX".

 

LATER - The "fix" was to comment out some lines in xorg.conf (see reply later on). I have no idea why commenting these lines fixes the problem.

 

LATER YET - Unfortunately, the problem is not solved - when I plugged my wireless card in and switched to a new profile to config the wireless card X immediately crashed. The wireless card (Netgear WG511, uses prism54 module) works - configured and connected to network after the X crash. The wireless card may or may not be part of the problem. I did use it under Mandriva 2006 without this problem. So I am back to square one on figuring out this problem.

Edited November 3, 2006 by diehl

[tyme]

please post the contents of:

/etc/resolv.conf

/etc/hosts

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

[ianw1974]

Do you have networkmanager installed? Seen lots of probs with this:

 

rpm -qa | grep networkmanager

 

If so, you can remove it easily enough. I've had systems hang more or less with this installed.

[diehl]

In response to both respondents:

 

=> I do not have networkmanager installed.

 

=> Here are the files you asked to see:

 

/etc/resolv.conf:

search physics.lsa.umich.edu

 

nameserver 141.211.211.180

nameserver 141.211.125.17

nameserver 141.211.96.15

 

/etc/hosts:

# generated by drakhosts

127.0.0.1 localhost localhost

 

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

# File generated by XFdrake (rev 57713)

 

# **********************************************************************

# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of

# this file.

# **********************************************************************

 

Section "Files"

# font server independent of the X server to render fonts.

FontPath "unix/:-1"

 

# minimal fonts to allow X to run without xfs

FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"

EndSection

 

Section "Extensions"

EndSection

 

Section "ServerFlags"

#DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort)

AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does no

t work

#DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)

EndSection

 

Section "Module"

Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension

Load "v4l" # Video for Linux

Load "extmod"

Load "type1"

Load "freetype"

Load "glx" # 3D layer

Load "dri" # direct rendering

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Keyboard1"

Driver "kbd"

Option "XkbModel" "pc105"

Option "XkbLayout" "us"

Option "XkbOptions" "compose:rwin"

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "Mouse1"

Driver "mouse"

Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"

Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"

EndSection

 

Section "InputDevice"

Identifier "SynapticsMouse1"

Driver "synaptics"

Option "SHMConfig" "on"

EndSection

 

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "monitor1"

VendorName "Generic"

ModelName "Flat Panel 1280x1024"

HorizSync 31.5-90

VertRefresh 60

 

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.

# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

 

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync

ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616

EndSection

 

Section "Device"

Identifier "device1"

VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc."

BoardName "ATI Radeon"

Driver "ati"

Option "DPMS"

Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,NONE"

Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"

EndSection

 

Section "Screen"

Identifier "screen1"

Device "device1"

Monitor "monitor1"

DefaultColorDepth 16

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 8

Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "4

80x360" "320x240"

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 15

Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "4

80x360" "320x240"

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 16

Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "4

80x360" "320x240"

EndSubsection

 

Subsection "Display"

Depth 24

Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "4

80x360" "320x240"

EndSubsection

EndSection

 

Section "ServerLayout"

Identifier "layout1"

InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

InputDevice "SynapticsMouse1" "AlwaysCore"

Screen "screen1"

EndSection

[tyme]

search physics.lsa.umich.edu

there's your problem, you're at Michigan!! (sorry, couldn't resist, I'm a Penn State alumn :P)

 

I don't see anything that indicates a source of your problem....the only oddities I see are:

Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,NONE"

Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"

I've never seen these options before...so I'm not sure what their purpose is. I guess the second has to do with XGL/Compiz or some other 3ddesktop deal - the first I believe is usually used for using two monitors. Technically, neither should cause the problem you're having.

 

Do you have a hostname set for your system or is it just set to localhost? What's in your /etc/hostname file?

[Gowator]

I don't see anything that indicates a source of your problem....the only oddities I see are:

Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,NONE"

Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"

I've never seen these options before...so I'm not sure what their purpose is. I guess the second has to do with XGL/Compiz or some other 3ddesktop deal - the first I believe is usually used for using two monitors. Technically, neither should cause the problem you're having.

 

Do you have a hostname set for your system or is it just set to localhost? What's in your /etc/hostname file?

Im not an ATI user so like tyme not sure exactly what these do....

However I suspect the same thing I guess which is something in the compwiz/XGL...

 

so perhaps you might find something in the /var/log/Xorg0.log file?

I can restart X with "startx" but this is highly suboptimal. When I did this as a normal user the keyboard was disabled which made work impossible.

That sucks... what desktop (KDE?) might be that the keyboard mod in KDE is confliciting with the xkeyboard settings? But anyways, next time it happens Im presuming its killing the login manager too .. weird ... but have a quick ps -ef and see if your user still has any running processes....

 

Just checking.. your not running x as root are you? :unsure:

[tyme]

Just checking.. your not running x as root are you? :unsure:

Just to make a clarification (I know Gowator knows this): the X process always runs as root, what he's asking is if you log into the DE as root (I think).

[Gowator]

Just checking.. your not running x as root are you? :unsure:

Just to make a clarification (I know Gowator knows this): the X process always runs as root, what he's asking is if you log into the DE as root (I think).

That would be it ;)

 

If anyones wondering why Im asking...

The user process shouldn't be able to crash X... so this leads me to think the problem is something like if composite was enabled (which it isn't since )

Section "Extensions"

EndSection

 

but similarly anything done as 3D has the same potential... its directly accessing the hardware through modules which are loaded as root... since as tyme says, the dm always runs as root... (well theoretically I guess it doesn't need to .. since you can run X as user space (like starting X from CLI with startx)

 

i.e.

root 21762 21760 0 Oct31 tty7 00:09:24 /usr/bin/X -br -dpi 100 -br :0 vt7 -auth /var/run/xauth/A:0-vpZbn9

 

(note this is not 100% standard I allow listening on TCP...at my own risk)

 

However if you are logged in as root then all your processes are runing as root... (as has been thrashed to death elsewhere) so basically any application can crash X... if badly coded.

 

So basically only a module loaded as root (like the ati driver or DRI etc.) has permission to crash X if you log in as a user..... but of your logged in as root then all bets are off as it were...

[diehl]

FYI - I am not running X as root, though of course one needs to enter the root password one way or another to change network configurations.

 

At any rate, my problem seems to have been fixed by commenting out these lines in xorg.conf:

 

# Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,NONE"

# Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"

 

Of course, it is completely obscure why these lines would cause a problem with network profiles. I had tried out the "3D effects" at one point and discovered that they only sort of worked on my laptop so I got rid of them, but maybe one or more of these lines got left in xorg.conf. At any rate, I can now clone and change network profiles without losing X.