"Display Server has been shutdown 6 times in 90 seconds..."

devghai · 11-25-2006, 09:36 AM

Distro: Ubuntu 6.06

Issue:
First the greeter was changed. On startup, the greeter application crshed and switched to the default greeter. Not an issue then...

Sometime later, squid was installed which bought up these gamut of problems... Have uninstalled it since.
When the machine boots, GDM starts (because the mouse pointer and the 'loading' icons are visible) and then the screen blips to show the same pointer and 'loading...' cursor again, 12 times in a row (guess the distro automatically tries to start the server for next tty). Hence comes the error...
"Display Server has been shutdown 6 times in last 90 seconds..."
and then the machine stablises for 2 minutes with an error onscreen. During these 2 minutes, I am able to switch to tty1 using Ctrl+Alt+F1, login and then start X manually by issuing the 'startx' command. 2 minutes later, OS tries to restart the display and then realises that I have already done this... It then gives me an option to either restart the server on some other display or on the same display on which i am already working on... not a major issue when i am at this stage... however even this behavior is not consistent. sometimes it says that the display server has already created the lock in /tmp folder and it cannot proceed...

Probing a bit deeper... syslogd says that /dev/xconsole was not found. Some sites that this comes into being temporarily during startup as a part of a script (which one, i dint remember).
Secondly, /etc/X11/SecurityPolicy doesnot exist. I made an empty file in that place... but that didnt help. Now I am thinking of copying the same file from the live disk after making the required changes... There is not a similar box near me from which i could copy it. Ah! I remember... that empty file was filled by one obtained from Fedora. That didnt mess up things nor did it improve them.

Please give any ideas that may strike you after reading this post. You are also requestd to disregard the ignorance in language, if any, because i am just a newbie in this field...

devghai · 11-29-2006, 04:23 AM

Problem Solved. Please read the following xorg.conf of the system at my home. I compared it to my system which was posing the problems... I realized I needed to add 3 lines. The three lines can be easily spotted in the file...

Upon rebooting, I was presented a dialog box which allowed me choose between various display servers that were avaible on the network. Also, the server started for two display. I also wanted to install a themed greeter. All these 3 settings were possible from System > Administration > Login Window. X Server was further configured from 'Configure X Server' button in the Security tab (the first two settings)

Quote:

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
load "glx"
load "GLcore"
load "dri"
load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
option "CoreKeyboard"
option "XkbRules" "xorg"
option "XkbModel" "pc104"
option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
option "CorePointer"
option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

#Section "InputDevice"
# Driver "wacom"
# Identifier "stylus"
# option "Device" "/dev/wacom"# Change to
# option "Type" "stylus"
# option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
# # /dev/input/event
# # for USB
#EndSection

#Section "InputDevice"
# Driver "wacom"
# Identifier "eraser"
# option "Device" "/dev/wacom"# Change to
# option "Type" "eraser"
# option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
# # /dev/input/event
# # for USB
#EndSection

#Section "InputDevice"
# Driver "wacom"
# Identifier "cursor"
# option "Device" "/dev/wacom"# Change to
# option "Type" "cursor"
# option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
#EndSection

Section "Device"
identifier "Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family Graphics Controller"
boardname "Intel 915"
busid "PCI:0:2:0"
driver "i810"
#The following two lines were entered:: Comment: Dev Ghai
screen 0
vendorname "Intel"
####################
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
identifier "Generic Monitor"
vendorname "Generic"
modelname "1024x768 @ 60 Hz"
HorizSync 31.5-48.5
VertRefresh 50-70
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
modeline "1152x768@54" 64.995 1152 1178 1314 1472 768 771 777 806 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1280x854" 80.0 1280 1309 1460 1636 854 857 864 896 +hsync +vsync
gamma 1.71
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family Graphics Controller"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
depth 24
virtual 1280 854
modes "1024x768@60" "1152x768@54" "800x600@60" "1280x854" "800x600@56" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
#The following line was entered:: Comment: Dev Ghai
screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
################
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

PS: If you have observed, I have commented out Input Devices for tablet PCs. This removed errors due to 'wacom' while starting the X server.

Regards,
Dev

raja887 · 07-02-2007, 12:04 PM

Devghai, I have had exactly the same problem when trying to install Ubuntu on a very basic computer (Pentium 4) with no other operating system. I am a complete NEWBIE to LINUX so I am having trouble implementing your solution.

Please HELP! In particular:

1. How do I access the xorg.conf of my system?
2. Once I learn how to look it up, how do I edit it?
3. Can you highlight exactly what 3 lines were added by you?
4. How can I see the display servers when rebooting...you mentioned that a dialog box came up.

As you can clearly see, I am a NEWBIE to this so your (or any other person's) help would be much appreciated. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

THANKS A LOT!

Wim Sturkenboom · 07-03-2007, 12:53 AM

Is this problem while installing or after installing? In the first case, I suggest that you download the alternate CD and install using that.

In the second case, in a console (terminal), type sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

Code:

Section "Device"
identifier "Intel Corporation 82915G/GV/910GL Express Chipset Family Graphics Controller"
boardname "Intel 915"
busid "PCI:0:2:0"
driver "i810"
#The following two lines were entered:: Comment: Dev Ghai
screen 0
vendorname "Intel"
####################
EndSection

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
#The following line was entered:: Comment: Dev Ghai
screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
################
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
EndSection

Hope this helps.

devghai · 07-03-2007, 01:36 AM

Overview:
Raja's problem is replied to in first para itself. Rest of the post contains a few tips and summary that a newbie may be interested in.
============================================================================================

Well this problem occurred good 6-7 months back. I remember installing an application after which display server started crashing. So I am quite at sea as to why this problem is occurring DURING installation. As far as I understand, you are not even able to see the OS running out of the CD. As Wim suggested, this may be due to a bad disk image. Alternatively, I think that Ubuntu is unable to correctly detect your graphics subsystem, because of which it is unable to launch the X server correctly. In this case, I would like to know your hardware configuration, particularly the motherboard you are using.

To be frank raja, i too regard myself a newbie. To get some confidence, you may like to go thru http://www.brunolinux.com/ for a quick overview. It actually has explanations to various Linux jargons. e.g. 'sudo' (Ubuntu/Debian equivalent of 'su', description available on the mentioned site) and 'console/terminal in Wim's post... get my drift?

The fourth question:
the dialog box appeared when i modified xorg.conf and rebooted the system.

Now you may ask how did I edit the file when the display wasn't even starting up?? Here goes... When this error appeared (Diaplay Server...) I pressed Ctrl+Alt+F2. that took me to a DOS like screen, called terminal or console in Linux lingo. (Actually there are 6 such terminals running side accessible by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 to Ctrl+Alt+F6, you can do this in any of these terminals) There i typed that Wim has mentioned: sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf. It then asked me for the administrator password that I set during installation, I entered it and the text editor (nano) opened with the file for me to edit. Edited and saved it and then rebooted the system.

Hope the post is detailed enough AND helpful.

Regards,
Dev

raja887 · 07-04-2007, 09:31 PM

Dear Wim and Dev:
Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I was getting the error message during installation so I simply used Wim's suggestion of using the alternate CD provided by UBUNTU. It WORKED!!! Also, I was spared the technical mumbo-jombo.
Thanks again!
Raja