Suddenly hanging on startup after atd

[logarithm]

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction here. I use Scientific Linux 6.1 on my desktop system which uses dual displays (controlled by nvidia GeForce 9400). I didn't install anything, delete anything, or change anything, but between my startup this afternoon and my startup this evening, something went horribly wrong.

The Scientific Linux 6 logo lights up both monitors, and the little circle spins for a while. Then it stops, one monitor stays lit with the logo, then... nothing. The system completely hangs. If I hit escape to watch the startup details, then I can see how far it gets and then switch to the console and log in. I've no idea what may have happened to break this. I certainly didn't update video drivers, which is my first instinct for where to begin trying fixes.

What information can I supply to help? Can you give me some idea of where to start troubleshooting?

Thanks!

PS -- this machine also dual boots into Vista, which is running just as fine as it ever has, so I don't think that I had some sort of a hardware blowout or a loose connection or something.

[AndrewSerk]

Hi logarithm and welcome to SLF,

Are you sure there wasn't a upgrade, maybe a autoupdate?
You can check with a command like:

CODE

su - yum history

But first you will have to boot to runlevel 3. You can just add a 3 to the end of the kernel behind quiet.
There was a update of xorg-x11-server-Xorg that has caused some issues. So if you see a update for xorg-x11-server-Xorg you should try this temporary fix.

CODE

su -c 'yum downgrade xorg-x11-server-Xorg'

Hope this helps,

This post has been edited by AndrewSerk: Jul 12 2012, 04:05 AM

[Ron_in_Vegas]

Post your gdm log if you can:
/var/log/gdm/:0.log

compare it to one of the older logs
I just had a similar problem after
installing the new Xorg server update
in the SL6.1 x86_64 stream

Do a yum history:

# yum history

to see if your system auto updated today
if it did you can remove the update with

yum -y history undo xxx

where xxx is the number of the update

[logarithm]

QUOTE (AndrewSerk @ Jul 11 2012, 09:48 PM)

Hi logarithm and welcome to SLF, Are you sure there wasn't a upgrade, maybe a autoupdate?

Hi, and thank you!

You were right. There was an automatic update earlier today. I undid the update, but still it's not quite solved.

QUOTE (Ron_in_Vegas)

Post your gdm log if you can: /var/log/gdm/:0.log

Hi, and thank you too. Here is my log:

CODE

X.Org X Server 1.7.7 Release Date: 2010-05-04 X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0 Build Operating System: sl6 2.6.32-131.6.1.el6.x86_64 Current Operating System: Linux leonardo 2.6.32-131.0.15.el6.i686 #1 SMP Sat May 21 10:12:03 CDT 2011 i686 Kernel command line: ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_leonardo-lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_leonardo/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_leonardo/lv_swap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet Build Date: 06 October 2011  01:49:23PM Build ID: xorg-x11-server 1.7.7-29.el6_1.2 Current version of pixman: 0.18.4 Before reporting problems, check https://www.redhat.com/apps/support/ to make sure that you have the latest version. Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting, (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational, (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown. (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Wed Jul 11 23:12:29 2012 (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" (==) ServerLayout "Multihead layout" (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0) (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>" (**) |   |-->Device "Videocard0" (==) No monitor specified for screen "Screen0". Using a default monitor configuration. (**) |-->Screen "Screen1" (1) (**) |   |-->Monitor "Monitor1" (**) |   |-->Device "Videocard1" (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0" (==) Automatically adding devices (==) Automatically enabling devices (**) Xinerama: enabled (==) FontPath set to: catalogue:/etc/X11/fontpath.d, built-ins (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules" (II) Cannot locate a core pointer device. (II) The server relies on HAL to provide the list of input devices. If no devices become available, reconfigure HAL or disable AutoAddDevices. (WW) AllowEmptyInput is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled. (WW) Disabling Keyboard0 (++) using VT number 1 (--) PCI:*(0:5:0:0) 10de:0641:3842:c943 nVidia Corporation G96 [GeForce 9400 GT] rev 161, Mem @ 0xfd000000/16777216, 0xd0000000/268435456, 0xfa000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x0000dc00/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/524288 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libextmod.so (II) Module extmod: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdbe.so (II) Module dbe: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so (II) Module glx: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0 (==) AIGLX enabled (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/librecord.so (II) Module record: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.13.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri.so (II) Module dri: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.0.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libdri2.so (II) Module dri2: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 1.1.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 2.14.0 (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/ati_drv.so (II) Module ati: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 1.7.7, module version = 6.13.0 (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810, i810-dc100, i810e, i815, i830M, 845G, 854, 852GM/855GM, 865G, 915G, E7221 (i915), 915GM, 945G, 945GM, 945GME, Pineview GM, Pineview G, 965G, G35, 965Q, 946GZ, 965GM, 965GME/GLE, G33, Q35, Q33, GM45, 4 Series, G45/G43, Q45/Q43, G41, B43, B43, Clarkdale, Arrandale, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge, Sandybridge (EE) No devices detected. Fatal server error: no screens found Please consult the Red Hat, Inc. support  at https://www.redhat.com/apps/support/ for help. Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.

I undid the update as you suggested, but, well, it's hanging differently now. It's not actually a hang this time -- I can freely switch consoles, which is an improvement -- but it won't start X. Any insights from the log?

Thank you both!

[freebee]

same on my notebook :-(

[Ron_in_Vegas]

I see a couple of things, first are you wishing to use Nvidia's driver or
the nouveau driver? Your modules path shows automatic defaults

(==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"

but the Nvidia installers I've seen always set it in a config file (**)

It also looks as if you have on board video:
(II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810...

Are both monitors hooked to the Nvidia card or are you
trying to run one on each card? If both are on the Nvidia
you may just need to disable the onboard video in your BIOS.

Also in the past the nouveau driver and the Nvidia driver did not
play nicely with each other so if you wanted the Nvidia driver
it helped to add :

rdblacklist=nouveau

to the kernel command line but you'll then have to remeber to update your
nvidia modules if you install a new kernel or you'll be stuck with
just a command line again.

[logarithm]

QUOTE (Ron_in_Vegas @ Jul 12 2012, 11:58 AM)

It also looks as if you have on board video: (II) intel: Driver for Intel Integrated Graphics Chipsets: i810... Are both monitors hooked to the Nvidia card or are you trying to run one on each card? If both are on the Nvidia you may just need to disable the onboard video in your BIOS. Also in the past the nouveau driver and the Nvidia driver did not play nicely with each other so if you wanted the Nvidia driver it helped to add : rdblacklist=nouveau to the kernel command line but you'll then have to remeber to update your nvidia modules if you install a new kernel or you'll be stuck with just a command line again.

Hi Ron,

The nvidia card controls both monitors. I tried using the onboard video to control one and a regular video card to control the other when I first got this system, but I struggled with it for weeks until I eventally gave in and bought a dual display card.

I did try the blacklist and installing the nvidia driver but wound up in dependency hell, so that wasn't an easy solution either.

I eventually wound up upgrading to SL6.2, which solved the problem.

Thank you so much for your help!

[helikaon]

QUOTE (logarithm @ Jul 12 2012, 03:15 AM)

Hi everyone, I'm hoping you can steer me in the right direction here.  I use Scientific Linux 6.1 ...

Problem identified:
in version 6.1 X server has some bug, so if you keep your 6.1 up-to-date, the last update broke it.

Solution:
update to version 6.2 this fixes it:

yum update --releaseversion=6.2 (this will update all)

or:

yum update --releaseversion=6.2 package name - you can update only X server and X drivers if you dont want update all

I had similar problem yeasterday.

Note: i use nvidia quattro nvs140m on my laptop and my friend reported same problem on his laptop with SL6.1 on imbedded intel VGA.

My EE message from log was something like:

(EE) couldnt load /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so undefined symbol in /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so blabla ...



This post has been edited by helikaon: Jul 13 2012, 07:44 AM

[BBB]

I am having the same symptom, but perhaps somewhat different problem. I recently (June) started with SL. Yesterday, can't boot, for, so far, some inexplicable reason.

This is on a Dell xps 15z, with Intel integrated graphics card (i915 as I understand) and a Nvida GT525M.
I had previously added i915.modest=1 to the kernel command line, at boot time, to use the i915.

With the boot hang above, the booted with the "3" on kernel line. Thanks for that suggestion.

yum history: doesn't show any recent upgrades.

cat of /var/log/gdm/:5.log (from yesterday) shows final lines:
(EE) No devices detected.
Fatal server error:
no screens found

This got me thinking about problems of getting screen going properly when installing SL.

So, I stepped back to a previously saved version of xorg.conf, and am now back to
a properly functioning X-windows system.

Fine: except that I don't know how the xorg.conf file got modified (or even if was something else which interacts with that file).