Florian Kulzer wrote:
Chris Lale wrote:
I upgraded from Sarge to Etch using apt-get dist-upgrade. Now I cannot
reconfigure my xserver using dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. The changed
settings are remembered between dpkg-reconfigure sessions (ie saved to
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4), but are not implemented. I cannot get a clean
reinstall either. Here is the detail.
Thanks Florian. Your advice really helped. In the end, it was an error
in my perception. I thought that I was getting a flickering vesa display
when, in fact, I was getting an identical-looking flickering nv display.
dpkg-reconfigure really was storing values in /etc/X11/xorg.conf and
these values really were being used by X.
If I had chosen the Advanced method for choosing display scanning
frequencies, everything would have been OK. I was using Medium and every
choice resulted in a flickering display that did not fill the screen -
identical to the vesa display.
Below are some comments on your suggestions.
1. Purge xorg
I have tried to reinstall xserver-xorg, but it will not purge cleanly -
there are errors reported by the postrm script.
# apt-get --purge xserver-xorg
Removing xserver-xorg ...
xserver-xorg prerm warning: X server provided by xserver-xorg
package is
being removed; setting /etc/X11/X to point to /bin/true
Purging configuration files for xserver-xorg ...
Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/xserver-xorg ...
/etc/rcS.d/S71xserver-xorg
dpkg: error processing xserver-xorg (--purge):
subprocess post-removal script returned error exit status 128
Errors were encountered while processing:
xserver-xorg
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
That is a bug in the post-removal script:
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=351326
I am not convinced that it is necessary for you to purge xorg, since
your problem seems to come from some "leftovers" of xfree86 or it is an
intrinsic problem with the configuration of xorg.
You were right, so I did not need to purge xorg. If I had been able to
purge it though, perhaps that would have solved the problem? I think
that the inability to purge xorg fooled me into thinking that something
was seriously broken.
2. Install xorg
During apt-get install xserver-xorg, xserver-xfree86 debconf values are
migrated
# apt-get --purge install xserver-xorg
Preconfiguring packages ...
xserver-xorg config warning: Migrating xserver-xfree86 debconf
values to
xserver-xorg.
dpkg--reconfigure offers a choice of two xservers to configure (even
though xserver-xfree86 is not installed). It does this twice, and no
other configuration screens are offered. I chose xserver-xorg both
times.
Select the desired default X server.
xserver-xorg
OK
Selecting previously deselected package xserver-xorg.
(Reading database ... 153676 files and directories currently
installed.)
Unpacking xserver-xorg (from
.../xserver-xorg_6.9.0.dfsg.1-4_i386.deb) ...
Setting up xserver-xorg (6.9.0.dfsg.1-4) ...
xserver-xorg config warning: Migrating xserver-xfree86 debconf
values to
xserver-xorg.
Select the desired default X server.
xserver-xorg
OK
Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/xserver-xorg ...
/etc/rcS.d/S71xserver-xorg -> ../init.d/xserver-xorg
I now have a working xserver using the nv driver (I originally
configured X for my Nvidia card in Sarge).
Maybe it would be better to purge xfree86; it is a bit worrying that
debconf offers it as an option if it is no longer installed. I still
would expect that dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg should work nonetheless.
Right again. I can just ignore the option of reconfiguring xfree, and
reconfigure xorg only. I cannot purge xfree though, because it is not
installed. There must be some settings remaining other than
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (since I rename it - see below).
3. Reconfigure
# dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Video display defaults to vesa. (It is possible to select nv, but I
still end up with a flickering vesa display.)
xserver-xorg postinst warning: overwriting possibly-customised
configuration
file; backup in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.200602271117
System startup links for /etc/init.d/xserver-xorg already exist.
I cannot change the default vesa setting and get my nv setting back. I
have tried
# md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >|
/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
before using dpkg-reconfigure, and
For xorg this should be done with /etc/X11/xorg.conf. As far as I know
this will only be relevant for automatic upgrades; dpkg-reconfigure will
always overwrite the file. (That also seems to be the case for you: You
get a warning, the original config file is saved under a different name
and the new settings replace the old ones.)
Yes, dpkg-reconfigure definitely does overwrite /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf >| /var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum and
dexconf -o /etc/X11/xorg.conf were not needed in the end.
# dexconf -o /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
after dpkg-reconfigure, without success.
First of all, if the automatic reconfiguration does not work as
expected, you can always edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually and
specify whatever driver you like. However, I would suggest that you
first check if you have the following packages installed: "discover",
"mdetect" and "xresprobe" (plus "laptop-detect" if we are talking about
a laptop). These packages help with the hardware detection and the
initial setup of xorg.conf. If one or more are missing on your computer,
install them and try "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" again. If you are
lucky this will fix your problem.
I tried this first. mdetect was installed. I installed xresprobe and
discover. discover replaced discover1 with discover2. After that,
dpkg-reconfigure still just pre-selected the last saved driver, so I
don't know whether hardware detection was working or not.
Can anyone suggest how I could get a clean reinstall of X, without
migrating my old xfree86 settings?
If everything else fails you can rename the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4
so that Debian can no longer recognize it as the old configuration file.
I do not think this is the cause of your troubles, though; after all,
the original migrated configuration did use the nv module and worked,
right?
I renamed /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 anyway. dpkg-reconfigure still offered
the choice of servers to configure ie xorg _and_ xfree.
Many thanks,
Chris.
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