startx error in gentoo

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

I have an LC2464 [that's an amd64 laptop] and I didn't like the way gentoo was intalled on in when it came, so I decided to re-install it myself [without the recovery dvd, but the fresh download I might add]. Well, after an exhaustive leaning experience getting the base system up and running, I emerged X using the xorg.conf file that was originally on the computer and then emerged ati-drivers. I do not know how much it matters and that it is not logical to do, but I emerged KDE's snapshot before either of those.
I figured then was about time to 'startx' and git-r-done, but X got-r-didn't with an error [I didn't bother putting in all the gobbeldegook of the error, only the parts relevant since I'm copying it manually]:
"
Synaptics Mouse no synaptics event device found (checked 14 nodes)
Synaptics Mouse The evdev kernel module seems to be missing
Query no Synaptics: 6003C8
(EE) Synaptics Mouse no synaptics touchpad detected and no repeater device
(EE) Synaptics Mouse Unable to query/initialize Synaptics hardware.
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Synaptics Mouse"
No core pointer

Fatal Server error:
failed to initialize core devices

"
"Kernel BUG at mm/swap.c:49"
...
et cetera
...
<1>Fixing recursive fault but reboot is needed!"



According to "nano /var/log/Xorg.0.log",
that synaptics seems to be the beginning of the error.

Before it said that the synaptics was missing entirely, but I managed to emerge a masked version from somewhere in /usr and now it is evdev missing but that doesn't seem to be emerge-able.

[je_fro]

sounds like you need to be loading the evdev and hid modules...I usually build them in...

Device Drivers --->Input device support ---><*> Event interface

and

Device Drivers --->USB support ---><*> USB Human Interface Device (full HID) support and HID input layer support

[wheelnut]

I used to occasionally get an error like this myself on Fedora. Try

rmmod psmouse
modprobe psmouse

ie, unload and reload the psmouse driver (assuming it is a module) and try again. I ended up compiling the thing directly into the kernel and it is ok now...

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

This is the first thing I have tried that gave me a noteworthy response, Je_fro.

Ok, used too, it would flash the screen a brighter shade of black like it was starting X after startx, and then it would flash back and give me that error. Now it just stays brighter and freezes. Not even ctl-alt-F2 to change console or ctl-alt-delete will work. I hate doing this, but I had to pull the plug.
That's only the second time I'v ever seen linux freeze like that.

nano /var/log/Xorg.0.log says at the end of the file:

"
(--) Synaptics Mouse touchpad found
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/, removing from list!
Synaptics DeviceOFF called
"
:eek: :confused:

What does that mean?!

Checked /etc/X11/xorg.conf, but nothing in particular that I saw jumped out at me as suspicious about it.

[je_fro]

don't worry about the font error...try grep EE /var/log/Xorg.0.log
try to get another box and ssh to the frozen box...it's likely still up and you can find the error by looking at dmesg and /var/log/messages.
Also, I've seen weird things with "built-in" vs. "modues". Try making those as modules (if you built them in) or vice-versa...

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

and ssh to the frozen box...it's likely still up and you can find the error by looking at dmesg and /var/log/messages.

...uh, I don't mean to sound stupid, but ssh to the frozen box? I'v never even heard of it. I thought ssh was secured shell for the internet. I'v got a ethernet router and a couple of ethernet wires if that's what I need.

I'll try rebuilding those things as modules first.

And by the way, your new avatar has replaced Hillary Clinton in my nightmares. :eek:

----------update
ok, I figured out what it is and I'm working on it.

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

Ok......

"
ssh 192.168.0.100 dmesg
ssh: connect to host 192.168.0.100 port 22: Connection refused
"
It works going from my gentoo notebook to my slack desktop, but I need it the other way around and then I get the above error. I can't seem to figure that one out.

I tried emerge iptables and then "iptables -I FORWARD -p all -s 192.168.0.102 -d 22 -j ACCEPT" but that changed nothing.

[je_fro]

is sshd starting on the laptop?
/etc/init.d/sshd start
rc-update add sshd default

[cybertron]

It's also possible that it actually is hung when you get the black screen. I seem to recall some having problems with that and the nvidia drivers, don't know whether the same could happen with yours.

[WhiteKnight]

The new modular X has some problems with nvidia's binary drivers when i was last trying it 1 or 2 months back. X kept acting strangely until I reverted back to the old Xorg.

wat version of X are u using?

[cybertron]

Yeah, there were some changes in Xorg 7.1 that nVidia didn't keep up with until pretty recently, although I think they were more related to fonts not rendering properly than locking up. Never know though.

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

I'm not sure how to tell what version of X I am using.
My graphics card is an 128MB ATI Radeon 9700 but I did see many similar problems with nvidia drivers while resolving various problems online.

When I tried
/etc/init.d/sshd start
it told me "For DHCP (dhclient) support, emerge net-misc/dhcp" and that tried to emerge but timed out and I kinda hit a wall there.

[je_fro]

He shouldn't have xorg-7.1.1 unless he enabled ~x86 packages...

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

X window system Version 6.8.2.

I can't believe I couldn't figure that out earlier.

[je_fro]

that's ancient...I'm betting if you do an emerge --sync there will be hundreds of packages needing updates, and plenty of headache ahead. Gentoo is one of those systems that you need to keep up to date...failure to do so leads to problems like these.

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

Your right. Hundreds was an understatement so this might take a while.

While doing emerge --update portage I saw a warning that it was doing a unmerge wizz up the screen. It says nothing about that being involved in --update in the man page. Should it be doing that?

[cybertron]

After merging newer versions of the packages it will unmerge the old version, at least in most cases (some stuff like kernel sources gets installed into different slots so you can keep multiple versions around).

Edit: BTW, somewhere along the line you're going to run into at least one gcc upgrade. You might want to take care of that right away so that you don't end up having to recompile your entire system twice.

[Omnscnt(Sortof)]

"emerge --update gcc" failed. Should I just go on? I really need this up and running before friday so I'm not sure if it will make enough of a difference to matter.

When I do just emerge --update system, it tells me

!!! Error: the <=x11-base/xorg-x11-6.9 package conflicts with another package;

Then it told me that the two packages cannot be used on the same system and to use emerge --pretend to determine blockers. I looked it up and wound up looking at potential solutiotons that either don't work or are rather questionable.

What should I do about this now?

I hate these compounding problems.

[je_fro]

The place you really oughtta be looking is www.gentoo.org:

http://www.gentoo.org/proj/en/desktop/x/x11/modular-x-howto.xml
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/gcc-upgrading.xml
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-493662
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-494331