[solved] X11 in stretch doesn't seem to work as documented

[agrimstad]

I have what I think is a completely standard gnome3 installation in stretch, installed new, not upgraded.

The gnome3 settings applet Displays says my monitor is unrecognized. Fine. There's supposedly a fix using get-edid and parse-edid. This gives one a "Monitor" section that one can plug into xorg.conf. Of course, there's no such file, but not to worry, there is a recipe to generate it. So, to be really simple I boot into rescue mode and run Xorg -configure which gives me an xorg.conf.new file.

Here'e where the problems begin. Before modifying this file, I simply rename it /etc/X11/org.conf and reboot. The system hangs at this point:

Reached Target Graphical Interface
...
Started Update UTMP about System Runlevel Changes

Two things I've learned about this. First, delete the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and reboot and the problem is gone. Second, if I leave the xorg.conf file and boot into the recovery console and then exit it, not only does gdm3 start, but when I log in and check the settings applet Display, my monitor is recognized. Note that I DID NOT yet make any changes to the xorg.conf.new file to configure the monitor.

I'm not using any weird graphics card. Graphics is via the Intel CPU with the i915 driver module.

So, what is up here? What documents should I be looking at? https://wiki.debian.org/Xorg is definitely not correct for what the stretch version that the debian installer has given me.

[sunrat]

Need to know more about your hardware. Please install inxi and post the results of

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inxi -F

[agrimstad]

inxi -F

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System:    Host: bigtooth Kernel: 4.9.0-3-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit) Desktop: N/A
           Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)
Machine:   Device: desktop System: ASUS product: All Series
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: Q87M-E v: Rev X.0x serial: 150443051900957
           BIOS: American Megatrends v: 1602 date: 04/27/2016
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i5-4440S (-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB 
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1871 MHz 2: 1100 MHz 3: 1596 MHz
           4: 2839 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)
           tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Card-2 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.9.0-3-amd64
Network:   Card: Intel Ethernet Connection I217-LM driver: e1000e
           IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full
           mac: 08:62:66:4e:1b:00
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 2000.4GB (1.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1005FBYZ size: 1000.2GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: WDC_WD1005FBYZ size: 1000.2GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 4.6G used: 375M (9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1
           ID-2: /usr size: 64G used: 3.9G (7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-5
           ID-3: /var size: 922M used: 438M (52%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-2
           ID-4: /home size: 458G used: 2.0G (1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0
           ID-5: /tmp size: 7.3G used: 34M (1%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-3
           ID-6: swap-1 size: 16.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-4
RAID:      Device-1: /dev/md1 - active raid: 1 components: online: 2/2 - sda2 sdb2
           Device-2: /dev/md0 - active raid: 1 components: online: 2/2 - sda1 sdb1
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 29.8C mobo: 27.8C
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 313 Uptime: 1:32 Memory: 1143.9/15924.1MB
           Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.5 

[Head_on_a_Stick]

The gnome3 settings applet Displays says my monitor is unrecognized.

Is this the only problem?

Does the graphical desktop work otherwise?

Please post the *full* content (and name and full path) of your Xorg configuration file.

The system hangs at this point

Did you try switching to a TTY?

I suspect that the Debian stretch system is perfectly functional and not at all "hanged" and you just don't know what to do without your graphical crutch

[sunrat]

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Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)

This could be a problem. fbdev doesn't provide acceleration and Gnome won't work properly without it.

[agrimstad]

Is this the only problem?

Does the graphical desktop work otherwise?

Please post the *full* content (and name and full path) of your Xorg configuration file.

Yes, this is the only problem, not counting a suspend/resume issue. I put the xorg.conf file in /etc/X11, where I believe it's supposed to go.

As I tried to explain, stretch works. I was trying to clean up a small issue with the Displays settings applet when I discovered this behavior, which doesn't seem to me to be correct.

[agrimstad]

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Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)

This could be a problem. fbdev doesn't provide acceleration and Gnome won't work properly without it.

The graphics is provided by the Intel CPU, not a separate card. The debian installer did install the right package for Intel, I believe:

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xserver-xorg-video-intel:amd64/jessie 2:2.21.15-2+b2 uptodate

Shouldn't /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so be running, then? I don't see it:

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# lsmod|grep -i intel
intel_rapl             20480  0 
intel_powerclamp       16384  0 
ghash_clmulni_intel    16384  0 
snd_hda_intel          36864  3 
cryptd                 24576  1 ghash_clmulni_intel
snd_hda_codec         135168  4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_via
snd_hda_core           81920  5 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_via
intel_cstate           16384  0 
snd_pcm               110592  4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core,snd_hda_codec_hdmi
intel_uncore          122880  0 
intel_rapl_perf        16384  0 
snd                    86016  14 snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_hda_codec,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_via
crc32c_intel           24576  2 

[agrimstad]

On the same hardware (but different storage), I have an earlier installation of stretch, where the Displays settings applet recognizes my display. There is a slight difference in the inxi output.

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Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           tty size: 100x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root

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Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)
           tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root

modesetting seems to work better than fbdev. I have no idea why the two installations differ in this respect.

I will check if creating an xorg.conf file causes problems in this other installation and report back.

[agrimstad]

OK. I sorted this problem out. The short explanation is: my bad!

The source of the problem was changes I made to /etc/default/grub:

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< GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet"
---
> GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet nomodeset"
23a24,25
> GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768
> GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep

I did this because the kernel was spitting out a lot of hex codes because it didn't understand the display I was using. I found this way to quiet things somewhere out there on the web.

Reverting to the originally installed /etc/default/grub made all the problems go away. I was able to create an xorg.conf file, which didn't cause problems. And the gnome settings Displays applet works now.

Two things to mention that I don't understand. First, now when I boot, the old problem of the kernel spewing video hex codes has gone away. And the the bit about the video driver shown in the output to inxi -F is still:

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Graphics:  Card: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           Display Server: X.org 1.19.2 drivers: fbdev (unloaded: modesetting,vesa)
           tty size: 140x49 Advanced Data: N/A for root

So fbdev doesn't seem to be a problem.