can't get X to work: can't open default font 'cursor'

[the dsc]

(everything looks weird on text browsers)

Well... I was recently cleaning some space, and I noticed that I was with a different cursor theme than I was before. I tryed to get it back (now I know it was "kubuntu human", which I think it's just a subtle modification (if a modification at all) from KDE's default theme, if that really matters)... I was messing around in kcontrol > peripherals > mouse cursors, and somehow I managed to ruin X server or something.

I think I may have selected some cursor theme and then deleted it, or the other way around. I was actually trying to install one, but I wasn't being able to.

Anyway, kubuntu now doesn't boot properly, it apparently locks on the initialization screen with the logo, but if I press alt+F2 I can log in text mode...

If I try "startx", the message I receive is " could not open default font 'cursor'.

I've searched a little bit about similar problems, in one instance apparently it was solved by installing "artwiz-cursor", which for some reason fails with me. The error message is something related with "--unpack", referring to the .deb package that is somewhere in /var/archives/whatever. I've used sudo for trying to install that.

I've also tryed to install another cursor theme, anything related with "crystal", which partly succeeded, it hasn't the same error I had with "artwiz", but startx doesn't work anyway, which is a hint that the solution would be something else, I guess.

I've also tryed to reinstall KDE althogether (which is frustrating since it install a bunch of other things, even a kanji dictionary and every piece of software they could imagine to invent that begins with "K"), but didn't work; tryed XFCE too; I've also tryed dkpg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, without success. Actually, I received another error message, "no screens found", which seems that is even worst than the cursor theme thing. So I restored xorg.conf from an earlier backup...

Well... any suggestion before I reinstall the system?

I was thinking... it's probably very silly... some configuration file somewhere pointing to a nonexistent cursor file..

[Freston]

I've also tryed to reinstall KDE althogether (which is frustrating since it install a bunch of other things, even a kanji dictionary and every piece of software they could imagine to invent that begins with "K")

They don't all start with 'K', some have a 'K' somewhere in the middle or in the end

Have you tried running from lifeCD? That at least would give you back a graphical browser, which, no offense, is more comfortable than a text browser.

And you can probably copy the cursor theme from there to your HD... I guess.

Good luck!

[the dsc]

Good idea on how to copy the cursor back! I'm going to try that... the only problem is that, for some reason, the cursor settings now seem to work only for KDE itself, which I barely use... I'm using more fluxbox, in which the cursors are all weird right now... some star-trek logo-like default, inconsistently changing to some conventional arrow every now and then...

I do have a live CD, but I prefered to use the text browser since I was trying to figure out how to fix that whole thing, which I wouldn't be able to do from a live CD, since I barely can manually mount the partitions, not to mention edit configuration files as an adminstrator or install something in the "inactive" installation on my HD.

[the dsc]

Wow, I could swer I've edited this topic to mention that I solved the Xserver situation...... perhaps I mentioned that in the other topic I opened about cursor themes...

What I did was installing a bunch of theme and X related stuff through aptitude, which, I must say, is something like a test to your temper when you've never done that before... the program is rather confusing, and package names can be very counter intuitive... I was with the impression that I could uninstall accidentally a lot of stuff due to the program's suggestions, so I spent a long time trying to fix the suggestions, only to later figure that I needed to "become root" prior... and the changes I did were lost... so I did all again, but I thought that I could have missed something, but at least I could reinstall later if I succeeded with restoring X anyway... but as far as now, nothing was gone, except the cursor theme which is even weirder now...

[Freston]

Good you got it solved. X can be rather annoying when you break it, and all it takes is a typo in a configuration file.


Nothing you can't fix though.

From lifeCD:

(sudo) mkdir /mnt/hd
(sudo) mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/hd

(sudo) vim /mnt/hd/etc/xorg.conf (or whatever needs fixing)

All it takes is remembering your lifeCD is now the / (root) partition, and your primary HD is mounted somewhere under that, instead of the other way around as it usually is. This is where new users find most difficulty; what used to be the bottom line in your file system is now a subdirectory in a virtual directory (exists only in RAM) of another file system. Ain't she a beauty?

Well, good you got it sorted.