Help plz...my startx doesn't work anymore???

[drewstealth]

Hi, I'm very knew to linux. I've been learning with slackware 12 and I enjoy the challenges it brings. I just installed openoffice.org. I installed it on the user account andrew. After i rebooted my computer and try startx on account andrew it just goes to a black screen with only a black x for the mouse pointer. It just hangs there forever. startx works fine on my root account still. Please help me fix what i messed up. Thanks.

[Freston]

Welcome to the forums!

You say you are a new user running Slackware 12? I ask this to estimate our proficiency with the command line, because Slack isn't as point-n-clicky as is so popular with the kids today It _is_ a fun and rewarding challenge however. And a very reliable and flexible OS. With some effort you really get to know your system inside out.

I assume you can edit files from the command line and have settled on an editor to use.

First, how did you install Openoffice.org?
I ask this because OOo defaultly comes as a RPM package, which is installable on a Slack system... but not without some trouble shooting. Did you use the RPM? How did you shoot the troubles Or did you find the Slackpack and just used 'Ye Olde installpkg'? I am very vaguely beginning to have a suspect in the RPM package. Can you answer these questions:

Package format you downloaded
Account you used to install the package
Problems that occurred (probably a truckload of broken dependencies)
How you solved these
Preparations you made
Commands you issued
Parameters you passed
Etcetera
This may seem like a long list, but I just want to make sure we pinpoint the right perpetrator.

Also: What happens if you run this command after boot:

startx 2> ~/andrews_errors

(Well, exactly the same will happen as before, but now you have the error messages stored in a file.)

Copy&paste (using working root account this one time) the contents of ~/andrews_errors here.


If you have any questions feel free to ask.

[drewstealth]

I basically used the instructions in this tutorial. The Perfect Desktop - Slackware 12 - Page 06 | HowtoForge - Linux Howtos and Tutorials

I installed it in the user account andrew. I was able to use the programs no problem before i restarted the computer and tried to use startx again. The files were .gz that I used tar to unzip them. Here is the output out the command you told me to try.

Here is it pasted:

xauth: creating new authority file /home/andrew/.serverauth.3012
xauth: /home/andrew/.Xauthority not writable, changes will be ignored
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/andrew/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/andrew/.Xauthority
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/andrew/.Xauthority


X Window System Version 1.3.0
Release Date: 19 April 2007
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 1.3
Build Operating System: Slackware 12.0 Slackware Linux Project
Current Operating System: Linux linuxlap 2.6.21.5-smp #2 SMP Tue Jun 19 14:58:11 CDT 2007 i686
Build Date: 09 May 2007
Before reporting problems, check X.Org Wiki - Home
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
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: Sun Dec 2 19:24:47 2007
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(II) Module already built-in
(WW) VESA(0): Failed to set up write-combining range (0xe8800000,0x7f0000)
(WW) VESA(0): Failed to set up write-combining range (0xe8000000,0xff0000)
(EE) AIGLX: DRI module not loaded
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:24:50 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified

waiting for X server to begin accepting connections .
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:24:52 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:24:54 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:24:56 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:24:58 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:25:00 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:25:02 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
AUDIT: Sun Dec 2 19:25:04 2007: 3029 X: client 1 rejected from local host (uid 1000)
No protocol specified
..
FreeFontPath: FPE "/usr/share/fonts/misc/" refcount is 2, should be 1; fixing.
.
giving up.
xinit: Connection reset by peer (errno 104): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
xauth: error in locking authority file /home/andrew/.Xauthority

[Freston]

Hmm.... weird?? Weird but clear. I tried to look for you, but the only thing I found that came close to a solution is on a German Ubuntu forum, but it mentions the following as a quick fix:

Basically it says you should delete all files (if there's more than one) in /home/andrew/ that start with .Xauthority
But let's be safe and just rename them to backup.Xauthority, that way you can easily restore it _if_ something goes wrong.

Then startx 2> ~/andrews_errors again


Curious, I tried this on my own machine, and it does create a new .Xauthority file like it promises. That could/should rid you of the errors you recieve. Let us know how it works out.

[drewstealth]

I don't have any files like that in that directory.

[oz]

If you don't already know, files with a . (dot) in front of them are hidden files.

Try this from the command line:

ls -a /home/andrew

[drewstealth]

Thanks for the help. Deleting the .Xauthoity files fixed the problem. There were 3 of them .Xauthority, .Xauthority-a, .Xauthority-l.

I here a lot about dependency issues with slackware. What exactly is that? Why didn't I have to deal with dependency issues?

Thanks.

[oz]

Dependencies are other software packages that the software you are installing need to run properly.

If you installed all the packages on the Slack CDs, you probably won't run into any immediate dependency issues. You might later on if you should install new software packages and there are dependencies not currently installed on your system.