X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

[sleepless.knight]

It's like someone has pressed Ctrl+Alt+Backspace. KDE ditches or X Server (whichever) and then it all has to restart X and I'm back to a login prompt.

It has happened when I am using a variety of applications, kontact, dolphin, etc.

I have the following xorg.conf

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
Fontpath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "glx"
Load "GLcore"
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
Boardname "i810"
Busid "PCI:0:2:0"
Driver "intel"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Vendorname "Dell"
Modelname "Dell 1024x768 Laptop Display Panel"
Horizsync 31.5-48.5
Vertrefresh 59.0-75.0
modeline "640x480@60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
modeline "640x480@72" 31.5 640 664 704 832 480 489 491 520 -vsync -hsync
modeline "640x480@75" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -vsync -hsync
modeline "800x600@72" 50.0 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@75" 49.5 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync
modeline "800x600@60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
Gamma 1.09
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 1024 768
Modes "1024x768@60" "800x600@60" "800x600@75" "800x600@72" "640x480@75" "640x480@72" "640x480@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen 0 "Default Screen" 0 0
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
Section "device" #
Identifier "device1"
Boardname "i810"
Busid "PCI:0:2:0"
Driver "i810"
Screen 1
EndSection
Section "screen" #
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Defaultdepth 24
Monitor "monitor1"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768@60"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "monitor" #
Identifier "monitor1"
Vendorname "Plug 'n' Play"
Modelname "Plug 'n' Play"
modeline "1024x768@60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -vsync -hsync
Gamma 1.0
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
EndSection

Any ideas?

Thanks.

- Carl.

[Snowhog]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

II 8.10 doesn't use the xorg.conf file anymore (at least the vast majority of it's contents). If you have the screen saver active, try turning it off and see if things don't improve.

[gdoutch]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

I've had this problem. Try disabling the desktop effects (if you haven't already done so):

System settings > Desktop > effects

That fixed it for me.

[sleepless.knight]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

More specifically, under desktop effects, it becomes far more stable if I select Advanced Options and disable direct rendering. Did that and got no crashes all evening. Re-enabled that and death soon followed.

Just for giggles gdoutch, can you try turning the effects back on and disabling direct rendering just to see if you get the same stability improvement I do?

Thanks.

[gdoutch]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

I seem to be stable enough, but I'll give it a try when I get time...

[gdoutch]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

OK done. I've been using it for quite a while now and no crashes!

[KeithZG]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

Out of curiousity, is it still possible to override things by putting them in the xorg.conf file? Or is there some other place instead? Or is there literally less of an ability to directly fiddle with the new version of Xorg? (Not that it's necessarily a bad thing if it doesn't need fiddling, but for many of my computers they've needed rather invasive xorg.conf editing to get working properly, and this would also explain why no matter what I do I cannot get my old computer on 8.10 to boot at 85Hz).

[Snowhog]

Re: X or KDM dying with monotonous regularity...

See What is up with xorg.conf