Announcement

**bigmac60** · Dec 02, 2009, 06:36 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

I 'upgraded?' to 4.3.4 last night and all seemed well. This morning kwin crashed and
I got to a console and restarted the computer. Since then kdm starts up in a resolution
that is unusable. If I ctrl alt f1 and then ctrl alt f7 kdm is at the right resolution. After
login desktop effects are disabled and I cannot enable them. I've tried a couple of things
to force kdm to start at the right resolution but no luck. I wouldn't think kwin crash would
affect kdm so I'm thinking something broke from recent updates. Desktop effects is affecting
more than one user so I don't know what to think! I'm so confused. At least it still functions
until I find the fix or more updates come along.

bob

**Guest** · Dec 02, 2009, 09:15 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

I was having the same problem and so are others as discussed here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=8429972

So looks like something is messed with the new KDM 4.3.4

I fixed mine by setting it to use gdm instead of kdm.

From the terminal:
"sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm"
then select gdm
reboot.

Computer 1 (nvidia): was able to login using recovery mode and do this easily
Computer 2 (intel): recovery mode didn't even work and kept giving me a black screen after it tried to start in low graphics mode. The xorg error was about not finding the "i810" driver. easily logged in via ssh to fix.

I feel really sorry for non-command line people when this sort of thing happens.

Hope this helps someone.

**bigmac60** · Dec 05, 2009, 08:39 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Because everything was kinda working I waited to see if
any further updates came along and they did. Kernel update
this morning and all is well. I ended up having to edit
menu.lst myself but think I caused that issue myself.

bob

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 05, 2009, 10:28 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

This may be related to another bug that is causing kdm to attempt to start twice, resulting in the "Low Graphics" error. You might try the following, which has worked here:

Code:

cd /etc/init
sudo mv failsafe-x.conf failsafe-x.conf-disable
cd /etc/init.d
sudo mv failsafe-x failsafe-x-disable

Then reboot and see if this helps.

Edit: P.S. If you find you need to use GDM, then to shut down from kde, choose logout, and then shut down from the gdm screen.

**rick001** · Dec 06, 2009, 07:13 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Originally posted by gsking123

-[ snip ]-

From the terminal:
"sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm"
then select gdm
reboot.

-[ snip ]-

Hope this helps someone.

Greetings gsking123,

I got to this thread and thought: .o0(Yes! Here's the fix!)

Alas, it didn't work. I performed the above command and found that gdm was not install. Sooo... I installed it and made it default. I re-booted thinking: .o0(Now this thing will boot into my preferred resolution.) It didn't, it still goes to the highest resolution this new monitor can handle, 1600x900. I prefer 1024x768, always have and always will.

When I go to System settings/Display, it shows my preferred resolution as default, but does not boot into it. My laptop always boots into 1024x768, but not this PC, and has never. I always have had to change the resolution.

Way back, when I tinkered with FreeBSD, I remember a config file I had to edit to make my preferred resolution default, but I cannot remember the file name. Does Ubuntu / Kubuntu use a similar config file for this?

I am somewhat comfortable with the command line. After all, I started out with MS-DOG and an OS called OS-9 that blew MS-DOG out of the universe. (NOTE: OS-9, not to be confused with Apple's Mac OS9.)

I do not get the "Low graphics" error. I just do not get my preferred resolution upon booting.

Squinting at 1600x900 in the Mid-West, U.S.A. -_-

Rick

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 06, 2009, 10:13 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

I do not get the "Low graphics" error. I just do not get my preferred resolution upon booting.

See if this thread helps:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Res...in%20xorg.conf

I kept my CoCo running for over 10 years. Guess why?

an OS called OS-9 that blew MS-DOG out of the universe.

And still does.

**rick001** · Dec 06, 2009, 10:29 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Originally posted by doctordruidphd

-[ snip ]-

I kept my CoCo running for over 10 years. Guess why?

an OS called OS-9 that blew MS-DOG out of the universe.

And still does.

Greetings Doc,

I went back to the kdm manager. For whatever weird reason, I had no restart or shutdown buttons with gdm. Go figure. I needed to do a re-boot after a few updates. Didn't fix my resolution problem either.

I still have my CoCos, all 4 of them. 2 CoCo 3s one CoCo 2 and a CoCo 1. I did have the CoCo 3 out a while back, just to reminisce, but packed it away again. I first started C programming on my CoCo. Had 3 windows open, one for edit, one for compile and one for test. It was cool!

I really liked OS-9, there was so much you could do that could not be done, that I know of, with MS-DOG. Try modifying a file descriptor, directly on disk, without the use of an editor, with MS-DOG. I did that so many times on my CoCo's HD!

Well, gotta run...

Reminiscing in the Mid-West, U.S.A.

Rick

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 06, 2009, 08:59 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

It seems there is a patch now to fix the kdm problem.
The problem is caused by ubuntu startup scripts expecting to see gdm. When gdm fails to start, the startup scripts automatically start a failsafe-x session, along with kdm trying to start normally.
The patch is here:
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/365043...-upstart.patch

It works here, almost. There is still another problem - even after the fix, I am getting text on both tty1 and tty8, which should not exist. Trying to start in rescue mode still fails, due to the text on tty8 overwriting the screen. But the bootup problem is temporarily resolved with this patch.

For those not familiar with patching software:

First, if you followed my workaround, then you will need to:

Code:

sudo mv /etc/init/failsafe-x.conf-disable /etc/init/failsafe-x.conf
sudo mv /etc/init.d/failsafe-x-disable /etc/init.d/failsafe-x

Download the text from the link above, and save it as failsafe-upstart.patch
Then:

Code:

sudo cp failsafe-upstart.patch /etc/init
cd /etc/init
sudo cp failsafe-x.conf failsafe-x.conf-backup
sudo patch <failsafe-upstart.patch
 name of file to patch: failsafe-x.conf

That should do it.

**rick001** · Dec 07, 2009, 08:34 AM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Originally posted by doctordruidphd

-[ snip ]-
Then:

Code:

sudo cp failsafe-upstart.patch /etc/init
cd /etc/init
sudo cp failsafe-x.conf failsafe-x.conf-backup
sudo patch <failsafe-upstart.patch
 name of file to patch: failsafe-x.conf

That should do it.

Greetings Doc,

Well, all went well until I got to the "patch" command. I received this error message:

sudo: patch: command not found

I searched through Adept and found nothing remotely related to patching files. Any ideas?

Stuck in the patch in the Mid-West, U.S.A.

Rick

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 07, 2009, 02:30 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Code:

sudo apt-get install patch

is how I got it.

If that doesn't work, you can install the change manually.
Backup your failsafe-x.conf file, and then edit it using sudo.
Delete the bottom line in the file that says, "exec /etc/gdm/failsafeXServer".
After the word "task", on a new line, insert this:

Code:

script
    if [ ! -f /etc/X11/default-display-manager -o "$(cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager 2>/dev/null)" = "/usr/sbin/gdm" ]; then
        /etc/gdm/failsafeXServer
    fi
end script

This may all be irrelevant now or in the near future. There has been a lot of activity regarding bug # 491483 on Launchpad, and evidently new packages with the fix have been uploaded. Not sure when these will make it into the normal updates.

**rick001** · Dec 07, 2009, 03:42 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Originally posted by doctordruidphd

Code:

sudo apt-get install patch

is how I got it.
-[ snip ]-
This may all be irrelevant now or in the near future. There has been a lot of activity regarding bug # 491483 on Launchpad, and evidently new packages with the fix have been uploaded. Not sure when these will make it into the normal updates.

Greetings Doc,

I got and installed patch. I patched the file per your previous instructions and the patch work like a champ. Thank you!

I do believe things are starting to look up for this old PC. Now I just need to tackle the resolution "glitch" and all will be well.

I seem to remember doing some patch work with OS-9, way back in the day.

Looking up and all I see are snow clouds in the Mid-West, U.S.A.

Rick

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 08, 2009, 04:20 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

Per the bug discussion on Launchpad, today's update includes a fixed gdm package, which solves this issue. I reverted to the pre-patched version of /etc/init/failsafe-x.conf, and the new gdm package seems to fix the whole mess.

**sinojos** · Dec 08, 2009, 05:45 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

So you guys know. You can always use startx from the console. When you get that error pop up click ok then on the next pop up select exit to console login. Login and use the command startx. You do not need a login manager to start xorg. Saves a lot of fiddling around while waiting for a patch. Whenever xorg won't start use the command line startx if it does not work you will get a message in the console giving you the error.

**doctordruidphd** · Dec 08, 2009, 07:44 PM

Re: kdm abnormality after upgrading to 4.3.4?

You can always use startx from the console.

True. But if you trace through all of the scripts it executes, you find that in Ubuntu and its variants, it winds up starting gdm or kdm or whatever is listed in /etc/X11/default-display-manager . The same thing is accomplished by:

Code:

sudo service kdm start

or gdm or whatever, from the text console. So startx won't get you out of problems, unless you bypass the scripts and go straight to xterm or whatever (like the old days).

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