When I try to start X with with the startx command I get errors that no server was installed and I am left back at a shell prompt. What could be wrong?
When you get an error about no servers installed, you should check to see if first the correct X server was installed and that the correct links have been set.
If you are using the latest Red Hat packages, you will be using the xserver-wrapper as a method to protect against various security problems.
/usr/X11R6/bin/X should be a symbolic link to xserver-wrapper and /etc/X11/X should be a symbolic link to the card-specific X server that you use, for example XF86_SVGA.
Here's an example of how you might create these symbolic links, as root:
cd /usr/X11R6/bin ln -sf xserver-wrapper ./X cd /etc/X11 ln -sf "../../usr/X11R6/bin/XF86SVGA" ./X
This should set the symbolic links correctly for your system.
When I start X, all I see is a grey background and a X cursor.
One of the most common reasons is that you are not using the correct command to start the X server. The best command to start the X windows system is:
startx
If you are using this command, and only the gray screen is coming up, there can be some other explanations. First, are you waiting long enough? Due to either the speed of the processor, the amount of memory (less than 16 megs of ram), or network problems it may take up to 6 minutes before X windows is fully operational. In most cases this is an indication of a problem that can be solved (faster CPU, more memory, or finding out what is broken in networking).
Another problem can be that the starting scripts are not able to execute some command. You can try to get around this by creating a very simple /.xinitrc and running startx. You may also check /var/log/Xerrors for errors that might help you troubleshoot the problem.
I would like to change the way Red Hat sets up my X window session. How do I customize the X window manager?
To customize any of the default window manager settings, add or remove programs from the menus, and/or change which programs start up automatically, you will need to change the files in
To try other window managers not included with Red Hat Linux, you may want ot look at:
I don't like the Win95-like window manager configuration. How can I change it?
If you don't like the look or feel of the default window manager setup, you can select a different style from the Preferences menu, and then clicking on WM Style menu.
If you are interested in changing to other window managers, you will want to check out this web page:
I get an error about errno=111. What does it mean and what can I do?
Whenever the XFree86 Xserver crashes, dies, ceases to exist or is inaccessible for any reason, you will see the error message _X11TransSocketUNIXConnect: Can't connect: errno = 111 or one similar to it.
It is a message from an X-client (any program running on your XFree86 Xserver, for example the window manager) telling you that it tried to connect to the Xserver, but failed to do so for some reason.
To further debug this issue, you will need to look into the server output for what got this error. Normally you should see the real error message (why the server stopped to work) a few lines before the error 111 message. If you still can't make head or tail from all those messages, make sure to quote the FULL server output in your problem report (to either technical support or a mailing list).
Obtaining the full server output is normally accomplished by redirecting both standard output and standard error to a file while starting the server. You can do this by running X like this:
startx > startx.out
Other useful information to check are the symbolic links of X, the .xinitrc (if one exists) or what commands were running when the error occurred.
My keyboard mappings don't work correctly in X. What can I do?
If you are using Metro-X you will need to do the following:
cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xkb/keymap cp xfree86 metro
This will solve many of the problems experienced. However it isn't a full solution due to the fact that some of the XFree86 mappings are out of date with modern keyboards. If you still experience problems with the keyboard settings, you will need to use the xmodmap and xev commands to correct the problems. Please send these corrections to bugs@xfree86.org so that they can be corrected in the main distributions.
I get an error message that libX can't be opened. or I can't compile X apps due to missing libraries.
More than likely, the required libraries are not installed. You will need to (re)install the packages to get them.
Insert the Red Hat Linux installation cdrom.
mount /mnt/cdrom cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS rpm -Uvh --force XFree86-devel* XFree86-libs* Xaw3d*
This should install most of the X libraries that you might need. If you still get the error, it may be due to the fact that the requested library is part of a package we do not provide (qt, xforms, motif, etc).
I have an AGP graphics card. Is it supported?
AGP cards were not supported in XFree86 before version 3.3.2. If you have 3.3.2 installed on your system, then Xconfigurator should show which AGP cards are supported.
If you do not already have 3.3.2, you may want to consider upgrading to this release. Please see their web page at http://www.xfree86.org/ for more details.
How do I have X start up at boot versus having to type startx everytime?
To enable X to run at boot time and using xdm to log in, you need to change the file /etc/inittab.
Edit your /etc/inittab file. Replace this line:
id:3:initdefault:
With this one:
id:5:initdefault:
Save your changes, and reboot the machine. (Note you could also manually change init levels to 5 but we find that rebooting the machine is actually less error prone.)
My computer has a NeoMagic graphics card chipset, how can I get X to work?
The NeoMagic cards are NOW supported by XFree86's X servers.
Red Hat worked with Precision Insight on making freely available servers for NDA hardware (like the NeoMagic) that people using any Linux distribution can download and use.
I upgraded from 4.1 (or earlier) and now when I use startx, the machine seems to hang at a grey screen.
The problem is that releases prior to 4.2 installed (.Xclients) in every user's home directory, which calls:
fvwm95-2 -cmd 'FvwmM4 -debug /etc/X11/TheNextLevel/...'
However, this window manager doesn't exist in 5.x. The proper workaround for this problem is to:
rm -f /.Xclients
(A more drastic work workaround is available to the root user):
rm -f /home/*/.Xclients
When I run netscape, the colors don't seem right, or When I run netscape, I get error messages and warnings about colors.
This problem often comes with the error:
Cannot allocate colormap entry for default background.
The reason is that X has run out of colors to allocate to applications (this shows up a lot on 16 and 256 color applications) To solve this problem you can try the following:
startx --bpp 16If it doesn't work, consult your X driver manuals, Xconfigurator or upgrade your videocard.
I am using Accelerated X, but when I try to start it I get this error: Fatal server error: could not open default font 'fixed'. What can I do to fix this?
In 5.x, the fonts come gzipped. Your version of AcceleratedX does not know how to handle this. What you need to do is gzip -d the fonts in your font directory, then run mkfontdir.
I have a Microsoft serial mouse, and Linux doesn't want to work with it. What can I do to fix it?
It has been found that the 2 button Microsoft Mouse of version 2.1A or greater is a "smart" mouse. It has been speculated that it is looking for wakeup signals from Windows, or it will not respond back to the computer.
This causes X and/or gpm to not work with Linux because the mouse is not responding in a way these programs are expecting. To "reset" the mouse to work with these programs, you can follow one of several methods. Use mouseconfig to set things up before running X:
mouseconfig --kickstart --device cuaX
where X is either 0 (for com 1) or 1 (for com2).
Another solution is to get gpm-1.13, run as gpm -t pnp -R, and configure XFree86 for