Unable to switch Virtual Terminal with C-A-F[1-6] on Intel-based new laptop

[Martin Nordholts]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-core

I am unable to switch VT on my new Intel-based laptop.

At first I thought this was design choice to avoid confusion for new users, but when I explicitly set

(**) Option "DontVTSwitch" "false"

in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, and it still didn't work, and when there was a guy in #ubuntu-devel on irc.freenode.org that runned Gutsy and were able to switch VT, I figured something must be wrong.

It seems as if the bug is in xserver-xorg-core, because I can send C-A-F1 just fine, the keystroke is registered in e.g. GNU Emacs.

What can I do to help hunt down this bug?

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

I'm seeing the same thing, but (a) only after upgrading to hardy (so feel free to tell me to file a new bug!), and (b) only from a logged-in session; from gdm, I can switch VTs just fine. My specific symptom is that it apparently tries to switch (the screen blanks) and then it looks like X intercepts it and switches back before the VT gets a chance to finish displaying. Interestingly, the focused window also seems to get ButtonRelease events for all buttons - I happened to have a pterm focused and its Ctrl-rightclick menu appeared after X regained control.

Enselic, does this match what you see? If it isn't, I'll file a new bug.

I'll attach my Xorg.0.log in a moment. The following text at the end of Xorg.0.log appears during the VT switch attempt (as measured using 'tail -f'):

(II) AIGLX: Suspending AIGLX clients for VT switch
(II) intel(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 0
(II) intel(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 1
(II) intel(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 2
(II) intel(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 3
(II) Open ACPI successful (/var/run/acpid.socket)
(II) AIGLX: Resuming AIGLX clients after VT switch
(II) intel(0): xf86BindGARTMemory: bind key 0 at 0x0077f000 (pgoffset 1919)
(II) intel(0): xf86BindGARTMemory: bind key 1 at 0x01a00000 (pgoffset 6656)
(II) intel(0): xf86BindGARTMemory: bind key 2 at 0x02040000 (pgoffset 8256)
(II) intel(0): xf86BindGARTMemory: bind key 3 at 0x02680000 (pgoffset 9856)
(II) intel(0): Fixed memory allocation layout:
(II) intel(0): 0x00000000-0x0001ffff: ring buffer (128 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x00020000-0x00029fff: HW cursors (40 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x0002a000-0x00031fff: logical 3D context (32 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x00032000-0x00041fff: exa G965 state buffer (64 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x00100000-0x0073ffff: front buffer (6400 kB) X tiled
(II) intel(0): 0x00740000-0x019fffff: exa offscreen (19200 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x0077f000: end of stolen memory
(II) intel(0): 0x01a00000-0x0203ffff: back buffer (6400 kB) X tiled
(II) intel(0): 0x02040000-0x0267ffff: depth buffer (6400 kB) Y tiled
(II) intel(0): 0x02680000-0x0467ffff: classic textures (32768 kB)
(II) intel(0): 0x10000000: end of aperture
(II) intel(0): Output configuration:
(II) intel(0): Pipe A is off
(II) intel(0): Display plane A is now disabled and connected to pipe A.
(II) intel(0): Pipe B is on
(II) intel(0): Display plane B is now enabled and connected to pipe B.
(II) intel(0): Output VGA is connected to pipe none
(II) intel(0): Output LVDS is connected to pipe B
(II) intel(0): Output TMDS-1 is connected to pipe none
(II) intel(0): Output TV is connected to pipe none
(II) intel(0): [drm] dma control initialized, using IRQ 16
(--) Synaptics Touchpad auto-dev sets device to /dev/input/event4
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event4"
(--) Synaptics Touchpad touchpad found
(II) Configured Mouse: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded

[Martin Nordholts (enselic)]

I am also able to switch VTs in the gdm login prompt, but not when I have logged in.

xev seems to recieve Ctrl + Alt + F1 just fine, but for me the X server is not even attempting a terminal switch(, tail -f /var/log/Xorg.0.log and Ctrl + Alt + F1 after focusing the desktop does not give additional output as in your case).

Even if our symptoms appear to be slightly different, I would guess that the cause of the bug is the same.

[Nicolò Chieffo (yelo3)]

It is possible to switch to the VT hitting ctrl alt f1 lots of times. If you hit only once you will be pushed back to X. Try!

[Nanley Chery (nanoman)]

Could Bug #173376 be a duplicate of this problem?

[Sachin Garg (ascii79)]

I am also having the same problem..

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

This was probably introduced by the 1.4.1pre upload of xorg-server (1.4.0 was fine). I've seen this with a Thinkpad X60 I had for testing.

[Rich (rincebrain)]

Just to point it out, I feel unique on this bug in that I'm using the nonfree NVIDIA driver, so this isn't specific to the Intel driver.

[Karl.Mo (partyboi2)]

I am also have this problem with Hardy as well. When trying to access terminal it is changing to a black screen for a sec or two, then returning to desktop.

[Durand D'souza (durand1)]

Same problem here...on hardy with the nvidia non free driver for my gfx card. This is on a Dell Intel PC.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Enselic, what does:

  dpkg -l consolekit | grep ^.i

say for you? If it produces no output, then we have two different bugs, since I've found that the problem I'm having is actually consolekit's fault rather than that of the X server.

(For all Hardy users, I expect that they're running into the consolekit problem.)

[Martin Nordholts (enselic)]

ouptut is

  ii consolekit 0.2.1-1ubuntu2 framework for defining and tracking users, sessions and seats

Interesting that you have found out this is a consolekit problem, please let me know if you have a fix as well :)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

consolekit (0.2.3-3ubuntu1) hardy; urgency=low

  * Sync with Debian
  * debian/control:
    - updated maintainer information
  * debian/patches/consolekit-park.patch:
    - use the initial gdm server, updated patch using the gutsy version
      (LP: #131751)

consolekit (0.2.3-3) unstable; urgency=low

  * debian/control
    - The Vcs-* fields are now officially supported, so remove the XS- prefix.
    - Bump Standards-Version to 3.7.3. No further changes required.
    - Drop dependency on lsb-base, as we no longer install a SysV init script.
    - Tighten dependency on dbus (>= 1.1.2). This is required for the D-Bus
      system activation support.
  * debian/consolekit.init
    - Deleted, no longer required.
  * debian/consolekit.install
    - Install the D-Bus service file debian/org.freedesktop.ConsoleKit.service
      into /usr/share/dbus-1/system-services. This allows to start the
      ConsoleKit service on demand.
  * debian/consolekit.preinst
    - Make sure the conffile /etc/init.d/consolekit and its symlinks in
      /etc/rc?.d are properly removed on package upgrades.

 -- Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden> Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:37:23 +0100

[Peter L Jones (peter-drealm)]

Is there any additional configuration required to enable VT switching from a gdm login screen / logged in session? It's still not working here (with consolekit 0.2.3-3).

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

Hi,
I see the same in on an updated hardy and also before the login so it seems not fixed.
Note that i use `CONCURENCY=shell` in `/etc/init.d/rc` and I can switch the VT with usplash started only before the starting of gdm.

[Sarah Kowalik (hobbsee-deactivatedaccount)]

this has fixed the problem for me. Thanks!

[Kevin Wang (kevin-xuepu-wang)]

This issue has been fixed in Alpha2. Thanks

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

Thank you for your help, but I still have the problem.
Can I reopen the bug, please?

[Sarah Kowalik (hobbsee-deactivatedaccount)]

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Andrea Corbellini wrote:
> Thank you for your help, but I still have the problem.
> Can I reopen the bug, please?
>

yours sounds like a different problem. You should report it on another
bug, with more detail.
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[Xiaoyang Yu (xiaoyang-yu)]

But this bug is not fixed on Weybridge with Hardy Alpha 2.

Steps to reproduce:

* Press C-A-F[1-6], the screen turns black and the monitor turns into powersave mode.
* Press C-A-F7, the X appears again.

Please see attached xorg.conf and Xorg.0.log.

[Kevin Wang (kevin-xuepu-wang)]

OK, I am testing on SantaRosa platform, Thanks XIaoyang for the correction.

thanks
Kevin

[Martin Nordholts (enselic)]

This also works for me now in Hardy Alpha 3, so someone should probably close this bug as fixed. Thanks for the work you put into Ubuntu!

[Andrea Corbellini (andrea.corbellini)]

I close this bug since it works for me too now.

[Xiaoyang Yu (xiaoyang-yu)]

It is fixed on Weybridge with Hardy Alpha 3.