X not starting properly on boot

[Taylor "Ripps" LeMasurier-Wren]

After the latest round of updates, including kernel 2.6.31.15 and ureadahead, I lost the ability to use compositing in X. I checked to make sure my radeon modules were loaded, and everything seemed okay. However, in order to fix, I need to go to a tty terminal and stop gdm, modprobe -r radeon drm, modprobe radeon, start gdm. After all that, compositing would work again. This seems to happen on every boot now.

Also, occasionally, when I boot up my screen will stay black. I think gdm starts, because I hear a login sound effect that plays when the login window appears, but my screen is empty. I can't even switch to a tty terminal, the screen stays black. My only choose is to restart my computer and hope I starts up properly. This seems to only happen sprodically.

My gut tells me this might have something to do with either the latest kernel, or the new ureadahead package. I think something isn't loading properly.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ripps 3366 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/pcmC0D0p: ripps 3366 F...m pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/controlC1: ripps 3366 F.... pulseaudio
 /dev/snd/timer: ripps 3366 f.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Live'/'SB Live! 5.1 (rev.7, serial:0x80641102) at 0xc000, irq 16'
   Mixer name : 'eMicro EM28028'
   Components : 'AC97a:454d4328'
   Controls : 216
   Simple ctrls : 38
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'CX8801'/'Conexant CX8801 at 0xeb000000'
   Mixer name : 'CX88'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 3
   Simple ctrls : 2
Date: Fri Nov 13 08:51:53 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=47239e63-d0a5-416c-a7b5-d0b89be89010
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.

 pan0 no wireless extensions.
Package: linux-image-2.6.31-15-generic 2.6.31-15.50
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=UUID=80aa4d70-6637-4509-80bf-4a2c92914758 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-15.50-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.31-15-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.25
RfKill:
 0: hci0: Bluetooth
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: no
SourcePackage: linux
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-15-generic i686
dmi.bios.date: 08/02/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix Technologies, LTD
dmi.bios.version: 6.00 PG
dmi.board.name: MS-6570
dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenixTechnologies,LTD:bvr6.00PG:bd08/02/2004:svn:pn:pvr:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnMS-6570:rvr:cvn:ct3:cvr:

[Encolpe Degoute (encolpe)]

I have the same problem at every boot time for two laptop : one with an nvidia card and the other with an intel 695 chipset.
Sometimes X launch is successful using i915.modeset=0 on grub line but less than 1 over 10 attempt.
I doesn't know if it comes from the last kernel update or the last X update but it's really critical for me.

[mollitz (mollitz)]

I think https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/491483 this is the same bug

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi Taylor,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 482165

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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