[gm45] X-Server fails to start at boot time, debconf complains about unavailable TERM

[Dominik Stadler]

Binary package hint: xorg

Since upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10 I have trouble getting the xserver and kdm to start up. I did some investigation and found the following log in the kdm.log file:

Dropping master
 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log

X.Org X Server 1.6.4
Release Date: 2009-9-27
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 2.6.24-23-server x86_64 Ubuntu
Current Operating System: Linux dstathink 2.6.31.6toidsta1 #1 SMP Sat Nov 14 19:16:04 CET 2009 x86_64
Kernel command line: root=UUID=00c3d061-bae6-42a6-a329-deefb7d0d350 ro resume=/dev/sda2 usbcore.autosuspend=1 nosplash quiet nosplash crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M
Build Date: 26 October 2009 05:19:56PM
xorg-server 2:1.6.4-2ubuntu4 (buildd@)
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Nov 15 09:24:20 2009
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
Setting master
Dropping master
 ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog
debconf: (TERM is not set, so the dialog frontend is not usable.)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline
debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Readline
debconf: (This frontend requires a controlling tty.)
debconf: falling back to frontend: Teletype
xinit /etc/gdm/failsafeXinit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe -- /usr/bin/X -br -once -config /etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe -logfile /var/log/Xorg.failsafe.log

and X does not start at all. After the initial boot messages, nothing happens any more, CTRL-ALT-F1 does behave strange, it shows a big underlined-cursor. When I then press CTRL-F7, I see the output for the tty1. Alt-SysRq-... allows me to bring down the machine graacefully, but I am not able to get a working console.

When I start in "recovery mode", I can choose "resume normal boot", which brings me to a text console. From there doing "sudo kdm" starts the XServer normally and displays the login prompt.

Attached logs are from a self-compiled kernel, but I have the same thing with the official -14 and -15 kernel from Karmic.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon Nov 16 15:02:23 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
MachineType: LENOVO 205545G
Package: xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=00c3d061-bae6-42a6-a329-deefb7d0d350 ro resume=/dev/sda2 usbcore.autosuspend=1 nosplash crashkernel=384M-2G:64M,2G-:128M single
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_AT:de
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=de_AT.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-16.51~pre2-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu7
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.1~git20091107.9348ac03-0ubuntu0~xup~1
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati N/A
SourcePackage: xorg
Uname: Linux 2.6.31.6toidsta1 x86_64
dmi.bios.date: 05/15/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 6FET71WW (3.01 )
dmi.board.name: 205545G
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr6FET71WW(3.01):bd05/15/2009:svnLENOVO:pn205545G:pvrThinkPadT500:rvnLENOVO:rn205545G:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 205545G
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T500
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: x86_64kernel: 2.6.31.6toidsta1

[lspci]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
     Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:2114]

[Dominik Stadler (dominik-stadler)]

KDM-Logfile that shows the strange errors from debconf.

[Dominik Stadler (dominik-stadler)]

so my laymans analysis would be that X tries to reconfigure itself and fails miserably. The first question then is why does it need to reconfigure in the first place? Can I turn that off?

[Dominik Stadler (dominik-stadler)]

Could this be related to Bug #491483?

[Dominik Stadler (dominik-stadler)]

FYI, I still have this problem when using KDM. When I configure GDM it works fine. Even the updates to Karmic that should affect exactly such a case when both KDM and GDM are installed did not solve the problem for me.

[Chris Wilson (ickle)]

It's the DE failing to start causing X to quit, then the DM trying to spawn the fallback before X has cleaned up.