# Xwindows unable to run in framebuffer mode - Nvidia GT1030 graphics card



## lawksalawdy (Dec 5, 2019)

Hello,

I am an experienced Linux user who has been trying to learn FreeBSD with a view to replacing Linux with FreeBSD on my main desktop PC. To this end I successfully installed FreeBSD on an older Intel PC; after a lot of trial and error I settled on FreeBSD with XFCE and got it stable and working very well, so well that yesterday I installed FreeBSD 12.1 on a new PC - an AMD 2600 processor with a Gigabyte GeForce GT 1030 Nvidia graphics card. The install went fine but I have  been unable to get X11 / Xorg working with a consequence that XFCE will not load. I am hoping the FreeBSD community might be able to pinpoint the problem and suggest a solution.

Logs indicate that "xinit is unable to connect to xserver - connection refused"; digging a bit deeper it seems that the main problem is that xwindows cannot run in framebuffer mode. My main source of information has been https://docs.freebsd.org/doc/7.3-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/en/articles/compiz-fusion/nvidia-setup.html but it seems this documentation is outdated and no longer correct. There are a lot of posts online; I tried the most likely but none provided a solution and I don't have a working FreeBSD instance.

Can anyone in the very helpful and knowledgeable FreeBSD community suggest a definitive solution.

Thanks,

Ron Chambers
Melbourne, Australia


----------



## shkhln (Dec 6, 2019)

lawksalawdy said:


> I am an experienced Linux user



We don't care whether you consider yourself experienced, newbie or whatever user. The only thing that matters is the description of the issue.



lawksalawdy said:


> Logs indicate that "xinit is unable to connect to xserver - connection refused"; digging a bit deeper it seems that the main problem is that xwindows cannot run in framebuffer mode.



Please, quote that part precisely. Do not try to retell it.



lawksalawdy said:


> My main source of information has been https://docs.freebsd.org/doc/7.3-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/en/articles/compiz-fusion/nvidia-setup.html but it seems this documentation is outdated and no longer correct.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebsd#Version_history


----------



## SirDice (Dec 6, 2019)

lawksalawdy said:


> digging a bit deeper it seems that the main problem is that xwindows cannot run in framebuffer mode.


I agree with shkhln post the logs not your interpretation of it. Your interpretation is wrong.  



lawksalawdy said:


> My main source of information has been https://docs.freebsd.org/doc/7.3-RELEASE/usr/share/doc/en/articles/compiz-fusion/nvidia-setup.html but it seems this documentation is outdated and no longer correct.


Try the _current_ handbook instead: Handbook: 5.4. Xorg Configuration


----------



## shkhln (Dec 6, 2019)

Maybe not exactly wrong interpretation, however Xorg has a peculiar habit of putting an _actual_ error message right before some generic phrase, such as "No screens found", which makes it relatively easy to overlook. We also need to know which driver Xorg was attempting to load.


----------



## lawksalawdy (Dec 6, 2019)

Thanks for responding.

I understand that an individual's interpretation is not the best place to start problem determination. However, I can't post logs because - as my post says - I don't have a working FreeBSD instance.


----------



## shkhln (Dec 7, 2019)

Well, you might want to start from scratch with these instructions: https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/howto-setup-xorg-with-nvidias-driver.52311/#post-293480. If even that guide fails you, then, I'm afraid, you will have to learn how to copy logs to a flash drive.


----------



## lawksalawdy (Dec 8, 2019)

I did follow that post but I still couldn't get xwindows to start  because of the framebuffer issue; maybe I mis-typed something. When I have some spare time I will install the latest NVIDIA driver and try again. Yes, I will have to learn to copy logs to a flash drive but that also takes time because of the need to configure FreeBSD the correct way to allow auto mounting of USBs that can be read by Linux.

Thanks for your help.


----------



## T-Daemon (Dec 8, 2019)

lawksalawdy said:


> Yes, I will have to learn to copy logs to a flash drive but that also takes time because of the need to configure FreeBSD the correct way to allow auto mounting of USBs that can be read by Linux.


You don't need to take detours transporting logs on USB sticks to another OS with a graphical system. Obviously you have a working internet connection from the FreeBSD installation, that means you can post the content of the log files, or any other file, directly from the console with a program from the ports collection.

Install misc/pastebinit, usage example: `cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | pastebinit` . That command will send the content of the file to https://pastebin.com , at the same time it will print a short URL to that sent copy in the console, post that URL in your message.


----------

