# Can't get X to work on Toshiba Laptop



## TheGuyGuy (Jul 3, 2009)

Although I've been using FreeBSD for a number of years, I've never gotten X to work. (Actually, I've never needed or wanted it until recently.) But now I'm trying to get it going and it's not working at all.

I upgraded kernels to 7.2-RELEASE last week, but it hasn't done much to help. I'm following the handbook,

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/x-config.html

but it doesn't say much of anything about what you do if the configuration test doesn't work. When I type in Xorg -configure, the config file is generated in /root as expected. When I type in Xorg -config xorg.conf.new, the screen goes blank, twitches a little, and then hangs. When I type in Xorg -config xorg.conf.new -retro, that seems to work (i.e. I get a black "X" in the center of a grey screen), but then it still hangs.

I've heard of this key combination "Cntl+Alt+Backspace" which is supposed to get out of X, but it doesn't do anything. I've also tried turning off the "DontZap" option in a variety of ways in the config file, but it doesn't seem to work:

ServerLayout or ServerFlags section
  Option "DontZap" "False"   # or "Off" or 0
end ServerLayout or ServerFlags section

But anyway, I'm not sure what to do next. I'm not sure what I should be expecting to happen next anyway. I can't move the black X with my mouse, although when I set up the mouse in sysinstall it works fine.

Oh, one more thing. I can't find "startx" anywhere. I type it as root or my username, and nothing. I can't find where I'm guessing it would have been built, and it doesn't seem to be installed anywhere. I'm installing Xorg from the ports tree (make install, etc).

Here's my setup:

Toshiba Satellite A105-S101 System Unit
Model PSAA20-01T018
FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE
Xorg X Server 1.6.1
and so forth

Thanks for any help you can give,

Curry


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## adamk (Jul 4, 2009)

FYI, 'startx' is part of the x11/xinit port.

There are also numerous threads on here regarding mouse/keyboard issues under Xorg.  You either need to remove all mouse and keyboard references in your xorg.conf file and let hal manage your devices (assuming you built Xorg with hal support, as is the default), or you need to use the AutoAddDevices option in your xorg.conf file so that Xorg *doesn't* use hal.

Adam


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## TheGuyGuy (Jul 4, 2009)

adamk said:
			
		

> FYI, 'startx' is part of the x11/xinit port.
> 
> There are also numerous threads on here regarding mouse/keyboard issues under Xorg.  You either need to remove all mouse and keyboard references in your xorg.conf file and let hal manage your devices (assuming you built Xorg with hal support, as is the default), or you need to use the AutoAddDevices option in your xorg.conf file so that Xorg *doesn't* use hal.
> 
> Adam



Okay, I turned Hal on, and now my mouse works (thanks). I'll also install xinit. Now I'm compiling gnome2, and I'll try that out. Appreciate it,

Curry


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