# FreeBSD 8 Ati 4850 OS hangs with start X



## sisco88 (Jun 3, 2010)

hi there im having some difficulty getting X to run.

i dont know if this is anything related to my graphics card but with a clean install of freeBSD installed the xorg binary configured everything following the handbook my systems hangs when i try 'startx'. 

`# Xorg -config xorg.conf.new -retro` works fine and gives me the screen with the mouse cursor, dmesg doesnt show any problems. and i tried to configure my own xorg.conf wich gives the same problems.

if anyone could give e some help with this i would greatly appreciate it.

attached are Xorg.0.log and my xorg.conf files in a zip.

thanks for your time

Sisco


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## wblock@ (Jun 3, 2010)

Please describe what you mean by "my system hangs".  Can you ctrl-alt-f1 to a console?  Is the machine still alive (responds to pings, can ssh in) or does it take a hard reset to bring it back?

Since Xorg works (as shown by the -retro test), what window manager are you trying to use?  What's in .xinitrc or .xsession?


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## sisco88 (Jun 3, 2010)

as i said, the system hangs and needs to be rebooted completely (as in hold down the power button for 10 seconds) i have not yet installed anything on the system except for the xorg package. this was installed using `pkg_add -r xorg` so no gnome/kde or whatever.


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## wblock@ (Jun 4, 2010)

Still not sure about .xinitrc or .xsession.  It looks like you're running hal.  Here's a basic xorg.conf that should work on your system (barring unexpected things).  I suggest putting it in /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf .


```
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier   "WB Configured"
        Screen       0  "Screen0" 0 0
        Option       "DontZap" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        ModulePath   "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
        FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/bitstream-vera/"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Group 0
        Mode  0660
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "radeon"
        Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
EndSection
```


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## adamk (Jun 4, 2010)

There's nothing odd in your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file.  Have you enabled hald and dbus in /etc/rc.conf?  Have you tried remotely accessing the box from another machine via ssh?

Adam


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## ShruggingAtlas (Jun 4, 2010)

I have the same problem you describe. Running X with auto configuration causes complete system lock-up, as in mpd stops playing, ssh stops responding, monitor shuts down etc.

My card is a Radeon 4890.

Assuming you have made sure radeon.ko is loaded before starting X, try setting the following in section "Device".


```
Option "DRI" "Off"
```

It turns off acceleration but is the only way I have found to enable X.


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## sisco88 (Jun 4, 2010)

> There's nothing odd in your /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. Have you enabled hald and dbus in /etc/rc.conf? Have you tried remotely accessing the box from another machine via ssh?
> 
> Adam



yes hald an dbus have been enabled remote access does not work the machine really needs a hard reset.



> Still not sure about .xinitrc or .xsession. It looks like you're running hal. Here's a basic xorg.conf that should work on your system (barring unexpected things). I suggest putting it in /usr/local/etc/X11/xorg.conf .



this also didnt work but gave a small improvement, i actualy saw a mousecursor and a window appear before the system crashed this time. still no changes in the xorg.0.log.
~/.xinitrc and ~/.session are not in my root directory is this a problem?



> I have the same problem you describe. Running X with auto configuration causes complete system lock-up, as in mpd stops playing, ssh stops responding, monitor shuts down etc.
> 
> My card is a Radeon 4890.
> 
> ...



using this means no pretty 3d cube right? up until now this seems to have fixed the problem :e im i still able to use some of the pretty compiz settings with this?

if not, thats okay im just really happy it works.

thanks alot,

Sisco


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## adamk (Jun 4, 2010)

Disabling DRI will disable all 2D and 3D acceleration.  So, no, you won't be able to use the 3D cube.  Having said that, you can't use the cube with FreeBSD 8.0 anyway.  You would need to at least upgrade to -STABLE and you would also need to update your ports tree in order to upgrade Xorg and Mesa.  Which, actually, might fix your problem.

Adam


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## sisco88 (Jun 4, 2010)

i have just upgraded to -STABLE and updated xorg to xorg-7.5 but i dont know about the mesa package... what should i install?


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## wblock@ (Jun 4, 2010)

sisco88 said:
			
		

> i have just upgraded to -STABLE and updated xorg to xorg-7.5 but i dont know about the mesa package... what should i install?



See /usr/ports/UPDATING, entry 20100207.


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## adamk (Jun 4, 2010)

Set WITHOUT_NOUVEAU to yes in /etc/make.conf and then install/reinstall /usr/ports/graphics/libGL

Adam


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## sisco88 (Jun 4, 2010)

well... seems i totally screwed the system now 
after upgrading the system to -STABLE everything was fine until i tried to 
	
	



```
startx
```
 it started complaining about libintl.so.8 not being installed. sometimes x tries to start but leaves my system tottaly unresponsive once again. i tried installing the package gettext-0.16.1 but that didnt help.

is there a way to get a install disc of the freebsd 8-STABLE? is it the same as the 8.1 beta? me being a noob at these things im having a hard time getting things to run. i have been using linux mint on my laptop for about a year now but everything is alot more simpeler to get working on that.


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## wblock@ (Jun 4, 2010)

sisco88 said:
			
		

> well... seems i totally screwed the system now
> after upgrading the system to -STABLE everything was fine until i tried to
> 
> 
> ...



You need to follow the instructions in /usr/ports/UPDATING, entry 20100530.



> sometimes x tries to start but leaves my system tottaly unresponsive once again. i tried installing the package gettext-0.16.1 but that didnt help.



You mean 0.18_1, right?  You've already got the newer gettext installed, now you just need to update everything that depends on it.  See above.



> is there a way to get a install disc of the freebsd 8-STABLE? is it the same as the 8.1 beta?



Yes, there are 8-stable snapshots, but that's the base system.  The problem you have is with installed applications, i.e., ports.  Totally separate.  To fix the installed applications, you need to rebuild everything that depends on gettext.


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## sisco88 (Jun 5, 2010)

okay.. i got rid of the errors and upgraded everything to the newest version but it didnt solve my problem. in fact it made it worse, now xorg always crashes randomly making the whole system unresponsive even with 
	
	



```
Option "DRI" "Off"
```
 wich did work with the 8.0-RELEASE.

xorg and  libGL to latest version in ports.
Xorg.0.log shows no errors or anything strange.
tried using a clean xorg.conf, doesnt work. i guess il have to choose a different OS to use because no acceleration makes my desktop too slow to use with multiple windows open.


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## dagor (Oct 9, 2010)

/boot/loader.conf

```
machdep.disable_mtrrs=1
```
For 4GB or more memory.


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## ShruggingAtlas (Oct 10, 2010)

dagor said:
			
		

> /boot/loader.conf
> 
> ```
> machdep.disable_mtrrs=1
> ...



I am pretty sure disabling mtrrs is only a requirement when using the nvidia blob.


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## dagor (Oct 10, 2010)

ShruggingAtlas said:
			
		

> I am pretty sure disabling mtrrs is only a requirement when using the nvidia blob.


Nevertheless, it is this recipe helped me with ati 4850.


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