> 7. Try "startx -- -keeptty" and see the result.


Please specify which result you see ;-)



I understand you tried this all the *first* time you booted your fresh install.

Can you please install all updates and then reboot and try to reproduce this issue?

If it still happens, then please run, as root,

    journalctl -ab > journal.txt

and attach journal.txt to this report.


Thanks :-)

Keywords: (none) => NEEDINFO
CC: (none) => marja11
Summary: Systemd/X11 console/login related problem => Systemd/X11 console/login related problem (systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration)

>> 7. Try "startx -- -keeptty" and see the result.

> Please specify which result you see ;-)

Hi, Marja, I was not being laconic. Results vary a lot. I just wanted to communicate this system.logind problem because I face some autologin problems in another computer.

Here's the full story:

1. First installation using Mga6 sta1 (classic installer), no network.

System won't enter graphics mode. Good luck message flashes as the netbook repeatedly tries running X11.

I see the message about systemd needing the keeptty parameter, use it and the error message ceases... but X won't boot because the Xorg-geode driver was not installed.

2. I use the netinstall image.

Same problem with X11 being tried over and over again. I switch to another console and use "startx -- :1 -keeptty".

The result is another error.

Something like "dev/cpu/0/msr: no such file or directory. A quick check in /dev and it really is not there. Then I find this manpage:

http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man4/msr.4.html

which says:

"/dev/cpu/CPUNUM/msr provides an interface to read and write the
       model-specific registers (MSRs) of an x86 CPU.  CPUNUM is the number
       of the CPU to access as listed in /proc/cpuinfo."

and

"The msr driver is not auto-loaded.  On modular kernels you might need
       to use the following command to load it explicitly before use:

           $ modprobe msr"

So I go like "lsmod | grep ms" => nothing.

modprobe msr and voilà: /dev/cpu/0/msr is created.

I retry the startx line and X11 works: a brief mouse pointer with that orbiting particle indicating that I must wait, followed by video going out of sync.

What now?

Well, let's try drakx11... configuration went well and the test renders ok. I even noticed Tab works and I can select the Yes button in answer to the "Are you seeing a color pattern?" question (or something).

Now, finally, it seems the netbook is going to work.

Alas, no. The same out-of-sync symptom again -- this with a xorg.conf known to work formerly (I saved it from years ago... the netbook was used in textmode for some time).

Created attachment 8754 [details]
journalctl -ab of Mga6 netinstall on a Geode netbook

Here is the journal, Marja.

Please ask if you need more info; I'd say this is not a priority, though.

This hardware is too old and it probably is not the ideal basis for a general purpose distribution like Mageia -- it certainly is no longer fit for browsing or office use, for instance. 512BM RAM also make running any DE (including LXDE) a daunting task. I just don't want Mageia folks losing precious time on such old hardware...

I intend this small netbook to be a simple printer server.

This is very different from the Sempron one we talked the other day, which is still very capable for daily tasks.

Thank you for your kind interest.

Just for the record, Mageia 5.1 was installed via netinstall today and the whole process went without problems -- the new installation booted to a normal graphical screen.

(In reply to Renato Dali from comment #4)
> Just for the record, Mageia 5.1 was installed via netinstall today and the
> whole process went without problems -- the new installation booted to a
> normal graphical screen.

If it works with a light DM & DE in Mageia 5, then it should also work with Mageia 6.
 
Do you mind attaching /root/drakx/report.bug.xz of a Mageia 6 install on this hardware?

Was x11-driver-video-geode missing in both Mga6 installs, or only in the first one?


Just for the record: the netinstall iso uses the same classical installer as the classical DVDs. The only difference is, that it fetches (classical) installer stage2 from a mirror, while the DVDs already contain stage2.

Summary: Systemd/X11 console/login related problem (systemd-logind: logind integration requires -keeptty and -keeptty was not provided, disabling logind integration) => Installing Mga6 gives no working X, while a Mga5.1 install works fine (was:Systemd/X11 console/login related problem)
Assignee: bugsquad => isobuild

Hi, Marja,

If it works with a light DM & DE in Mageia 5, then it should also work with Mageia 6.

I installed LXDE; it seems to be running LXDM.

In Mageia 5.1, Xorg also complains about the lack of msr, but goes on and enters graphics mode. The keepit things is not mentioned at all, thus I conclude it is probably systemd related (they must have "improved" it since the version used in Mageia 5.1).

x11-driver-video-geode was missing on the first installation, which was done with the classic installer. I vividly remember downloading and installing that driver by hand some years ago.

This time I followed your excellent suggestion and use the net installer on the second time -- the geode driver is nicely downloaded during the installation.

Apart from the systemd and msr problems, I figured out why Mageia 5.1 worked... I probably did a lazy configuration and wasn't so careful about my hardware. By itself, the installer chose a 16-bit depth instead of a 24-bit one.

Previously I noticed my formerly working historical xorg.conf gave me an out-of-sync screen also in Mageia 5.1 . Some moments ago I reduced the Defaultdepth to 16 and could make 1024x600 work (1024x768 was working since the installation, but I had to view the bottom part of the screen on an external monitor).

I have yet to check whether I made some mistake in the BIOS config, because I'm pretty sure this netbook could do 24bpp before -- but, hey, 16-bit is totally OK for my current plans.

About the report.bug.xz file, well, I may attach one if I reinstall Mageia 6. The one from yesterday (Mageia 6) was erased when I installed Mageia 5.1 today...

> Just for the record: the netinstall iso uses the same classical installer as the classical DVDs. The only difference is, that it fetches (classical) installer stage2 from a mirror, while the DVDs already contain stage2.

Oh, the Mageia 6 netinstall went OK yesterday, too (except for the progress bar, that is). The problem was _after_ the installation, because:

a) systemd wanted that "keepit" parameter (in Mageia 5.1 that is not asked)

b) there was the "/dev/cpu/0/msr: no such file" error making Xorg stop, while in Mga51 it says "unable to open /dev/cpu/0/msr: 2" and the Xorg server works;

c) I hadn't figured the Defaultdepth 16 yesterday, I will test whether it also works in Mageia 6 at a later point.

Just to make it clearer, using "startx -- -keepit" after creating the msr device with "modprobe msr" made Xorg work in Mageia 6 just as in Mageia 5.1 (without doing any of that).

By "work" I mean: Xorg starts, a mouse pointer is shown for some 4 seconds (the "busy"/"wait" version with orbiting dots) and then the image goes out-of-sync. The screen becomes impossible to understand, with a distorted white stripe over a black background, but moving the mouse makes corresponding changes on the screen, so I guess it's still working. Ctrl-Alt-Backspace successfully ends X.

In Mageia 5.1 (and quite possibly also in Mageia 6 -- to be tested) changing the Defaultdepth from 24 to 16 makes Xorg present a normal 1024x600 screen (the netbook native resolution) with a previously known xorg.conf (this was discovered after Mageia 5.1 autoconfigured the screen to 1024x768 16bpp on installation).

geode wasn't on mga5 DVD too b/c it failed to build against xserver 1.16 at some point.
Though it should be in sta2 dvd image b/c latest x11-driver-video pulls it again (for a month)

And indeed:
$ grep geode Mageia-6-sta2-i586-DVD.idx
Mageia-6-sta2-i586 x11-driver-video-geode-2.11.18 (i586)

CC: (none) => thierry.vignaud

That's good news.

It's a nice machine for use as proxy/firewall, as a print server or even as a terminal (for use in a store, for instance)...

Such use can free a more powerful PC for desktop use (which is what will happen over here).

Mageia 6 netinstall was reinstalled.

The keepit message in log didn't appear.

"modprobe msr" was issued in another console as root, after X11 failed to start with a related error; after installing the msr module, X11 could be started with startx.

Next, "msr" was added to "/etc/modules" which enabled a direct boot to X11 and LXDM AFAICT.

I report autologin worked; netbook works at native weird resolution (1024x600).

I don't know whether the msr will be further considered; the Geode is old but still has some time ahead.

The present state could be considered WORKSFORME, though.

We could patch x11-driver-video-geode in order to load msr first...
Or make XFdrake to add msr to /etc/modprobe.preload if detecting a device having "Card:AMD Geode GX/LX" or "Card:MediaGX" as driver

@Thomas, if you can look at comment #13

Created attachment 8809 [details]
forbid 24bit for geode (mga#19927)

In the meantime, you can check this patch by running the following commands in a terminal as root:
cd /usr/lib/libDrakX
patch -p2 --dry-run </tmp/0001-forbid-24bit-for-geode-mga-19927.patch 

(supposing you've downloaded this patch in /tmp)
With that, XFdrake should no more propose 24bit for Geode, only 16bit should be proposed

commit 1a441f268a8f2c39460e659b3fdba81577431722
Author: Thierry Vignaud <thierry.vignaud@...>
Date:   Thu Dec 22 16:07:08 2016 +0100

    forbid 24bit for geode (mga#19927)
---
 Commit Link:
   http://gitweb.mageia.org/software/drakx-kbd-mouse-x11/commit/?id=1a441f268a8f2c39460e659b3fdba81577431722

Hello, guys,

Similar issue here with Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Adapter (rev 10) and sisimedia x11 video driver on Mageia 6 (x86_64).

limiting video resolution to 16bit also solved de problem.

Thank You!

CC: (none) => jemartins

In fact, limiting color depth isn't necessary.
What solved was msr module preloaded.

Is this bug fixed?

CC: (none) => mageia

It's not fixed yet, but the situation improved. I installed Mageia 6.1 (netinstall).

First of all, X no longer keeps restarting. There's just the "Good luck!" screen (there was a problem, graphical mode could not start and the like). By pressing a key, we're dropped at a text login.

Then we log as root and use "modprobe msr"; in another console (e.g. Alt+F2), it's then possible to log as a normal user and use "startx" -- which this time worked without the "-keepit" part. startx, of course, leads to IceWM use. For Xfce it is needed "startxfce4". Which works nicely, too... except that the machine has just 512MB RAM. A lot of problems will arise when effectively using apps, but this is for another post.

This netbook has a curious hardware. It defaults to 1024x768, which shows OK in an external monitor, but the native screen is 1024x600. So I replace the Mageia-created xorg.conf with an old one I have, quit the session and run startxfce4 again. This time the resolution is right and I can view the lower panel on the netbook screen.

That's when I decided to try 24bpp (by changing DefaultDepth in my xorg file) and reboot. The screen appears as a mess and the Xfce desktop never comes up. This might have led me to believe there was a color depth problem in the past. But reboot, rescue mode, fix Defaultdepth again to 16 and voila: same problem again.

At this point I remembered msr is not loaded -- so it has nothing to do with color depth as José Eduardo points out in comment #18.

I edit /etc/modules, change DefaultDepth to 24 again and then Mageia boots (correctly this time to the login screen). The netbook appears to work fine and images are gorgeous. Switching to text consoles won't work though, but since it works when X is unable to start, there might be hope.

The geode driver was installed this time, which is great. The xorg.conf problem is relative to the netbook, it's hard to make it work in Mageia right from installation.

See the Linux man page for msr, it says it's not loaded automatically. So there.

Again, I consider this as WORKSFORME and I vote for closing the bug.

Thanks everyone for the interest.

Now for some digressions:
1. This machine, being limited as it is, runs Xfce at its very limit AFAIR.
2. Libreoffice on 512MB RAM? I get older just watching it start...
3. Firefox? Forget it. It now requires SSE2, and Geode doesn't have even SSE.

Hmmm, I now realize José Eduardo's comment might be about that other chipset he mentions in comment #17. So, entirely another thing.

I just updated from mga6 to mga7 (beta 1).

Now if I use old good xorg.conf with sisimedia driver the system frozen (or keyboard frozen). Only long press in power boot, start recorver in grub and change driver to vesa workaround the bug.

Remember: I use Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 771/671 PCIE VGA Display Adapter (rev 10) and sisimedia x11 video driver.

@José, does preloading the msr module fix it. If not, that's a new bug, so please open a new bug report for it.

Hello, Martin.
msr module was preloaded and it's not fixed.

I will report as a new bug.

Thanks.

---
Eduardo

reported as: https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=24170

Hi all.

New developments on my netbook with a Geode processor...

After a post from José Eduardo, I noticed there's another place to include the msr module so that it gets loaded at boot.

It seems "/etc/modules" is the old way and "/etc/modprobe.preload" is the right place to include it since some time. I edited both files accordingly. Before rebooting, I *think* I started to mess with my xorg.conf file... the idea was to try a higher resolution when connected to an external monitor -- thus rendering the embedded 1024x600 panel useless... I managed to get 1280x1024, with which I got a reasonably good screenstate.

But something went wrong and now LightDM refuses entry to my ordinary user. Upon password entry, the screens goes blank and then LightDM reappears, as if it were the first login. The funny thing is that it's possible to log as root (red background and all).

Do I need to clear some cache or something? Should I open a new bug or is this a continuation of the previous problem?

Hi, one more point: I saw bug 22366 and tried the mentioned workaround (including my user in the lightdm group -- to no avail.

I will try changing DMs with MCC now... since root access is available...

It worked with xdm: I could log in with my ordinary user (whoami proves it).

Then I switched back to LightDM with MCC and everything works again. I can log in with my ordinary user and LightDM. maybe some configuration or cache was corrected...

This bug was filed against Mageia 6 which is EOL since Sep 2019.

Closing as OLD.

Resolution: (none) => OLD
Status: NEW => RESOLVED