Beryl stopped working on Intel Mobile 945

[capchuckprice]

Running Cassandra on a VAIO SZ270P, Intel Mobile 945 graphics (stamina mode). Beryl was working fine.

I tried to enable the nvidia option (speed mode) for dual monitors. I upgraded from the "nv" driver to the restricted driver (using the restricted driver tool).

I created a simple boot-time script to choose the appropriate xorg.conf depending on the graphics module enabled by the speed/stamina switch. This was based on a web posting, and seems to work great.

I created xorg.conf for stamina and one for speed. Everything worked fine, and I was able to get dual monitors to work reasonably well.

However, after going back to stamina mode, I find that Beryl no longer works. The jewel appears on the task bar, but it appears that the beryl window manager crashes and reverts back to the metacity window manager.

I have no idea how to debug this. Are there log files to peruse?

Could I have altered something on the Intel side of my world when I installed the nvidia driver?

Thanks!

[capchuckprice]

This is the xorg.conf for the intel 945 stamina mode (pretty much stock):

Code: Select all

#                 STAMINA - Intel driver configuration
#
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
   FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
   # path to defoma fonts
   FontPath   "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
   Load   "i2c"
   Load   "bitmap"
   Load   "ddc"
   Load   "dri"
   Load   "extmod"
   Load   "freetype"
   Load   "glx"
   Load   "int10"
   Load   "vbe"
   Load   "synaptics"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier   "Generic Keyboard"
   Driver      "kbd"
   Option      "CoreKeyboard"
   Option      "XkbRules"   "xorg"
   Option      "XkbModel"   "pc105"
   Option      "XkbLayout"   "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier   "Configured Mouse"
   Driver      "mouse"
   Option      "CorePointer"
   Option      "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"
   Option      "Protocol"      "ImPS/2"
   Option      "ZAxisMapping"      "4 5"
   Option      "Emulate3Buttons"   "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier   "Synaptics Touchpad"
   Driver      "synaptics"
   Option      "SendCoreEvents"   "true"
   Option      "Device"      "/dev/psaux"
   Option      "Protocol"      "auto-dev"
   Option      "HorizScrollDelta"   "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Driver      "wacom"
   Identifier   "stylus"
   Option      "Device"   "/dev/input/wacom"
   Option      "Type"      "stylus"
   Option      "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"      # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Driver      "wacom"
   Identifier   "eraser"
   Option      "Device"   "/dev/input/wacom"
   Option      "Type"      "eraser"
   Option      "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"      # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Driver      "wacom"
   Identifier   "cursor"
   Option      "Device"   "/dev/input/wacom"
   Option      "Type"      "cursor"
   Option      "ForceDevice"   "ISDV4"      # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier   "Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller"
   Driver      "i810"
   BusID      "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "Generic Monitor"
   Option      "DPMS"
   HorizSync   28-64
   VertRefresh   43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier   "Default Screen"
   Device      "Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller"
   Monitor      "Generic Monitor"
   DefaultDepth   24
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      1
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      4
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      8
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      15
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      16
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
   SubSection "Display"
      Depth      24
      Modes      "1280x800"
   EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
   Identifier   "Default Layout"
   Screen      "Default Screen"
   InputDevice   "Generic Keyboard"
   InputDevice   "Configured Mouse"
   InputDevice     "stylus"   "SendCoreEvents"
   InputDevice     "cursor"   "SendCoreEvents"
   InputDevice     "eraser"   "SendCoreEvents"
   InputDevice   "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
   Mode   0666
EndSection


[Boo]

I expect it may be in the "Module" section.
maybe the "load glx" line, you can remove or comment this out. there may be more.

you could reconfigure the Xserver, I think there is a gui to do this in the admin menu.
or
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

also check /etc/modules and remove any line referring to nvidia.

[capchuckprice]

Thanks for the reply, I followed up by checking those suggestions. I booted up the LiveCD, in order to compare what it was using for xorg.conf (on which Beryl works just fine) against my current xorg.conf.

In order to do that, after booting up the LiveCD, I mounted the Linux partition, and did a side by side comparison of the two files. Well, both have the modules you listed above, and /etc/modules has no reference to nvidia (and is the same on the LiveCD and on my installed system). So I don't think those modules were the issue.

Unfortunately for me, I guess it is a BAD IDEA to mount the linux partition (an ext3 filesystem) from the LiveCD. Because, when I rebooted, that partition was TOTALLY corrupted. FSCK ripped through it and I was left with a small number of files, and a HUGE /lost+found directory, and an inability to enter a full running state. Best I could do was to boot up in to a recovery console.

Sigh. The installation is basically ruined, along with all my data (luckily I had not yet committed any significant business data to this system, so it is all recoverable).

So thanks for the suggestion, but I guess I'm starting all over again with Linux. Which is fine, by the way, because it gives me a chance to once again rethink my partitioning scheme. This time, all personal files go onto a separate partition, readable from both Linux and my Windows OS. At least then I can quickly recover things like email, downloaded music, etc.

Thanks for the suggestions, but at this point I guess it will remain a mystery.

[scorp123]

Unfortunately for me, I guess it is a BAD IDEA to mount the linux partition (an ext3 filesystem) from the LiveCD.

Shouldn't matter. In fact many people use Live CD's to e.g. rescue data from their ext3 partitions or to repair stuff.

Because, when I rebooted, that partition was TOTALLY corrupted.

You must have done something else previous to that. Proper mounting and unmounting --Live CD or not-- won't do that. Sounds like you did an unclean shutdown??

[capchuckprice]

I either did a quit->restart from the menu or a sudo shutdown -r now from the terminal. Actually, I forgot, I tend to do both, depending on which is most convenient at the moment. I did not explicitly umount the disk though, I'm sure of that. Perhaps I should have been more paranoid.

Whatever the cause, it was massively screwed up on restart. Surprised the heck out of me. I've been hacking around with Unix in one form or another for 20 years, and never saw that serious a failure before.

[scorp123]

I either did a quit->restart from the menu or a sudo shutdown -r now from the terminal.

Both would be OK and usually should properly terminate all remaining processes and cleanly unmount any mounted disk partitions. An 'unclean shutdown' that will usually cause trouble would be e.g. if you used the power switch to suddenly turn off your machine, or if there is a defective CPU and/or defective RAM in the system and the machine all of a sudden without prior warning crashes (or freezes). That too could potentially screw up your disks depending on what you were doing when the crash/freeze happens.

But quitting via the menu or issueing a proper 'shutdown' command shouldn't do this to your disks ... Maybe your disks just had a bad day or something. I once lost a partition too just by rebooting. I was working in the office all day long on that laptop ... I packed up, went home ... and at home: oooops, all my data was gone. I never really figured out why ... but then again the laptop on which this happened to me is a bit flaky so maybe I was praying to the wrong gods, or maybe some evil spirit got insulted because I did not sacrifice a dozen chicken or something like that before I decided to touch the laptop ... No idea what happened or why. When I came home all data was gone. It hasn't ever since happened to me on that laptop. Sacrificing a rabbit and dancing around naked on midnight seems to help (just kidding here ...). Technology is unfortunately like that. Sometimes it will fail on you even though you did nothing wrong.

Surprised the heck out of me. I've been hacking around with Unix in one form or another for 20 years, and never saw that serious a failure before.

Welcome to the club See above. Happened to me too. And I never really understood why and how this could happen.