No gnome-panel?

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi all,

I’m experiencing a gnome-session issue on SLED-11, which is based on OpenSUSE 11, therefore I’m posting my question here.

When I log in normally (GNOME) there is no gnome-panel and the desktop icons are also missing; I only get the backgroud image and the pointer, which is responsive to mouse movements. From here on I can only reboot, nothing else seems to work (keybord, right-click, CTRl-ALT-Backspace, CTRL-ALT-F1, ALT-F2). I suppose the window manager runs but gnome-session does not.

If I login using the x11failsafe option then everything is as expected (panel, menus, etc.) but, of course, graphics resolution is limited.

On the other hand, everything is fine when choosing IceWM or TWM instead of GNOME, so I think the graphics driver (on-board Intel 845) is not the problem.

Any ideas what might be wrong?

2

I’m not a Gnome user, but could it be a window manager issue related to desktop effects you have set up in gnome? Such effects would likely be disabled in Failsafe hence the differing result.

Try a Failsafe login, create a new user (you can delete it later). Reboot and log back in with the new user under Gnome (not failsafe of course). Report back if this works and we can go from there.

3

Thank you for the quick response, caf4926, will do as you suggested and will report back here.

I should have mentioned that I have just instaled the system, so I am using the default settings, and also that I experience the exact same problem as root unless I start the system using the x11failsafe option.

4

I created a new user and tried to log in, that didn’t fix the problem.

Then I logged in in console mode (runlevel 3), without the x11failsafe option, and reconfigured the display using Sax2. Everyting went fine, 1280x1024 @ 85 Hz mode was detected and set.

But upon issuing “startx” or “startx gnome-session” at the command prompt all I get is a black screen with a few lines of grey dots at the top, which dissapear after a while. The only way to continue is to reboot. So basically I am back to square one.

Any ideas as to what may be wrong? Again, I can log in successfully if I choose TWM if IceWM instead of Gnome. Thanks.

5

Open a terminal and go su and do

lspci

post the video chip info here, it will be near the top of the output

then do

lspci -k

post that too

6 
> /sbin/lspci 
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 82)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DB (ICH4) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
03:06.0 Communication controller: Rockwell International HCF 56k Data/Fax/Voice/Spkp (w/Handset) Modem (rev 01)
03:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

and

~> /sbin/lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE/PE DRAM Controller/Host-Hub Interface (rev 03)
	Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
	Kernel modules: intel-agp
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82845G/GL[Brookdale-G]/GE Chipset Integrated Graphics Device (rev 03)
	Kernel modules: intelfb
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
	Kernel modules: ehci-hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev 82)
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL (ICH4/ICH4-L) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
	Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt, intel-rng
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DB (ICH4) IDE Controller (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
	Kernel modules: piix, ata_piix
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
	Kernel driver in use: Intel ICH
	Kernel modules: snd-intel8x0
03:06.0 Communication controller: Rockwell International HCF 56k Data/Fax/Voice/Spkp (w/Handset) Modem (rev 01)
03:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
	Kernel driver in use: 8139too
	Kernel modules: 8139too, 8139cp
7

I had a look a a fresh Xorg.0.log file and the last line reads:

intel_bufmgr_fake.c:392: Error waiting for fence: Device or resource busy.

Then I googled up this error message and it turned out it’s “Bug 434767: Xorg crashes with I845 driver” reported on 13 Oct 2008. The workaround seems to be a NoAccel option in the Device section; the fix (as per post https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=473809 from 2009-02-01) seems to involve rebuilding the libdrm module and xf86-video-intel from the freedesktop.org git repository.

There are reports on the Web indicating that the bug has been fixed in xorg-x11-server-7.4-17.4.1 but I checked and I have xorg-x11-server-7.4-26.2 and the bug is till there. I will try the NoAccel thing; if it fails I will report back here.

8

I added

Option  "NoAccel"  "yes"

to the Device section of file /etx/X11/xorg.conf and now I get a gray screen instead of the background image but still no gnome-panel. I can also restart the X server with CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE.

9

I’m guessing you have been using a build service repo for your xorg stuff?

Have you tried disabling it and rolling back to the default oss/updates?

10

My box runs SLED-11 w/ updates, I have not installed packages from other sources.

Here is what “works” in xorg.conf, extremely slow, though (found this workaround on another forum):

Section "Device"
  BoardName    "845"
  Driver       "intel"
  Identifier   "Device[0]"
  #Option       "EXANoComposite"
  Option       "AccelMethod" "XAA"
  Option       "monitor-VGA" "Monitor[0]"
  VendorName   "Intel"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
  #Option       "Composite" "on"
EndSection

Notice the lines that are commented out and the new entry, AccelMethod. I suppose it disables acceleration, which would explain the decreased performance.

11

Have a read here

release notes:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15500/ENG/relnotes.txt

from here:
Download Search Results!

12

Yes, perhaps I should have begun by reading that document first.

After additional experiments with my settings it turned out that:

  1. The only relevant line in xorg.conf is the one setting AccelMethod to XAA;

  2. The “decrease in performance” was due to all dsktop effects being enabled by default.

Thank you for your suggestions and your time, now I have a nicely running Suse Linux box :slight_smile: