Ubuntu

I ran Envy and now my X server won't load. What should I do?

Asked by Nate King on 2007-03-16

I ran Envy through the graphical installer and at a restart I was given the

"Failed to start the X server (your graphical interface). It is likely that it is not set up correctly. Would you like to view the X server output to diagnose the problem?"

So I selected No for that and No for the next screen and then I was brought to a black screen where I able to load the terminal from. From there I entered in

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

and tried to reconfigure my X server. Apparently I didn't do it right, because when I rebooted I had the same problem. All I was trying to do was reload the GUI so that I could revert to a saved xorg.conf file and have the settings back to normal. Is there a way to do this from the terminal?

Also, I only installed ubuntu last night so if I had to do a re-install it I wouldn't lose many settings.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Nate King
Solved:
2007-03-18
Last query:
2007-03-18
Last reply:
2007-03-16
Ralph Janke (txwikinger) said : #1

you can open a terminal by using the key combination ctrl+alt+F1.

The xorg.conf file is located in the directory:

    /etc/X11

the old file is usually xorg.conf.bak. Hopefully your dpkg-reconfigure hasn't overwritten it.

You can use the cp command to copy it over the current one, i.e.

    sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.mysave
    sudo cp xorg.conf.bak xorg.conf

I hope this helps,

Nate King (nate7679) said : #2

I get the error "cannot start 'xorg.conf' : no such file or directory". I think I'm just going to do a re-install, which will be a hastle but the only changes I made were installing updates so getting it back won't be a problem.

I am however, thinking of using Envy again. I don't know why it didn't work for me this time, but what should I do to prevent this from happening again?

Ralph Janke (txwikinger) said : #3

You have to be in the directory /etc/X11 to run the command
or use this:

    sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.mysave
    sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Hope this helps.

Best Nate King (nate7679) said : #4

I got the same error and I'm just going to re-install ubuntu. Hopefully I wont have the same problem again.

Thank you all for your help.

El Viejo Lobo (yigal-lupo) said : #5

It looks like we have the same problem, I will reinstall Feisty Fawn.
I got the Feisty Fawn by upgrade and the only problem I had was the NVIDIA install by the new <System/Administration/Restricted Drivers>. I was getting windows telling me that the NVIDIA was not installed but I could use the NVIDIA driver and see it at the booting as a flash slide. I hope that this information will help the guys that know what it means.

El Viejo Lobo (yigal-lupo) said : #6

After an update made automatically my machine crashed with a X server problem.
I reinstalled Feisty Fawn and after the upgrade I went to:<System/Administration/Restricted Drivers>
installed the NVIDIA driver and AGAIN I GOT THE SAME PROBLEM X server faild to start.
It looks like we do have a problem with NVIDIA and X server.