Dell Precision M65 uvga will not start X. running lxde

[skikir]

I'm running a USB flash drive with LXDE for a universal boot tool for service and data recovery and a portable personal system.  So far I am really happy with it until tried it on my dell Precision M65 with a 1920X1200 lcd pannel.  It will not start X and boot to command.  when it asks me if I want to set up X and I select generic 1920X1200 lcd pannel or Dell laptop 1920X1200 lcd pannel it still does not start.  When I put in the LXDE Live CD it will not start X up either.  When it is DOCKED it detects my 1920X1200 external lcd pannel just fine.  The laptop will start fine with Full Monty on spare internal HD.

When I boot it on another laptop with less resolution it boots fine and when I look at display settings I see the highest resolution I can select is 1400x1050.  I think that even though the video set up has the entries but not in the runtime settings (if that makes sense.)  and the X cannot start because it is not defined.

[Just17]

Try booting it with   vesa  in the boot options line, to see if you can get to a low res desktop.

From there see if you can set up the graphics card correctly in PCC ......  and use Ctrl,Alt+Backspace instead of the advised reboot.

Now see if you can log in with the correct resolution.

[skikir]

yes I did try VESA.  I might add that it boots graphically OK up to the point where the log on screen comes up and then goes blank.

[skikir]

I want to add that I tried to boot the Phoenix edition and it behaves the same way.  Boots splash screen and booting system progress bar but when it gets to the log in screen it goes black and says X failed to start and gives the same trouble shooting options.  So the issue seems to be in both versions.  granted the 19200X1200 resolution is high for a laptop but I can see it won't be to much more in the future.

[horusfalcon]

You might want to take a look at this:

http://crash-bg.com/CATALOG/laptops/dell_precision_m65/dell_precision_m65.pdf

If you are certain you have a 1900 x 1200, all is well, but the M65 shipped with one of three different flat panels depending on its initial configuration as sold:  1900 x 1200 WUXGA, 1680 X 1050 WSXGA, and 1280 X 800 WXGA.

The best way to be sure is to go to Dell's support site and enter the service tag no. on the bottom of your laptop into their model search engine.  That should bring up the drivers, specs, and info on your specific laptop.  It may be that your panel is of lesser spec than you were led to believe?

Also, that laptop uses the Nvidia QuadroFX 350 video system.  You might also want a look at:

Dell Nvidia Class Action Update

since your model is affected by this.  My best advice to you is to keep your heatsink and fan scrupulously clean and hope for the best.  Heat is the enemy here, since the BGA chips used tend to become dodgy when they heat up and the solder balls crack, reflow, and lose connection.

I hope you can find the solution - most Dell hardware runs PCLinuxOS pretty well.

Good Hunting,
D

[gilado]

- Boot into text mode.
- From the command line run XFdrake
- Set both  monitor size and resolution to one supported by your hardware
- Save/quit
- At the command line prompt type: startx

 

[skikir]

Yes I am familiar with the video problem on the M65 however, this one is working properly.  Windows 7 (which we all know is gluggy buggy and crash prone, right?) works perfectly AND the Full Monty works perfectly also.  Is there a way to import/copy the drivers used in the Full Monty version onto my flash drive system?

[skikir]

OK, I ran xfdrak and it comes up with "generic flat panel 1920X1200 " and the NVIDIA card already highlighted.  I also selected Dell and Generic and several other flat panel monitors and it still does not work.  It looks like it tries to initialize the screen but crashes.  I am running Full Monty Live DVD right now in full 1920x1200 mode and it looks great, so I doubt the problem is with the hardware.  I seems that in the lxde and Phoenix editions, the hardware detection routines work but the actual driver information is missing.

When I look at the error log outputs I get this:

(==) logfile:"/nar/log/Xorg.o.log"
(==) USING CONFIG FILE "/ECT/X11/XORG.CONG"
(==) USING DIRECTORY: "/ECT/X11/XORG.CONF.D"
(EE) FAILED TO LAOD MODULE "DRI" MODULE DOES NOT EXIST,0)
(EE) NVIDIA (0): FAILED TO GET SUPPORTED DISPLAY DEVICE(S)
(EE) NVIDIA (0): NO DISPLAY DEVICES FOUND FOR THIS X SCREEN
(EE) SCREEN(S) FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION.

So is there any way I can get the driver configuration files from Full Monty into my USB drive set up?   This bug really bugs me.

[kjpetrie]

The monitor is only half the story. It seems you have confirmed the resolution and that is good. Now you need to select the correct driver. So far as I know, all versions of pclos contain the same drivers, so the right one should be available. If in doubt, check the working versions to see which one it is.

[horusfalcon]

OK, I ran xfdrak and it comes up with "generic flat panel 1920X1200 " and the NVIDIA card already highlighted.  I also selected Dell and Generic and several other flat panel monitors and it still does not work.  It looks like it tries to initialize the screen but crashes.  I am running Full Monty Live DVD right now in full 1920x1200 mode and it looks great, so I doubt the problem is with the hardware.  I seems that in the lxde and Phoenix editions, the hardware detection routines work but the actual driver information is missing.

When I look at the error log outputs I get this:

(==) logfile:"/nar/log/Xorg.o.log"
(==) USING CONFIG FILE "/ECT/X11/XORG.CONG"
(==) USING DIRECTORY: "/ECT/X11/XORG.CONF.D"
(EE) FAILED TO LAOD MODULE "DRI" MODULE DOES NOT EXIST,0)
(EE) NVIDIA (0): FAILED TO GET SUPPORTED DISPLAY DEVICE(S)
(EE) NVIDIA (0): NO DISPLAY DEVICES FOUND FOR THIS X SCREEN
(EE) SCREEN(S) FOUND, BUT NONE HAVE A USABLE CONFIGURATION.

So is there any way I can get the driver configuration files from Full Monty into my USB drive set up?   This bug really bugs me.

What kjpetrie said.  It's good that we know definitely that the hardware is not at issue.  Try copying the xorg.conf, perhaps?  The file you are looking for should be located at /etc/X11/ .  It's possible that the xorg.conf in the non-Full Monty install has the display device incorrectly configured, and copying over it with the one from the working FM install might resolve that.

It's curious, that bit about DRI not loading...  you might check in Synaptic and see if you have libdri and libdri-experimental installed?  There is also a package called driconf that will give you access to DRI via a graphical interface to make adjustments that may be necessary...

But I'm not truly an X-pert here.  DRI is part of Mesa, which provides OpenGL support for 3D rendering, and, if you're not using OpenGL this may all be moot, but it seems from the log above that your system is trying to head that direction and can't.

Give it a go, anyhow.  It'll take all of ten minutes and may tell you something you can use to figure out what's happening.

Later On,
D

[horusfalcon]

It's been a while and this thread hasn't moved since my last post.  Just checking to see if you've made any progress. 

Later On,
D