[krugster]

Kind of an odd problem here, and I'm definitely a newbie so please forgive if I'm not phrasing things correctly. Tried doing a search, no results.

I have XBMC running on a Dell Optiplex "server" that I access remotely and is connected to my TV through the DVI port (with a DVI-HDMI converter into the TV).

When I boot up the machine without the TV turned on, it doesn't seem like the X server starts. The only process I see started is:
/bin/bash /usr/bin/runXBMC.sh

However, once I turn on the TV, the "XBMC" logo shows up like it normally does after boot and then it brings up the home page. Looking at the process list, I see the normal xinit, etc. type stuff (can't paste it now since I can't turn the TV on from work)

Any idea why this is happening or how I can force the X server to startup immediately whether the TV is turned on or not?

Thanks in advance!

[ronie]

I think this may apply to your situation:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14611

[Maxim]

I've experienced this also, it was directly related to the driver of the video card. There are various fixes for it out there. Check on ubuntuforums, that's a very good place for find fixes.

[krugster]

I have the drivers for my video card installed correctly...it works fine when something is connected to the display, but won't start (and more importantly continues to try to) when a display isn't connected.

Any help here?

Thanks!

[Maxim]

I have the drivers for my video card installed correctly...

...Your drivers may be installed correctly but if they don't support that functionality X will not start as you would expect it to.

[krugster]

Thanks Maxim...how do I check whether the drivers support this functionality?

IIRC, I had Fedora 8 installed on this same system and did not experience this problem.

[Maxim]

Which video chipset is in use?
What version of the driver is in use?
What version of X is in use?
What does your xorg log look like? (pastebin would be best for this one.)

[krugster]

lspci:
(T: XBMCLiveCD)xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5751 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 01)

(T: XBMCLiveCD)xbmc@XBMCLive:~$ aptitude show xserver-xorg-video-intel
Package: xserver-xorg-video-intel
State: installed
Automatically installed: no
Version: 2:2.2.1-1ubuntu13.8
Priority: optional
Section: x11
Maintainer: Ubuntu Core Developers <[email protected]>
Uncompressed Size: 672k
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libdrm2 (>= 2.3.0), xserver-xorg-core (>= 2:1.4)
Conflicts: xserver-xorg-driver-i810, xserver-xorg-video-i810-modesetting, xserver-xorg-video-intel-modesetting
Replaces: xserver-xorg (< 6.8.2-35), xserver-xorg-driver-i810, xserver-xorg-video-i810-modesetting, xserver-xorg-video-intel-modesetting
Provides: xserver-xorg-video-2
Description: X.Org X server -- Intel i8xx, i9xx display driver
This package provides the driver for the Intel i8xx and i9xx family of chipsets, including i810, i815, i830, i845, i855, i865, i915, i945 and i965 series chips.

This package also provides an XvMC (XVideo Motion Compensation) driver for i810 and i815 chipsets.

More information about X.Org can be found at: <URL:http://www.X.org> <URL:http://xorg.freedesktop.org> <URL:http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg>

This package is built from the X.org xf86-video-intel driver module.

(T: XBMCLiveCD)xbmc@XBMCLive:~$

--
X.Org X Server 1.4.0.90
--
xorg (just the default here):
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection
(T: XBMCLiveCD)xbmc@XBMCLive:~$



Thanks so much Maxim, I hope you can decipher this one for me.

[Maxim]

I don't believe that this particular issue was addressed until after 2.5.1 (Your driver appears to be 2.2.1). The lastest intel driver is 2.6.0 and is available through the jaunty repos at least. Dependancies will need to be taken into consideration with the X Server and such being upgraded to 1.6 (Versus your 1.4) if you plan up upgrading your current installation.

Here are a couple of threads that talk about the issue specific issue:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=978518
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=990048

My "fix" for it was to use the lastest alpha release of ubuntu. I'm using a variant called "Mytbuntu," currently since it comes pretty well slimmed down already and has everything I need to make my system an HTPC.

Here is the link for mythbuntu: http://mythbuntu.org/

[krugster]

Thanks a lot Maxim. I'm trying to install the 2.6 driver and having some problems, but I also tried setting my driver to vesa without any apparent luck.

I put "Driver vesa" in my xorg.conf under the Device section, ran "dpkg-reconfigure xorg" and then rebooted. The x server keeps flapping, trying to start.

Any further advice?

Thanks!

[althekiller]

You can't get direct rendering (required for XBMC) with the vesa driver. There should be some X settings to pass to the driver that forces an output on regardless of whether a device is attached and on. These settings will be vendor specific so check out intel's xorg driver page.

[krugster]

Well, I was able to install 2.5.1 of the intel driver, but it still has not fixed the problem...

[seanysean]

Well, I was able to install 2.5.1 of the intel driver, but it still has not fixed the problem...

This may well be a problem with your TV/monitor, not Linux or XBMC.

I had the same problem with my LG 32" flat screen which is about 3 years old. After many months (I am not joking) trying to get tech information out of LG 'technicians', it turns out the TV only sends the EDID information when it sees a graphics card.

Trouble is this has to be sent while X is starting, otherwise it doesn't see any modes.

When I first worked this out I had to turn the Monitor off/on at exactly the right time, until I stuck the exact modes in xorg.conf.

With XBMC Live it now works fine, but I did have my TV firmware upgraded. You might want to try the xorg.conf thing first though. Also, does the problem appear in VGA mode? It didn't with mine but I had to use DVI because the VGA connector had the wrong resolution.

HTH

[krugster]

So I just upgraded to XBMC 9.04.1 and this issue still exists.

My intel driver is at 2.6.3

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

[ronie]

So I just upgraded to XBMC 9.04.1 and this issue still exists.

My intel driver is at 2.6.3

Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

same question, same answer. ;-)
it's a known issue, xorg will not start when there's no device connected:
http://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=14611

there's a patch in that thread, if you want to compile xorg yourself.