[Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

Infected Neuron · 2015-07-15 09:31:53

Hi, I am using Manjaro Net-Edition and I just installed Xfce. I want to start xfce, but whenever I type startxfce4 or startx my system grinds to a halt and becomes so unresponsive that I have to reboot it. I think that this may have something to do with the ~/.xinitrc file or xsession, but I'm not sure. I did try editing the .xinitrc file hoping that it would fix the problem yet it didn't do anything and even after editing it and typing startxfce4 I still received the same results. Any ideas?

ToZ · 2015-07-15 10:41:15

Can we see the contents of your ~/.xinitrc file?

Also helpful would be any journal entries when it starts slowing down. Run:

sudo journalctl -f

...in a terminal window and see if any messages display when the slowdown starts.

Keeping an eye on "top" or running "xfce4-taskmanager" as well to see if anything is consuming all of your cpu might also be a good idea.

Sideburns · 2015-07-15 19:37:11

You might consider moving .xinitrc to .xinitrc.old before running startxfce4. That way, if the problem is in that file, you'll know right away; if not, it's not an issue. (As I told a customer years ago when I did telephone tech support, "An important part of troubleshooting is going down one blind alley after another until one of them isn't.")

Infected Neuron · 2015-07-16 07:27:42

Thank you guys so much for responding. The contents of my ~/.xinitrc file are:
#!/bin/sh
#
# ~/xinitrc
#
export GTK2_RC_FILES="HOME/ .gtkrc-2.0"

DEFAULT_SESSION=xfce4-session
cas $1 in
xfce) exec dbus-launch xfce4-session ;;
*) exec dbus-launch $DEFAULT_SESSION ;;
esac

When I ran sudo journalctl -f the screen printed:
— Logs begin at Fri 2015-07-10 18:12:51 MDT. —
Jul 15 15:11:13 manjaro systemd[718]: Reached target Default.
Jul 15 15:11:13 manjaro systemd[718]: Startup finished in 31ms.
Jul 15 15:11:13 manjaro systemd[718]: Starting Default.
Jul 15 15:11:13 manjaro systemd[1]: Started User Manager for UID 1000.
Jul 15 15:11:36 manjaro NetworkManager[282]: <info> (enp2s0f0): Activation: Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) scheduled…
Jul 15 15:11:36 manjaro NetworkManager[282]: <info> (enp2s0f0): Activation: Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) started…
Jul 15 15:11:36 manjaro NetworkManager[282]: <info> (enp2s0f0): Activation: Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) complete.
Jul 15 15:16:45 manjaro ntpd[716]: kernel reports TIME_ERROR: 0x41: p11 unseen Resource temporarily unavailable
Jul 15 15:18:25 manjaro sudo[743]: akira : TTY=tty1 ; PWD=/home/akira ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/journalctl -f
Jul 15 15:18:25 manjaro sudo[743]: pam_unix(sudo:session): session opened for user root by akira(uid=0)

After running journalctl -f I ran top and htop and I didn't see anything taking up an unusual amount of cpu. I couldn't run journalctl -f after running the command startxfce4 because the system froze.

I also tried moving the .xinitrc to .xinitrc.old. Then I ran startxfce4 and I still couldn't run Xfce.
I am perplexed...

ToZ · 2015-07-16 11:34:38

Here is the ~/.xinitrc file that I am currently using:

#!/bin/bash

if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
 for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?*.sh ; do
  [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
 done
 unset f
fi

source /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc

exit 0

...and I startx like:

startx -- -keeptty -nolisten tcp > ~/.xsession-errors 2>&1

This will create an ~/.xsession-errors file in your home directory and log all Xsession messages to it.

Can you try this approach and then post back the contents of ~/.xsession-errors when the hang happens? If the hang locks your computer and you have to reboot, make sure you make a backup of this file before running startx again. Post back the results of this file.

Infected Neuron · 2015-07-16 20:41:57

I have reinstalled my video card drivers. Now whenever I type startx or startxfce4 my computer no longer becomes completely unresponsive and doesn't require a reboot; however it doesn't bring up the desktop. I also changed my ~/.xinitrc file to look exactly like yours. I then created the ~/.xsession-errors file and ran startx. Afterwards, I checked ~/.xsession-errors and the file was empty. At the end of .local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log it said that there was a fatal server error and that no screens were found. It could be that there is still a problem with my video card drivers...

Sideburns · 2015-07-16 20:51:09

What video card are you using, and how did you install the drivers? It's sounding like you need to talk to your distro's support, but it doesn't hurt to make sure first. Also, can you still log in with whatever DE you were using before?

Infected Neuron · 2015-07-16 21:06:47

My MacBook has Nvidia GeForce GT 650M and Intel HD 4000. Since I have two video cards, I have to use the bumblebee drivers because those drivers will allow me to use both of the video cards. I reinstalled the drivers using the mhwd (Manjaro HardWare Detection) command. It is unique to my distro. And I haven’t been using any DE’s because right now the only thing I have is a command prompt screen with no gui.

Infected Neuron · 2015-07-21 04:18:46

I have uninstalled my system so I am going to mark this thread as resolved.

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#1 2015-07-15 09:31:53

[Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#2 2015-07-15 10:41:15

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#3 2015-07-15 19:37:11

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#4 2015-07-16 07:27:42

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#5 2015-07-16 11:34:38

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#6 2015-07-16 20:41:57

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#7 2015-07-16 20:51:09

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#8 2015-07-16 21:06:47

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

#9 2015-07-21 04:18:46

Re: [Solved] I can't get startxfce4 to start xfce

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