8.10 wiped out xorg.conf

**genfool** · October 19th, 2008

I did a clean install of 8.04 and installed all updates and all ran smooth.
I then upgraded to 8.10 and xorg.conf got wiped out in the process.
Looks like I will be writing a new file manually.
I tried "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-org" with no joy, I then tried it without the -phigh.
I am left with a very basic xorg.conf file. There is no mouse or keyboard section, no video driver and no horz vert sync.
which means no x. I added "vesa" to video and can startx now, without keyboard and mouse.
I'm thinking ubuntu would have a tool to re-write the xorg file, I am unable to find it.
I have searched the forums and have not found a better solution. Time to start editing. Any ideas?

**Woody1987** · October 19th, 2008

Try going into recvoery mode and selecting xfix from the menu this should restore it so that you can gain access to your desktop. From there depending on your graphics card you can install a driver and if its Nvidia or AMD then you can use there respective control panels to get it back to how it was.

**genfool** · October 19th, 2008

I just tried that, again. What it did was remove the vesa driver I added earlier and left me with a bare xorg.conf.
My main concern at this point with writing my own xorg file is to get the mouse and keyboard setup correct. I know the vesa driver works and I know the monitor settings.
When I run "sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-org" it ask about mouse and keyboard (that is all) in the end I am left with the same bare xorg file.
Also, if I run "sudo apt-get update" I get, "could not resolve us.archive.ubuntu.com"
I would assume this is a server error and may be my problem. It has been the same since yesterday after the upgrade.
Saying, I am a little confused on what sources.lst it is using.
I have looked at the sources.lst and I really do not have that source as it is commented out after updating to intrepid. Something in this area is haywire. All the sources enabled include intrepid at some point. The error I get does not include intrepid?

**Woody1987** · October 19th, 2008

i tried updating my 8.04 box to 8.10 alpha6 a while back and had the exact same problem with my network not working and with the sources. After alot of fiddleing around in the recovery menu trying different combinations of commands i eventually got it to kinda of work but it caused other problems aswell so i ended up reinstalling 8.04. My advice to you is to either reinstall 8.04 or wipe the partition and install 8.10 fresh instead of upgrading from 8.04. If like me you have your /home on a separate partition this wont cause any problems either which way you go. I would recommend that you stay with 8.04 until 8.10 is officially released or like me at least wait till the release candidate before upgrading, installing an alpha or beta version will undoubtedly cause problems as we have both found out.

Another possible problem with your network is that you maybe using a network card with the e1000e model, in which case it wont work as ubuntu has disabled this card as the current kernel version corrupts the firmware on it. I dont know if this is the reason although it is possible.

Regarding xorg.conf, im not sure whats happening there but i have included a copy of mine, hopefully you can use it to help fill in yours. The mouse and keyboard parts are i believe pretty standard so you could probably just copy and paste into yours.

Code:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder58)  Wed Oct  1 15:13:37 PDT 2008

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder58)  Wed Oct  1 15:12:53 PDT 2008

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "HSD CY199"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 80.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8800 GTX"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0, CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

**genfool** · October 19th, 2008

Evidently xorg is supposed to look like this and everything is auto detected. If my hardware is not detected I am screwed and have to edit manually.
Damn, this is a intel board which is usually easy to set up in linux. Hope they get it fixed soon.

**genfool** · October 19th, 2008

Thanks for the copy of xorg. A re-install would be easy as it is on a test box. No info to save.
I am looking forward to the next release party and installed only for this.
A re-install is not really what I want, I would prefer to fix. With beta that is not always possible. I will try some more and then decide.

**genfool** · October 19th, 2008

I forgot to add that nic works fine, Just a x problem. I have downloaded a few things to help, just not the right things.

**genfool** · October 20th, 2008

Looks like we will have to learn to edit hal. I got this from another post in the intrepid forums.
When I edit xorg for the video and monitor I can start X. I still get no mouse or keyboard, I am using a usb kvm. I see others have edited xorg.conf to fix that issue. Seems the proper way is to edit hal.

This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSectionThis is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection
This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8This is a Xorg "solution"--again, they decided to use HAL to allow hotplugging. XML files are easier to edit than xorg.conf & we have provided several examples/links to work with the new method--Everyone will be moving to this, we are just the first to do so.

As for the video/device sections--they are still edited thru xorg.conf--I don't know when they will be modified.

My xorg.conf (using nvidia) looks like:

#Custom Xorg

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Option "AllowSHMPixmaps" "0"
Option "PixmapCacheSize" "2000000"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200_60" "1680x1050_60" "1600x1200_60" "1440x900_60" "1280x1024_75" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_75" "1024x768_60"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
Vendorname "NVIDIA Corporation"
Boardname "GeForce 8600 GT"
Option "Coolbits" "1"
Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "False"
Option "SLI" "SFR"
BusID "3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Single-Monitor"
Screen "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
Vendorname "HannsG"
Modelname "HG-281DPB"
Horizsync 24.0-80.0
Vertrefresh 56.0-75.0
Displaysize 593.28 370.8
EndSection

As you can see--your only edits right now are in the video area.

**genfool** · October 22nd, 2008

Sorry about the messed up post. I copied and pasted here, why it repeated 4 times I have no clue.
I tried to fix the dell gx260 with little joy. I need to look at a hal.fdi file to get a clue at what I am going to fix.
I decided on re-installing with a fresh download of a 8.10 beta cd.
The results were, Ran fine on my custom, and wifes hp. Will not load on A dell gx150, gx260, gx270.
I am concerned If the dell issue will be fixed before release date. It is only a few days away, Or am I the only one with this problem?