No suitable X-server found? Please help

[chomskyyy]

I am new to Knoppix, and have version 3.9. When I boot from the cd I get a boot screen. After hitting enter, some initializing and configuration takes place and at the bottom of the screen it says "no suitable x-server found for your card", and then sometimes goes to a gray screen with a large "X" for a mouse cursor and sometimes just halts at the error message. I have an nVidia Vanta graphics card, 1 GHz Athlon, 512 MB RAM. What can I do?

[chomskyyy]

I've tried failsafe but can't get to KDE, and I've tried countless cheats all to no avail. I've reviewed the old posts on the same problem, but still can't resolve. Anybody?

[Markus]

Try some of these: http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Cheat_Codes
Perhaps something like: knoppix xmodule=nv screen=1280x1024 vsync=60 vga=791
(adjust the above according to your monitor)

[chomskyyy]

Thank you, but still no go. I have a Sony Trinitron monitor, how can I determine the proper values for the vsync and vga parameters? I understand the vsync=60 is 60 hertz refresh which I think is fine, but how do I determine the vga value?

[Markus]

Googling the monitor model should give you specs for refresh rates.
You could also try the fb1024x768 cheat instead of screen and xmodule=vesa or fbdev.
The vga value is for frame buffer resolution and color depth in console, try vga=normal also. Here's different values: http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=36801

[gnukish]

Sorry for interrupption guys. This is an error caused because of a worn out/scratched cd.
I got the same error a while back. But when I burnt knoppix again to a new disk, it was heaven.

No such error will come if u have a good cd.

Some hints in my case:cloop error(cloop is a util used to decompress boot image)
init:X respawning too fast (Sometimes this error can be corrected by using the knoppix cheat "knoppix mem=512M" )

Hope this helps.

[UnderScore]

Sorry for interrupption guys. This is an error caused because of a worn out/scratched cd.
I got the same error a while back. But when I burnt knoppix again to a new disk, it was heaven.

No such error will come if u have a good cd.

Some hints in my case:cloop error(cloop is a util used to decompress boot image)
init:X respawning too fast (Sometimes this error can be corrected by using the knoppix cheat "knoppix mem=512M" )

Hope this helps.It is certainly possible that a bad burned CD could be the problem. But it is most likely the autodetection routine failing to configure the video device. Are you sure you did not submit the wrong post to the wrong thread. This is the second of two posts where this appears to have happened.

[gnukish]

Iam sure, coz thats why I have explained my case to him.

[chomskyyy]

It is not the cd. I am wondering a few things though. Is it normal that during initialization I see something like "init: version 2.78" even though I have 3.9? Also, the errors seem to be rather inconsistent. Even with the same codes, I'll get varying results. I even got past the Xserver problem once, to the spaceman screen where KDE began to load, the desktop looked good, and I thought I was good, and then KDE failed and the screen went black. Then with the same codes, on the next boot, I got xserver errors again. Sometimes I get the gray screen, sometimes not, and I can properly shut down. What is the deal?

[gnukish]

Is this the result after burning knoppix in a new cd-r ??

[Harry Kuhman]

Is it normal that during initialization I see something like "init: version 2.78" even though I have 3.9?
Yup, Linux kernel version vs Knoppix LiveCD version.


Also, the errors seem to be rather inconsistent. Even with the same codes, I'll get varying results. I even got past the Xserver problem once, to the spaceman screen where KDE began to load, the desktop looked good, and I thought I was good, and then KDE failed and the screen went black. Then with the same codes, on the next boot, I got xserver errors again. Sometimes I get the gray screen, sometimes not, and I can properly shut down. What is the deal?
That's not a common problem with Knoppix. I'm not saying it's the only potential cause (clearly bad memory, for example, could cause random issues, or even extreme overheating), but the only time I've seen Knoppix act this way is disc issues, either a high speed burn or booting in DMA mode on equipment that needed the nodma cheat code. Since you say you are certain it's not a disc issue I'm hoping you'll post back what it is when you find it.

[chomskyyy]

Yup, Linux kernel version vs Knoppix LiveCD version.

It says loading Linux kernel 2.6, init: knoppix version 2.78. So that is normal then?

As far as the media goes, it is on a freshly opened disc with no visual flaws of any kind, and I only burned it at 8x, so I doubt that is it.

[UnderScore]

Yup, Linux kernel version vs Knoppix LiveCD version.

It says loading Linux kernel 2.6, init: knoppix version 2.78. So that is normal then?

As far as the media goes, it is on a freshly opened disc with no visual flaws of any kind, and I only burned it at 8x, so I doubt that is it.Yes init is separate from the kernel & 2.78 knoppix version of init is fine.

[Markus]

As well as nodma try other no-cheats: noapic noagp noapm nodma nomce nofirewire nopcmcia noscsi noswap nousb nosmp noaudio
Those together with different xmodule=??? should hopefully get it to desktop.
Have you tried another window manager like: knoppix xmodule=nv screen=1024x768 desktop=icewm

[chomskyyy]

I can't believe it - I'm finally up! As far as I can tell, I traced the problem to bad memory that I just installed a few days ago. I swapped it out with my old stick of 128 MB ram, and voila! I had been getting all kinds of weird errors and blue screens in Windows (Even more than usual), and so I switched the memory back for troubleshooting. As an afterthought I tried to load Knoppix and here I am (no cheat codes needed)! Words can not express how pleased I am right now, and thanks to all for the suggestions. Goodbye Windows....

[Markus]

Glad you got it to work.

PS: Next time you might want to include the fact that windows isn't working either with recent hardware change ;)

[Harry Kuhman]

Yup, mentioning the Windows issues would have been a big clue. We would have also reminded you that typing memtest at the prompt would have run memtest86 and caught this right away for you.

[chomskyyy]

PS: Next time you might want to include the fact that windows isn't working either with recent hardware change

Good point, sorry about that :oops: