Not reboot, X server shutdown :-(

[Tom Horsley]

I found my system with no GUI running again this
morning, but took more time to poke around, and
discovered that it had not rebooted, it had just
shutdown the X server and the boot messages were
on the screen from the last time I booted.

The messages in the X log seemed to indicate it
had been requested to shutdown - it ends with
stuff about unloading evdev and other modules.

I find nothing in any of the logs that indicate
anything was happening, unless maybe logrotate
has gotten carried away and is shutting down the
X server so it can rotate the X log file (but
it would happen every night I'd think in that
case :-).

I'm using the motherboard/cpu Intel graphics.

Anyone seen anything like this before?

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sun, 2013-04-21 at 08:06 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  I found my system with no GUI running again this
>  morning, but took more time to poke around, and
>  discovered that it had not rebooted, it had just
>  shutdown the X server and the boot messages were
>  on the screen from the last time I booted.
>  
>  The messages in the X log seemed to indicate it
>  had been requested to shutdown - it ends with
>  stuff about unloading evdev and other modules.
>  
>  I find nothing in any of the logs that indicate
>  anything was happening, unless maybe logrotate
>  has gotten carried away and is shutting down the
>  X server so it can rotate the X log file (but
>  it would happen every night I'd think in that
>  case :-).
>  
>  I'm using the motherboard/cpu Intel graphics.
>  
>  Anyone seen anything like this before? 
No idea, but I suggest you mention at least which version of the X
server and Intel drivers you have.

poc

[Tom Horsley]

On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:24:20 -0430
Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:

>  No idea, but I suggest you mention at least which version of the X
>  server and Intel drivers you have. 
All latest f18 updates (as of a few days ago anyway):

xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.21.6-1.fc18.x86_64
xorg-x11-server-common-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.7.3-5.fc18.x86_64

Who starts the server these days anyway? Can I
query something in systemctl the next time it
happens?

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Sun, 2013-04-21 at 10:35 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
>  On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:24:20 -0430
>  Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
>  
>  > No idea, but I suggest you mention at least which version of the X
>  > server and Intel drivers you have.
>  
>  All latest f18 updates (as of a few days ago anyway):
>  
>  xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.21.6-1.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-server-common-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.7.3-5.fc18.x86_64 
Exactly what I have, using an Intel mobo with 915 chipset, but I haven't
seen the problem you describe.

>  Who starts the server these days anyway? Can I
>  query something in systemctl the next time it
>  happens? 
Probably, but others more knowledgeable than I are better placed to help
here.

OT: is there a handy cheat sheet of common uses of systemctl? If not, I
think one is sorely needed. The whole systemd ecosystem is documented,
just not in a way mortals can easily grasp. Not as bad as
NetworkManager, but it's up there.

poc

[Aaron Konstam]

On Sun, 2013-04-21 at 10:35 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote: 
>  On Sun, 21 Apr 2013 09:24:20 -0430
>  Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
>  
>  > No idea, but I suggest you mention at least which version of the X
>  > server and Intel drivers you have.
>  
>  All latest f18 updates (as of a few days ago anyway):
>  
>  xorg-x11-drv-intel-2.21.6-1.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-server-common-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-server-Xorg-1.13.3-2.fc18.x86_64
>  xorg-x11-drv-evdev-2.7.3-5.fc18.x86_64
>  
>  Who starts the server these days anyway? Can I
>  query something in systemctl the next time it
>  happens? 
If you enable and start the service with systemctl it will start
automatically when you login.
-- 
=======================================================================
The meek shall inherit the earth; the rest of us, the Universe.
=======================================================================
Aaron Konstam telephone: [phone] e-mail: akonstam(a)sbcglobal.net

[Tom Horsley]

OK, I found the system displaying the boot messages
again, and was able to Ctrl-Alt-F2 to switch to
another console and run systemctl status kdm.service,
which said the service was up and running properly
for the last week.

I then switched back via Ctrl-Alt-F1 and suddenly
it was displaying the GUI again instead of the console
messages from the last boot.

What the heck is that?

Even if I wanted to, I have no idea how to switch
the display on console 1 to the text mode display
versus the GUI. How does this happen?

Intel driver bug maybe?

At least it seems like I can get back by switching
consoles twice :-).