8

I recently wanted to solve a problem with using a second monitor from my laptop that is running debian (jessie) but because I lack knowledge things didn't go as planned. Now I am getting booted into tty1, without any kind of graphical environment starting.

I got a Dell XPS17 laptop, using an Intel HD 2nd gen chipset and a Nvidia gt555m graphic card.

What I initially did was install some drivers (some nvidia drivers iirc) and then creating an xorg.conf.

When I now execute startx only a black screen appears, but no errors are printed in the /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

My goal is to make the default laptop display run again, using the Intel hd graphic card and an additional monitor using the Nvidia card (but I would be happy as well if only the laptop display would work again).

What do? I'm not that familiar with Linux/unix and I would appreciate any stp-by-step solution available.

Improve this question
3
  • How did you create the xorg.conf file? The recommended way is to use Xorg -configure (see: the Debian documentation on Xorg). – Benjamin B. Jul 31 '15 at 17:26
  • First step is to check if a window manager is running. – dirkt May 4 '17 at 6:34
  • If the first step (from @dirkt) states "yes", the second step would be to check what's you first, second, … screen. – Nepumuk Feb 6 '20 at 19:14
1

Have you tried right or left-clicking on the black screen? Some WindowManagers doesn't leave much evidence that they're running... You may even have started a WM that doesn't use the mouse but keyboard-commands (like ratpoison). Try running ps to see what WM you're running.

Try starting X with xinit - this usually gives you a terminal-window (xterm) on a "dotted" desktop, but may start a WM too. You can also specify a WM - eg. xinit /usr/bin/icewm (depending on which WMs you've got installed and where they're located).

Try looking in /etc/X11/ for the file which selects what WM you're using -- or use the alternatives command to select the WM you want among those available.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    startx and xinit are pretty much equivalent, as former uses the latter, so I doubt it will fix anything. Your comment about searching /etc/X11 for some file is confusing. I guess you mean xinitrc? It's not the first place xinit starts looking, but rather ~/.xinitrc, so I would check that first (if it exists). – Benjamin B. Jul 31 '15 at 17:32

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.