SLED10 : Xserver fails to start after running well

This document (3385920) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

Situation

A workstation was started or rebooted, and the Graphical User Interface (GUI) failed to load. This occurred after the workstation has already been running properly, and no configuration changes were made prior to the reboot.

Typically, disabling the 3-D effects and Xgl hides the symptoms and allows the GUI to start.

Resolution

The ATI graphics cards usually rely on the atieventsd, an ATI Event handler service. The solution is to start atieventsd prior to starting the gnome display manager, done by the xdm startup script.

Open a shell.
SU to root.
Change to the /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/ directory.
Locate the script names of the xdm process and the atieventsd. By default, the two files are :
```
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 2006-08-01 13:43 S21atieventsd -> ../atieventsd
```
```
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  6 2006-08-01 10:38 S10xdm -> ../xdm
```
The link starts with 'S' and then a two digit number. This means that it is the start script, and the two digit number is the load preference. The lower the number, the earlier the start.
Alter the load order by moving the atieventsd process to start before the xdm process. This is done by :
```
mv S21atieventsd S09atieventsd
```
Restart the workstation.

This should allow the gdm (started by the xdm process, requirement for the Xgl) to use the ATI events in handling 3-D requests, and should correct the startup problems.

Disclaimer

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