[CentOS] startx reboots my computer

Mon Nov 27 10:43:21 UTC 2006
Johnny Hughes <mailing-lists at hughesjr.com>

On Mon, 2006-11-27 at 00:19 -0500, Ted Miller wrote:
> Well, sometimes startx reboots my computer.  Other times is does nothing
> except slow it to a halt for a while.  Sometimes is locks up.
> 
> I am using init level 3.  At the command line, everything looks fine, and I
> can do whatever commands I want.
> 
> When I type startx, then things go down the tubes.
> 
> What doesn't happen:
> X never starts
> No error messages get posted to dmesg
> no log is generated in /var/log/xorg.0.log
> 
> What DOES happen:
> on a good run, I get the error message:
>   /usr.../startx: fork: resource temporarily unavailable
> on a bad run the computer either locks up or reboots, or I get a parade of
>   notices that the comp is "out of memory, shutting down process xxxxxx".
> running top -u tmiller -b>/tmp/top.log in another console generates a huge
>   file.  After deleting the process entry lines (all end in startx, except
>   the bash line), I get results like this:
> 
> top - 22:27:23 up 3 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.03
> Tasks:  66 total,   1 running,  65 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  0.0% us,  0.0% sy, 0.0% ni, 100.0% id,  0.0% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.0% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   178112k used,   846268k free,    14720k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,        0k used,  8385848k free,    97316k cached
> 
>   PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
> 
> 
>  4517 tmiller   21   0 53976 1604 1188 S  0.0  0.2   0:00.00 bash
> 
> 
> 
> 
> top - 22:27:26 up 3 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.03, 0.07, 0.03
> Tasks: 367 total,   5 running, 362 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  3.3% us,  7.3% sy, 0.0% ni, 88.7% id,  0.7% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   251008k used,   773372k free,    14736k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,        0k used,  8385848k free,    97320k cached
> 
> 
> top - 22:27:29 up 3 min,  2 users,  load average: 0.51, 0.17, 0.06
> Tasks: 3389 total,   3 running, 3386 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s): 35.8% us, 64.2% sy, 0.0% ni,  0.0% id,  0.0% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   985600k used,    38780k free,    14740k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,        0k used,  8385848k free,    97368k cached
> 
> ************************************************************************
> eventually peaking out at:
> 
> top - 22:28:15 up 4 min,  3 users,  load average: 2.54, 0.74, 0.26
> Tasks: 7696 total,   2 running, 7693 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s): 10.5% us, 45.2% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 43.8% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.6% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   896720k used,   127660k free,      264k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,  1035964k used,  7349884k free,    10372k cached
> 
> ***************************************************************************
> with the PID numbers peaking at 12551, tasks at 7696, swap at 1-1.4GB used.
>  The situation then tapers back down to "nominal" with the end looking like
> this:
> 
> top - 22:30:04 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1698.55, 626.56, 224.72
> Tasks: 3756 total,   1 running, 3755 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  2.8% us,  6.6% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 90.3% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.3% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   863720k used,   160660k free,      340k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,   562008k used,  7823840k free,    27528k cached
> 
> top - 22:30:07 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1698.55, 626.56, 224.72
> Tasks: 2468 total,   2 running, 2466 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  4.5% us, 10.6% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 84.6% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.3% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   579792k used,   444588k free,      496k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,   376544k used,  8009304k free,    28348k cached
> 
> top - 22:30:10 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1562.61, 616.17, 223.52
> Tasks: 1962 total,   2 running, 1960 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  2.9% us,  7.7% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 88.7% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.6% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   481056k used,   543324k free,      496k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,   305012k used,  8080836k free,    28728k cached
> 
> top - 22:30:13 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1437.56, 605.96, 222.32
> Tasks: 1371 total,   2 running, 1369 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  2.0% us,  7.5% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 89.9% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.7% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   362136k used,   662244k free,      504k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,   221904k used,  8163944k free,    29028k cached
> 
> top - 22:30:16 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1437.56, 605.96, 222.32
> Tasks: 862 total,   2 running, 860 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  1.7% us,  5.6% sy,  0.0% ni,  0.0% id, 92.1% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.7% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,   260440k used,   763940k free,      512k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,   149960k used,  8235888k free,    29232k cached
> 
> top - 22:30:19 up 6 min,  3 users,  load average: 1322.52, 595.92, 221.14
> Tasks:  68 total,   1 running,  67 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
> Cpu(s):  1.3% us,  6.6% sy,  0.0% ni,  4.6% id, 86.8% wa,  0.0% hi, 0.7% si
> Mem:   1024380k total,    87280k used,   937100k free,      524k buffers
> Swap:  8385848k total,    35956k used,  8349892k free,    29356k cached
> 
> This was done with the xorg.conf file deleted, so it isn't caused by that.
> 
> Hardware:
> AMD 3500+ x86_64 proc
> 1GB ram
> 8GB swap
> 3 x 160GB SATA drives
> nvidia nForce4 chipset on Gigabyte MB
> Gigabyte nvidia GeForce 6200 video card
> firewall is separate ipcop box to ADSL
> 
> Software:
> Centos 4.4, fully updated
>   started as a bare install (uncheck everything except KDE at software
>   choice screen), then added only things I really want/need
> vmware server (free version)
> wine
> 
> I had just spent a couple of days getting the install "tweaked" in
> preparation to moving to it as my "workhorse" workstation environment.  I
> had tweaked my dual monitor setup (a 21" landscape screen next to a 17"
> portrait screen took a lot of false starts to get xorg.conf right), gotten
> vmware working, and was still wondering where the fonts went for my wine
> install.  It was working pretty well, and I was looking forward to using
> it, and when I rebooted, I have this mess.
> 
> I have spent hours looking on the Internet looking for similar symptoms, to
> no avail.
> 
> "#rpm --validate --all>grep X" sqwauked about some missing *.so files, but
> showed nothing corrupted.
> 
> I am wide open to solutions or instructions on where to look for diagnosis
> information as to what is wrong.
> 

While connected to the Internet, I would start out with the command:

yum groupinstall "X Window System" "KDE (K Desktop Environment)"

See if that wants to add any packages.

You didn't say if you installed the i386 distro of the x86_64 distro.
If you have 1GB ram and want this as a workstation, I would recommend
the i386 distro as Shockwave (and other plugins for firefox),
openoffice.org, etc. are only available as i386 programs.

Operating i386 and x86_64 programs on an x86_64 machine can be hard and
confusing (with duplicate packages of each arch required to be
installed, etc.)

That is where i would start, and go from there.

Thanks,
Johnny Hughes
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