FreeBSD 8 issue with KDE 4.3

C

calebstein

I recently set up a dual boot system with Windows 7 and FreeBSD 8. I got my FreeBSD pretty screwed up by installing KDE 4.3 and setting it is the default login manager without adding the correct entries to the /etc/rc.conf and xorg.conf (I don't know exactly where it is) to let KDE take mouse and keyboard input. Because I didn't add the correct entries, my computer essentially freezes once KDM is loaded. I know perfectly well how to fix it, but I can't, because in regular mode, KDM loads before I can do anything. In safe mode, the system freezes. And in single user mode, it won't let me use the edit command. I tried to access the filesystem through Puppy Linux, but it couldn't read the FreeBSD (I think FFS) partition. The same happened with Windows. I would like to know if there is some way to access a FreeBSD partition through Windows. I really don't want to reinstall.
 
What do you mean by "it won't let me use the edit command"? You need to mount your partitions before doing any changes:

Code: 
mount -u /
mount -a -t ufs

Then edit whatever you need to edit. If it tells you it can't find edit command just try "rehash" command once you mount your partitions or use full path to the command: /usr/bin/edit
 
In single-user mode, only the / filesystem is mounted, and it's mounted read-only.

In order to edit files on the system, you need to first re-mount the / filesystem as read-write: # mount -u /

Then you need to mount the rest of the filesystems: # mount -a

After that, you can edit things as needed, and either reboot or just hit CTRL+D (or type "exit") to continue booting into multi-user mode.
 
Thanks for the quick replies! No, I didn't mount the filesystem in single user mode, I'll try that. And if that doesn't work, I'll try fixit mode.
 
I did the fix, but I don't have a /etc/x11 directory. I tried typing "pkg_add -r xorg" but it said I already had it installed, then I tried "pkg_add -r x11" and it didn't find anything. I then did "cd /usr/ports/x11" and then "make install clean" and it ended with a bunch of errors. I am at a complete loss as to what to do. I need to edit my /etc/x11/xorg.conf file, but it doesn't exist.
 
calebstein said:
I then did "cd /usr/ports/x11" and then "make install clean" and it ended with a bunch of errors.
Click to expand...

Never ever do this. It will install all of the 500 ports in /usr/ports/x11 plus their dependencies (probably several thousands). Only run that command in a port directory, not in a category directory.
 
DutchDaemon said:
Never ever do this. It will install all of the 500 ports in /usr/ports/x11 plus their dependencies (probably several thousands). Only run that command in a port directory, not in a category directory.
Click to expand...

I suppose that's why it took HOURS to complete.
 
Basically, all I need to know now is where the xorg.conf file is located. I checked /etc/x11/, and it's not there, and neither is an x11 directory.
 
Have you tried to simply switch to another tty ? Usually when I forgot to configure my xorg.conf, I press CTRL+ALT+F8 and I can log in without problem
 
When I type xorg -configure, it just says "xorg: command not found." This is really starting to tick me off. I can verify that I have xorg installed. I'm thinking about just reinstalling. Maybe my problem is that I installed from the live cd, but I doubt it.

I used pkg_add to install xorg, is there any way to uninstall a program so that I can reinstall it?
 
Thanks, that worked.

But I think I need to refrase my question again: how can I configure X to accept keybord and mouse input?
 
Basically, this is the whole story:
I installed FreeBSD 8.0-RELEASE from the live cd. I didn't install any other packages during the install. The first thing I did was run "pkg_add -r sudo" and then I ran "pkg_add -r kde", thinking it would install kde 4.3. I realized that it installed kde 3, so I ran "pkg_add -r kde4", and installed kde 4.3. I then ran "pkg_add -r xorg", as root. I then edited /etc/rc.conf and added the lines, "local_startup="${local_startup} /usr/local/kde4/etc/rc.d" and "kdm4_enable="YES"", and restarted my system. Kdm4 loaded fine, but my mouse and keyboard lost input access once kdm4 loaded. I rebooted into single user mode, mounted the filesystems, and commented out the lines in rc.conf. I was told to add "hald_enable" and "dbus_enable" to rc.conf, but when I did, BSD just kept saying "not found" during the boot process. I was then told to add the following lines to my /etc/x11/xorg.conf file: 'Section "ServerFlags"', 'option "AutoAddDevices" "off"', 'option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"', and 'EndSection' (The lines are in single quotes so as not to be confused with the double quotes in the commands). To my dismay, I found I didn't have an /etc/x11 directory, let alone an /etc/x11/xorg.conf file. I then was told to run "Xorg -configure", "X -config /root/xorg.conf.new", and "mv /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/x11/xorg.conf" in that order. "Xorg -configure" went fine, but when I ran "X -config /root/xorg.conf.new", I was taken to a black screen and the system seemingly froze. I rebooted, and tried to run "mv /root/xorg.conf /etc/x11/xorg.conf", and BSD would keep telling me that the x11 directory doesn't exist. I really don't know what to do now to make X work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
calebstein said:
...I was told to add "hald_enable" and "dbus_enable" to rc.conf, but when I did, BSD just kept saying "not found" during the boot process...'option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"'
Click to expand...

xorg commonly blocks out mouse and keyboard with the generated conf file.Instead of

Code: 
option "AllowEmptyInput" "off"

try NoAllowEmptyInput:

Code: 
Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    [B]Option         "NoAllowEmptyInput"[/B]
EndSection

Xorg now ignores 'ctl alt backspace' unless reconfigured along with hald. BTW you did install hald and dbus, right? Then start them up with:

Code: 
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/hald onestart
/usr/local/etc/rc.d/dbus onestart
BTW hald and dbus cause weird event hangups for me. Anyway hald is to be soon obsoleted so YMMV.
 
Thanks for those directions. Kdm works now, kind of. The mouse and keyboard work, but when I type my correct login credentials, the screen goes black for a second, then just returns to kdm.
 
It is strange, it seems to only be a problem with the current desktop environments. I am writing this from kde 3.5. Gnome 2.28 had the same problem kde 4.3 had.
 
/home/caleb/.xsession-errors

Here is my ~/.xsession-errors file, just in case anyone wants to try to make sense of it.
 
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