Bug#586007: gdm: GDM fails to start Xserver while XDM starts it successfully

[Jakub Lucký]

Package: gdm
Version: 2.20.10-3
Severity: important

Hi

my GDM is unable to start Xserver, it fails even before GDM login screen appears. 
Apparently, it seems to be GDM-related problem, because XDM (after setting it primary) manages to start Xserver and Gnome then successfully. 

GDM starting is blinking between tty1, blank screen and Nvidia logo... After some time, it shows the the blue screen "Xserver starts to fail", wanna see debug output, but in Xorg.log, there is really nothing interesting.

HW: Thinkpad T61, Nvidia Quadro 140

Thanks for your time
Jakub Lucký


-- System Information:
Debian Release: squeeze/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (990, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.32-trunk-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages gdm depends on:
ii  adduser                     3.112        add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.32       Debian configuration management sy
ii  gksu                        2.0.2-3      graphical frontend to su
ii  gnome-session [x-session-ma 2.30.0-1     The GNOME Session Manager - GNOME 
ii  gnome-terminal [x-terminal- 2.30.1-1     The GNOME terminal emulator applic
ii  konsole [x-terminal-emulato 4:4.4.4-1    X terminal emulator for KDE 4
ii  libart-2.0-2                2.3.21-1     Library of functions for 2D graphi
ii  libatk1.0-0                 1.30.0-1     The ATK accessibility toolkit
ii  libattr1                    1:2.4.44-2   Extended attribute shared library
ii  libc6                       2.11.2-1     Embedded GNU C Library: Shared lib
ii  libcairo2                   1.8.10-4     The Cairo 2D vector graphics libra
ii  libdbus-1-3                 1.2.24-1     simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdbus-glib-1-2            0.86-1       simple interprocess messaging syst
ii  libdmx1                     1:1.1.0-2    X11 Distributed Multihead extensio
ii  libfontconfig1              2.8.0-2.1    generic font configuration library
ii  libfreetype6                2.3.11-1     FreeType 2 font engine, shared lib
ii  libglade2-0                 1:2.6.4-1    library to load .glade files at ru
ii  libglib2.0-0                2.24.1-1     The GLib library of C routines
ii  libgnomecanvas2-0           2.30.1-1     A powerful object-oriented display
ii  libgtk2.0-0                 2.20.1-1     The GTK+ graphical user interface 
ii  libpam-modules              1.1.1-3      Pluggable Authentication Modules f
ii  libpam-runtime              1.1.1-3      Runtime support for the PAM librar
ii  libpam0g                    1.1.1-3      Pluggable Authentication Modules l
ii  libpango1.0-0               1.28.0-1     Layout and rendering of internatio
ii  librsvg2-2                  2.26.3-1     SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  librsvg2-common             2.26.3-1     SAX-based renderer library for SVG
ii  libselinux1                 2.0.94-1     SELinux runtime shared libraries
ii  libwrap0                    7.6.q-19     Wietse Venema's TCP wrappers libra
ii  libx11-6                    2:1.3.3-3    X11 client-side library
ii  libxau6                     1:1.0.5-2    X11 authorisation library
ii  libxdmcp6                   1:1.0.3-2    X11 Display Manager Control Protoc
ii  libxext6                    2:1.1.1-3    X11 miscellaneous extension librar
ii  libxi6                      2:1.3-4      X11 Input extension library
ii  libxinerama1                2:1.1-3      X11 Xinerama extension library
ii  libxml2                     2.7.7.dfsg-2 GNOME XML library
ii  lsb-base                    3.2-23.1     Linux Standard Base 3.2 init scrip
ii  metacity [x-window-manager] 1:2.30.1-1   lightweight GTK+ window manager
ii  xterm [x-terminal-emulator] 259-1        X terminal emulator

Versions of packages gdm recommends:
ii  dialog                    1.1-20100428-1 Displays user-friendly dialog boxe
ii  gdm-themes                0.6.2          Themes for the GNOME Display Manag
ii  xserver-xephyr            2:1.7.7-2      nested X server
ii  xserver-xorg              1:7.5+6        the X.Org X server
ii  zenity                    2.30.0-1       Display graphical dialog boxes fro

Versions of packages gdm suggests:
ii  libpam-gnome-keyring          2.30.1-2   PAM module to unlock the GNOME key
ii  locales                       2.11.2-1   Embedded GNU C Library: National L
ii  pm-utils                      1.3.0-2    utilities and scripts for power ma

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/gdm/gdm.conf changed:
[daemon]
[security]
[xdmcp]
[gui]
[greeter]
GlobalFaceDir=/usr/share/pixmaps/
UseInvisibleInEntry=true
GraphicalTheme=blueswirl
GraphicalThemes=bijou
DefaultWelcome=false
SoundOnLogin=false
GraphicalThemeRand=true
[chooser]
[debug]
[servers]


-- debconf information:
  gdm/daemon_name: /usr/sbin/gdm
* shared/default-x-display-manager: xdm