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.
Best Answer
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.