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Ubuntu 21.10 non-root startx: xf86OpenConsole: Switching VT failed

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fchen

I suspect it's due to the most recent update but I am not sure what was changed. I am using GDM3 Ubuntu with Wayland disabled. Now if i login with normal user, the xsession manager will go to failsafe mode and fail again, with a freezing login xwindows. If I go to console and "sudo service gdm3 stop" and then using startx, normal user will fail, root will success, eventually my current hack is: "sudo -u username startx" (this will skip my ~/.profile, another headache). btw, after I logged in, i noticed the sidebar disappeared, it's replaced by an auto-hidden bottom bar (I actually liked it once I get used to it). The error in the syslog is: xf86OpenConsole: Switching VT failed. I think I also tried a few other options and occasionally it's "xf86enableioports failed to set iopl", probably due to the same cause.

I have tried: delete /etc/X11/xinitrc, .xinitrc (those are basically empty anyway). I have tried "sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/xinit". I have tried Gnome classic too, then also tried lightdm, non of these worked. My video card is Nvidia Quadro M1200 Mobile but i believe i am using the fallback Intel HD P630. (Nvidia driver is another long story from my search ...)

I even upgraded my kernel to 5.15 (some searches say that it's the 5.13 kernel bug) and it did not help. Additional info from screenfetch: DE: GNOME 40.0, WM: Mutter

UPDATE: default WM works at console 1, four hours after this post. I am totally lost ... The sidebar is back, i guess default startx was gnome classic? (have not tried yet)

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NovHak avatar
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NovHak
Yes, iirc the bottom bar is from the vanilla Gnome session UI. So when you say default WM works at console 1 you mean everything is back in order ? Normally it's the login screen that's on VC 1, and once you login, it switches to another VC where the logged in user session is set up. Also, when you say Wayland is disabled, you mean you uncommented `WaylandEnable=false` in `/etc/gdm3/custom.conf` ? Note this only sets the login screen to non-Wayland (i.e. X), you'll still have to select a non-Wayland session at login.
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fchen
Hi NovHak, I uncommented WaylandEnable=false. As a result, the session selection at login reduced to half (originally there are always org and non-org options, after I uncommented that there is no org option) and I can verify that the Wayland options are filtered out.
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fchen
I did not realize that the login screen is on VC1 and after I login it's on VC2. Part of the complication might be due to that I used VC2 for console ... should have used VC3 or 4. (btw, I heard about VC7 was also special but did not search further)
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NovHak avatar
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NovHak
I suppose you mean quite the contrary, i.e. after uncommenting, you _only_ have Xorg options, because the Xorg options are precisely the non-Wayland ones. I'm not quite sure where you launch startx, but iirc VT switches only work when executed directly from a VT on a VC, i.e. on a "text" session. This won't work from an X session, and probably not Wayland either.
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fchen
You are right after disabling wayland it's xorg but somehow the display removed that.
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