debian upgrade / fatal server error: failed to initialize core devices

[Michael Friendly]

David Nusinow wrote:
 > On Mon, May 07, 2007 at 02:21:48PM -0400, Michael Friendly wrote:

 >> But, I also get a variety of errors in the log,
 >> euclid: ~ % grep '(EE)' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
 >>         (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
 >> (EE) Failed to load module "speedo" (module does not exist, 0)
 >> (EE) AIGLX: DRI module not loaded
 >> (EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/psaux
 >> (EE) Configured Mouse: cannot open input device
 >> (EE) PreInit failed for input device "Configured Mouse"
 >>
 >
 >>From your log, it looks like you need to set your mouse device to 
something
 > else, most likely /dev/input/mice. I think your fonts shouldn't be a
 > problem. As for the warning about AIGLX, the nv driver doesn't 
support DRI,
 > so AIGLX doesn't get loaded, so that's expected. The speedo module is 
dead,
 > so you can just delete the line that loads it from your modules 
section if
 > you like (leaving it there won't hurt).
 >
 >  - David Nusinow

Thanks for the reply.  My local sysadmin is away on training until 
Thurs. and I'm still dead in the water.

I tried
- commenting out speedo
#    Load           "speedo"

- replacing /dev/psaux with /dev/input/mice
#    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
     Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
The InputDevice section now looks like:

Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier     "Configured Mouse"
     Driver         "mouse"
     Option         "CorePointer"
#    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
     Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
     Option         "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
     Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

But after a reboot I still get:

euclid % grep '(EE)' /var/log/Xorg.0.log
         (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(EE) AIGLX: DRI module not loaded
(EE) xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice
(EE) Configured Mouse: cannot open input device
(EE) PreInit failed for input device "Configured Mouse"

I *do* have /dev/input/mice, as well as several others:

euclid: /etc/X11 % ls /dev/input
event0  event2  js0  js2  mice    mouse1  mouse3
event1  event3  js1  js3  mouse0  mouse2

After the reboot, I'm unable to get back to the console
(pressing RET to the <OK> prompt has no effect).  All I can
do is open a terminal window from another computer.

I'm grateful for any help you or other on the list can give with this.

-Michael

-- 
Michael Friendly     Email: friendly AT yorku DOT ca
Professor, Psychology Dept.
York University      Voice: 416 736-5115 x66249 Fax: 416 736-5814
4700 Keele Street    http://www.math.yorku.ca/SCS/friendly.html
Toronto, ONT  M3J 1P3 CANADA