Very slow X startup

[Deraj]

I'm having trouble (as described above) with the following system:

ECS K7S5A
Duron 850
Diamond Viper v550 (Riva TNT)
256 MB PC133
2.4.20-xfs kernel with a ton of patches (v4l2, etc.)
Although I had the same problems with 2.4.17 stock

[Deraj]

I just downloaded and installed the 1.0-4191 drivers for my TNT and all of the problems with X being slow when starting and switching to consoles I had been having with recent driver releases have disappeared.

Anyone else had this kind of luck?

[linolium]

My luck mirrors yours...

[CheeseCoiw]

All I can say is woot! Basically, they must have fixed it. WindowsXP with the 42.01 drivers seem to boot faster as well. Very nice, nVidia.

Of course, I'd like it to switch even faster to console, my laptop with a crappy ATI card, switches from X to the console in the blink of an eye.

[dan2003]

Hi, i have a gforce 4 mx440 and have also noticed this delay. I have an ADI microscan 5G and notice that it keeps squeeking how it does whilst changing resoltion in this delay period. I suspect that as mentioned above the driver is testing for valid horizontal and vertical frequency combinations. I have also noticed the ignored modes in the log file although don't happen to remember what they are. I will check tonight when i get home and verify that the monitor is actually changing through resolutions in this delay period.

---------- sorry missed the last page of posts with a mosue fumble.. will try new drivers and see what happens.

[loll]

For info, i had big problems with a gf3ti500 and last nvidia drivers (all is fine with 31.23) : system seems to hang at X start and i need a cold reboot.

So I flash the bios card with the last found on web (3.20.00.17 to 3.20.00.20.02) and the problem disapears !

maybe it could help you....

[dan2003]

I installed driver 4194 in runlevel 3 and init 5 and X strated nice and quick and all worked fine. but after total reboot X now hangs just before login prompt!.. not had time to look into this further.

[dquepal]

Originally posted by loll
For info, i had big problems with a gf3ti500 and last nvidia drivers (all is fine with 31.23) : system seems to hang at X start and i need a cold reboot.

So I flash the bios card with the last found on web (3.20.00.17 to 3.20.00.20.02) and the problem disapears !

maybe it could help you....

Please can u explain some more about flashing Geforce 3 BIOS? I have a MSI Geforce 3 ti200, but have'nt found any usefull information about this topic.
I understood you finally fix the 2-3-4 minutes X load problem?

[alhazred]

HELLO!? what ever happened to this thread? i assume people are still having problems because i sure am.

original setup:
p3 733
ecs d6vaa MB
TNT2

WORKED GREAT

then i upgraded to a visiontek gf3 ti200...and the problems started.
X took 30 seconds to start.

thought the problem might be fixed after i bought a new aopen kt400 mb.
nope, same problem. ive tried all the options in XF86Config people have mentioned with no results. ive also verified the delay with a geforce2 mx200 in the same MB although it was only a 5-10 sec delay. heres my current setup where the problem still persists.

Athlon XP 1800
Aopen AK77-8XN
Visiontek GF3 ti200
latest nvidia drivers (4363)
linux 2.4.20
xfree 4.3

I cant believe that a thread with so many posts from affected customers has not prompted even ONE response from nvidia staff - whats going on here!? this has been a problem for me for LONG TIME. Right now i am looking to purchase a new video card, and i will definatly be buying an ATI if nvidia doesnt start showing some concern for the many customers experiencing this problem.

[LinuxRules]

nVidia is most likely in damage control mode for the past 9 months, trying to recover from their disastrous FX flop. As a result of those bad engineering decisions I would submit that perhaps all energies are being refocused to reclaim some lost business with a major – unpublished redesign effort. And in doing so, the company may have undergone some restructuring that currently affects the entire organization. Perhaps some financial problems are on the horizon.

So you see, our slow X startup problem pales in comparison…

On a more positive note though, the rise of the Canadian dollar (or the demise of the US dollar if you wish) means the ATI video cards will probably cost more. Some rumors say the US dollar can slide even further in the 1.10-1.15 range which would give nVidia a real boost.

Within a year, the landscape may have changed completely so that nVidia, by regaining maket shares, could bevote resources to customer support - and fix our damn problem.

[alhazred]

^BUMP^

everyone who has this problem, please post in the thread regularly until we at least get a reply from nvidia. this problem has been known for quite some time, we deserve a fix. or at the very least a reply.

[bwkaz]

Perhaps I should quote the README to everyone here:

Q: X takes a long time to start. What can I do?

A: Most of the startx delay problems we have found are caused by incorrect
data in video BIOSes about what display devices are possibly connected
or what i2c port should be used for detection. You can work around
these problems with the XF86Config option "IgnoreDisplayDevices"
(please see the description in (app-d) APPENDIX D: XF86CONFIG OPTIONS).