LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: David Lloyd <lloy0076@senet.com.au>
  To  : linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
  Date: Sun, 27 Jun 1999 12:15:29 +0930

X Window Error 111 (HOWTO)

PURPOSE

The purpose of this document is to help people fix a problem
where the X Server reports:

     "_X11TransSocketUNKIXConnect:Can't connect: errno=111"

A specific report may look similar.


BACKGROUND

When the X server starts up, it looks in a file called
"XF86Config" in /etc/X11 normally to determine a system's
settings. Errors can either be non-fatal such as keyboard
mapping problems, or fatal such as errno=111.


DISCUSSION

This error can mean that the X driver is not able to
determine an appropriate monitor setting. X, rather than
destorying your monitor, will not load until you rectify
this problem. Because X is a GUI, not being able to display
graphics is infeasible, hence X crashes.

If you have an unknown monitor, Xconfigurator and XF86Setup
bundled with RedHat 5.2 and earlier do not always configure
the monitor quite correctly. None the less, be warned that
manually configuring a monitor's hysnc and vsync ranges
(more about these later) can potentially damage your monitor
so the best policy is be conservative - it's like a new
car...you drive slowly at first then work out gradually how
fast you can drive gradually.


MONITOR SECTION
XF86Config contains a number of sections. One section is the
monitor section. In that section there is a line which
reads:

    "HorizSync 31.5 - 35.2"

The numbers can be replaced by a series of comma seperated
values {31.5, 35.1, 44.9}. They're likely to look different
on the XF86Config file on each system, however the value
"HorizSync" is generally there.

These are the "monitor dot clock" values. 

MODE SECTION
Further down in the document there are a very large number
of lines which look similar to this:

    # 800x600 @ 56 Hz, 35.15 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "800x600"    36    800    824    1024    600   
601    603    625

You will need to note the name "800x600" and the next value
"36". The 36 is the horizontal sync dot clock number. If it
does not equal or fit into the range as specified by the
setting above X will delete that mode and cycle to the next
line. I understand that in the case that many ModeLines fit
the range, that which is the highest quality is used by the
server.

X will refuse to use all modes which do not fit within the
range of values specified by the "monitor dot clock value"
[see section above]. Naturally, if X refuses to load any
modes then you will get a server crash.


VIDEO CARD SECTION
This will appear under the Graphics device section. It will
more than likely be called "My Video Card" in the Identifier
field. Take note of this name. Here is an example
(incidentally ignore any lines in your file starting with #
- they're comments which are meant to be helpful):

  Section "Device"
     Identifier "My Video Card"
     VendorName "Unknown"
     BoardName "Unknown"
  EndSection


SCREEN SECTION
Search this section for the section in which the Device is
the equal to the name of your video card. Once you have
found the appropriate section you will need to find out what
modes you are attempting to load.

These modes are in the section labeled "Modes" under
"Display". You must correlate these values with the labeled
modes in the mode section. For X to start at least ONE of
these values must be able to be loaded. You can have
multiple "Display" subsections - you normally can cycle
through them all by press ctrl alt (numpad + or -) when X is
running.

Here is an example:

  Section "Screen"
    Drive "accel"
    Device "My Video Card"
    Monitor "My Monitor"
    Subsection "Display"
      Depth    32
      Modes    "800x700"
      ViewPort 0 0
      Virtual 800x600
    EndSubsection
   EndSection

The value displayed in "modes" corresponds to the values in
the "mode section".


WHAT TO DO
Once you have discovered which modes your system is using,
then adjust the horizSync CAUTIOUSLY so that it fits in with
one of the modes. Xconfigurator normally enters a large
amount of example "mode lines". My advice is to go with the
slowest at first and adjust the horizSync values.

Take a look at the above example. This is from my own system
and if I set it up like this I get a server errno=111 and
crash.

To fix it, I need to manually adjust the HorizSync value
from 

  "HorizSync 31.5 - 35.2"

To

  "HorizSync 31.2 - 36.0"

It is only "0.8" difference but it's the difference between
crashing and not crashing. To fix this problem, simply
adjust these values until you get no server crashes.

AGAIN, start conservatively, even if you are certain your
monitor will cope with a higher HorizSync value. You can
physically damage your monitor doing this, so it's better to
be safe than sorry.


DAVID

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