Ric Moore composed on 2016-10-17 14:25 (UTC-0400):
I finally went ape and re-installed from the latest stretch build. Initially, with the nouveau driver, XFCE$ synaptic (and others) drop down menus worked. I installed nvidia-driver and it installed everything related to nvidia. Rebooted and with the nvidia driver running, synaptic still worked. THEN I created an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, rebooted, and it all went to h-e-double hockey sticks with the black screen and active mouse pointer. Synaptic borken again.
And yes, I have a 4 monitor setup via two video cards. It has worked well for several years. I rebooted into Xubuntu 16.04 on another drive, it works just fine. I copied that xorg.conf file to my Debian drive /etc/X11, rebooted, no go. I removed xorg.conf, rebooted and no problems other than using one monitor out of four. Xubuntu works, Stretch not. I would love to know where the difference is so I could make a sane bug report.
Did you consider trying with both NVidia and Nouveau purged? Apparently, development focus has been migrating into the server-integrated modesetting driver:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Debian-Abandon-Intel-DDX -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/
