It does seem to be related to video drivers more generally. Outside X the console driver from grub fails to reduce the size of text.
Since I am using grub version 2, it will take a lot of research to find out what the scripts are doing. There is no simple VGA= parameter to change. I have set the X server to setuid and am going to swap the video card back in and try again later. On 22 Mar 2017 8:12 pm, "Sven Joachim" <svenj...@gmx.de> wrote: > On 2017-03-22 10:25 +0000, Oliver Elphick wrote: > > > I am unable to start X using a Matrox Millennium G550 PCIe card. > > > > This is what I think is the relevant part of the log for the session: > > > > #011compiled for 1.19.2, module version = 0.1.0 > > #011ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 23.0 > > (--) MGA(0): Chipset: "mgag550" > > xf86TokenToOptinfo: table is NULL > > xf86TokenToOptinfo: table is NULL > > (==) MGA(0): Using HW cursor > > (--) MGA(0): Linear framebuffer at 0xF0000000 > > (--) MGA(0): MMIO registers at 0xF7020000 > > (--) MGA(0): Pseudo-DMA transfer window at 0xF6800000 > > (EE) MGA(0): Unable to map Framebuffer F0000000 2000000. Permission > > denied (13) > > (II) MGA(0): Creating default Display subsection in Screen section > > #011"Default Screen Section" for depth/fbbpp 24/32 > > (==) MGA(0): Depth 24, (--) framebuffer bpp 32 > > (==) MGA(0): RGB weight 888 > > (==) MGA(0): Using AGP 1x mode > > (==) MGA(0): Using XAA acceleration > > (WW) MGA(0): Could not retrieve video BIOS! > > (EE) MGA(0): Unable to detect video RAM. > > (II) UnloadModule: "mga" > > > > The full log is attached. > > > > Can anyone indicate what the problem is, please? > > Probably that the X server is no longer running with root rights, and > it has to do that if there is no kernel driver for the graphics card. > See /usr/share/doc/xserver-xorg-core/NEWS.Debian.gz: > > ,---- > | xorg-server (2:1.17.3-1) unstable; urgency=medium > | > | The Xorg server is no longer setuid root by default. This change > reduces the > | risk of privilege escalation due to X server bugs, but has some side > effects: > | > | * it relies on logind and libpam-systemd > | * it relies on a kernel video driver (so the userspace component > doesn't > | touch the hardware directly) > | * it needs X to run on the virtual console (VT) it was started from > | * it changes the location for storing the Xorg log from /var/log/ to > | ~/.local/share/xorg/ > | > | On systems where those are not available, the new xserver-xorg-legacy > package > | is needed to allow X to run with elevated privileges. See the > | Xwrapper.config(5) manual page for configuration details. > | > | -- Julien Cristau <jcris...@debian.org> Tue, 27 Oct 2015 22:54:11 > +0000 > `---- > > In short, you need to install xserver-xorg-legacy. > > Cheers, > Sven > >
