karl@grebyn.COM (Karl Nyberg) (06/08/89)
The hardware: microvax II. The software: Ultrix 3.0, X11R3 (with fixes), started from xdm in /etc/rc.local. The problem: yesterday a kermit session (with a lot of garbage characters coming in) in one of the windows wedged the window and wouldn't let go for nothing. Rebooted the system from another terminal only to find that any xterm-related window was black background (with presumably black characters). The EMACS window (fortunately) is still black on white, so I can still do things. The remaining windows can be used if you can do so typing blindly. (E.g., running an sc process will show up in the process table.) Running a recursive xterm remains black on black. The cursor goes white when entering the window, and "destroy window" gives me a white skull and crossbones when put on one. Trying to run an xterm from the shell within emacs gives me the following error messages: X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "White" X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "Black" X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "white" X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "black" Other than that, I can move windows, resize them etc. I've rebooted (several times), powered the system and console completely off, run fsck on all the file systems to no avail. Is it a hardware problem?
johnd@physiol.su.oz (John Dodson) (06/09/89)
In article <12128@grebyn.COM>, karl@grebyn.COM (Karl Nyberg) writes: > The hardware: microvax II. > The software: Ultrix 3.0, X11R3 (with fixes), started from xdm in > /etc/rc.local. > > The problem: yesterday a kermit session (with a lot of garbage characters > coming in) in one of the windows wedged the window and wouldn't let go for > nothing. Rebooted the system from another terminal only to find that any > xterm-related window was black background (with presumably black > characters). --- > Trying to run an xterm from the shell within emacs gives me the following > error messages: > > X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "White" > X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "Black" --- > > Other than that, I can move windows, resize them etc. I've rebooted > (several times), powered the system and console completely off, run fsck on > all the file systems to no avail. Is it a hardware problem? No, it is not hardware. I have searched for the actual cause for a couple of weeks now (a number of things can cause this problem) & have yet to find it. But, rebuilding your entire X-core to reinstall /usr/bin/X11 & /usr/lib/X11 will fix the problem. However my next attemt was to gradually rebuild things (although there is NO indication that anything has changed - I've tried a find on recently modified files in those dirs to no avail) at this stage I'm stumped too & waiting for it to recur (so I'll be forced to find the problem ;-) By the way my hardware is the same but running 4.3bsd-tahoe. johnd@physiol.physiol.su.oz.au
chet@cwns5.INS.CWRU.Edu (Chet Ramey) (06/15/89)
In article <666@physiol.su.oz> johnd@physiol.su.oz (John Dodson) writes: >In article <12128@grebyn.COM>, karl@grebyn.COM (Karl Nyberg) writes: >> Trying to run an xterm from the shell within emacs gives me the following >> error messages: >> >> X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "White" >> X Toolkit Warning: Cannot allocate colormap entry for "Black" >No, it is not hardware. That much is true. >But, rebuilding your entire X-core to reinstall /usr/bin/X11 & /usr/lib/X11 >will fix the problem. This is overkill. This problem is caused by a corrupted rgb database (found by default in /usr/lib/X11/rgb{.pag,.dir,.txt}). The fix is to reinstall the database from your sources (just do a `make install' in the rgb source directory). Chet Ramey Network Services Group, CWRU chet@{cwjcc,pirate}.INS.CWRU.Edu "The flagon with the dragon has the potion with the poison; the vessel with the pestle holds the brew that is true!"