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X11.app problem

V

verbel

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 8, 2006
31
0
Sorry if this is the wrong forum I wasent sure were to ask this.

I am trying to get ethereal to work so I installed x11 from the OSX cd now when I open x11 it bounces in my dock once or twice and then dissapears. When I try to launch it from a terminal it gives me this error
xterm Xt error: Can't open display
and this is the error I get when trying to open ethereal
(ethereal:385): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
Any ideas why this is happening?
 
verbel said:
Sorry if this is the wrong forum I wasent sure were to ask this.

I am trying to get ethereal to work so I installed x11 from the OSX cd now when I open x11 it bounces in my dock once or twice and then dissapears. When I try to launch it from a terminal it gives me this error
xterm Xt error: Can't open display
and this is the error I get when trying to open ethereal
(ethereal:385): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
Any ideas why this is happening?
Click to expand...

If it is bouncing in the dock and disappearing then X11 is crashing for some reason. Check the system console log. /Applications/Utilities/Console

Once X11 starts by default it will open an xterm for you.

By default, the environment in the OS X terminal does not set the DISPLAY variable. This is needed before you can run X11 apps directly from the terminal. But you first need to get X11 stable.
 
mrichmon said:
If it is bouncing in the dock and disappearing then X11 is crashing for some reason. Check the system console log. /Applications/Utilities/Console

Once X11 starts by default it will open an xterm for you.

By default, the environment in the OS X terminal does not set the DISPLAY variable. This is needed before you can run X11 apps directly from the terminal. But you first need to get X11 stable.
Click to expand...

I looked through the log and don't see anything that would relate.
 
verbel said:
I looked through the log and don't see anything that would relate.
Click to expand...

You could try running X11 from the terminal using:

Code: 
open /Applications/Utilities/X11.app

The "cannot open display" errors you are getting are because X11 isn't running. The last thing that X11 does after it starts up is it opens an xterm window. It looks like the X11 server is crashing before this happens so that then xterm starts it cannot find the server.
 
verbel said:
Sorry if this is the wrong forum I wasent sure were to ask this.

I am trying to get ethereal to work so I installed x11 from the OSX cd now when I open x11 it bounces in my dock once or twice and then dissapears. When I try to launch it from a terminal it gives me this error
xterm Xt error: Can't open display
and this is the error I get when trying to open ethereal
(ethereal:385): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:
Any ideas why this is happening?
Click to expand...

Well just to say the reason you are getting the ethereal warning is because you need to execute ethereal via xterm. So once you get X11 working, open an xterm window and type 'sudo ethereal'

Though on why X11 is crashing I'm not sure.
 
Ok, well according to this article, after much troubleshooting, simply deleting the x11 plist file (~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.x11.plist) it got things working again. So you could give that a try.

If that doesn't work, you could try this...

Open up Terminal.app and run the command 'startx'. Does it give any error messages? (To close this if it runs properly you will need to terminate it by doing a 'control+C')
 
tag said:
Ok, well according to this article, after much troubleshooting, simply deleting the x11 plist file (~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.x11.plist) it got things working again. So you could give that a try.

If that doesn't work, you could try this...

Open up Terminal.app and run the command 'startx'. Does it give any error messages? (To close this if it runs properly you will need to terminate it by doing a 'control+C')
Click to expand...


I tried running that and this is what I get



XFree86 Version 4.4.0 / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6600)
[DRI] screen 0 installation complete
Screen 0 added: 1440x900 @ (0,0)
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/, removing from list!
giving up.
xinit: Connection refused (errno 61): unable to connect to X server
xinit: No such process (errno 3): Server error.
localhost:~ verbel$


I also looked for the com.apple.x11 file and it does not appear to be there.
 
verbel said:
I also looked for the com.apple.x11 file and it does not appear to be there.
Click to expand...

Ok I guess that would make sense since you have never actually been able to run X11 right?

Since you have never ran X11, I'm not sure if this will directory be there or not, but go into /tmp and issue this command 'chmod 1777 .X11-unix'.

Another thought, you don't by chance have this file '~/.xinitrc' do you? perhaps it is incomplete or messed up, if you have that, delete it.

Barring those working, I'm running out of ideas, perhaps just try reinstalling X11.
 
tag said:
Ok I guess that would make sense since you have never actually been able to run X11 right?

Since you have never ran X11, I'm not sure if this will directory be there or not, but go into /tmp and issue this command 'chmod 1777 .X11-unix'.

Another thought, you don't by chance have this file '~/.xinitrc' do you? perhaps it is incomplete or messed up, if you have that, delete it.

Barring those working, I'm running out of ideas, perhaps just try reinstalling X11.
Click to expand...
Well I went and tried the CHMOD it let me do it but it did'nt fix the problem so I guess I'll jut try to reinstall X11. How do I uninstall it? (I just started using OSX so I don't know alot of things)
 
verbel said:
Well I went and tried the CHMOD it let me do it but it did'nt fix the problem so I guess I'll jut try to reinstall X11. How do I uninstall it? (I just started using OSX so I don't know alot of things)
Click to expand...
Uninstalling X11 is probably one of the most difficult things to explain here!

First you should just try reinstalling X11 from the install DVD over the existing X11 installation first. If there are missing files (from your error it looks like it), then they will be replaced.
 
dr_lha said:
Uninstalling X11 is probably one of the most difficult things to explain here!

First you should just try reinstalling X11 from the install DVD over the existing X11 installation first. If there are missing files (from your error it looks like it), then they will be replaced.
Click to expand...

Now when I go to install X11 SDK from the CD's it tells me there is nothing to install?
 
verbel said:
Now when I go to install X11 SDK from the CD's it tells me there is nothing to install?
Click to expand...
You don't need the SDK unless you plan to compile/write X11 programs. Still, try the following:

Go into /Library/Receipts and delete any packages that start X11 (there should be 1 or 2). Then reinstall X11 from the install DVD by clicking on the icon that says "Install optional packages" (or something similar) and clicking the checkbox next to X11.
 
dr_lha said:
You don't need the SDK unless you plan to compile/write X11 programs. Still, try the following:

Go into /Library/Receipts and delete any packages that start X11 (there should be 1 or 2). Then reinstall X11 from the install DVD by clicking on the icon that says "Install optional packages" (or something similar) and clicking the checkbox next to X11.
Click to expand...
well your my hero of the day that worked. Thanks for the help.
 
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