On Thu 19 Oct 2017 at 08:35:55 (-0700), Jimmy Johnson wrote: > On 10/18/2017 09:13 AM, Robert Arkiletian wrote: > >Using Debian Stretch x86_64. I don't use a greeter like lightdm. I > >just log in at the virtual terminal, then startx (xfce desktop). I > >like to use multiple accounts (running X) at the same time on > >different virtual terminals (eg. ctrl-alt-f1 ctrl-alt-f2) > > > >All is fine until I exit (shutdown) one X session, then the other > >running X session freezes and then after a little while crashes. Any > >ideas on how to find or diagnose what's causing this issue are much > >appreciated. > > I don't know about how you shutdown a terminal, me I just ctrl+d and > it logs out.
That sounds like you're talking about an xterm, not X. Anyway, my suspicion is that perhaps there's a problem in restoring the mode for the console that X started from, when it terminates. I've had that problem in the past on this Acer laptop (on every termination) though upgrades have often fixed it. Currently, I have no problem if I haven't worked the system too hard (which is tricky in 500MB memory), but after doing much browsing (which tends to thrash the 1GB swap), terminating X will leave the machine with a black screen. It's still running (I can ssh into it) but about the only thing that works is the power button, whereupon after a few seconds the normal VC screen appears with the closedown messages scrolling by. (The only untested feature is whether the WiFi kill switch (external) still works.) I can avoid the black screen by, instead of using Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to exit X, typing Ctrl-Alt-F2 for a VC and then killing X with pkill xinit. VC2 now remains usable, just so long as I don't accidently move to VC1, which puts it into its black screen state. This Acer has a Radeon driver that is peculiar. When I boot, it's important that I see these messages: [ 12.195543] radeon 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load radeon/R300_cp.bin (-2) [ 12.195605] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2 [ 12.195608] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Falling back to user helper Were it to load that firmware (which I've hidden), it would crash after just a few seconds. Perhaps a workaround for you would be to only use "real" VCs when the system is freshly booted, and then start a DM so that you stay inside your X sessions evermore, until the next reboot; ie a one-way ticket. Cheers, David.