Description of problem: This is probably not really firstboot but after firstboot execution is the only time it occurs. This problem has happened on a number of systems (all with ATI video cards) as well as when running as a VMWare guest. What happens is that (gdm?) X startup is in a loop which requires a hardware reset and reboot to get out of. This ONLY occurs if "rhgb" is NOT run. That is, after installation, if the bootup runs rhgb and then firstboot, gdm comes up as expected. However, if the grub bootup is modified to NOT run rhgb, the after firstboot finishes, gdm gets in a loop. The text in a typical logfile is: (++) using VT number 7 (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying (WW) Lost VT_WAITACTIVE race, retrying Attached is a logfile from a vmware guest (x86_64) and a real hardware Opteron system (i386).
Created attachment 139733 [details] X log file from VMWare guest
Created attachment 139734 [details] X log file from i386 install on Opteron
BTW, when the X loop occurs, everything works fine after a reboot.
Is this the one where you get a black screen and a cursor that alternates between visible and invisible with a period of a few seconds? I've had that happen on a clean install on two machines under the same conditions (rhgb removed from grub.conf).
yes ... but only after firstboot. Thereafter, rhgb or no rhgb everything works fine.
Yeah, process management in firstboot was pretty crappy. I've made some modifications to rawhide and will rebuild the package in the next couple days. Please test with the next build and let me know if this is working better for you.