From Bugzilla Helper: User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux 2.4.2-2 i686; en-US; rv:0.9+) Gecko/20010523 Description of problem: I'm not sure what causes this, but I find the truetype font I use in my terminals and emacs (Andale Mono), sometimes, when I log in, comes out much smaller than it was previously set. Dropping to runlevel 3, and back to 5, and restarting xfs doesn't cure the problem, but restarting linux does! I can't reproduce what causes the fonts to change size. How reproducible: Sometimes Steps to Reproduce: 1. Log in and out a few times (I suspect) 2. 3. Additional info:
Created attachment 19591 [details] XF86Config file
Created attachment 19592 [details] xfs config file
I'm willing to bet that you are starting an app, changing the font, but aren't telling it to remember the font. What desktop are you using, GNOME, or KDE? Restarting Linux may seem to solve the problem, however the Linux kernel has nothing to do with fonts. Does "service xfs stop" followed by "service xfs start" fix it?
No - that's the odd thing. Restarting xfs didn't help, which doesn't make sense at all!! I know xfs isn't connected to the kernel. I'm using GNOME. The steps were: o Log in - my gnome-terminal fonts we at 3/4 the size o Log out o Log in - still the same o Log out o Switch to runlevel 3, restart xfs, go back to runlevel 5 o Log in - fonts still small o Log out o Restart machine o Log in - fonts restored!!! I don't save the "Save settings" command enabled on gnome on logout, and I didn't change any font settings. Really odd. I may have restarted xfs with xfs restart instead of stop,start, so I'll have to try and make it happen again, so I'll be able to pin the bug further down. It's an annoying bug, as it's so hard to pin down!
service xfs restart is not the same as service xfs stop then start. If in doubt, as root do "killall -9 xfs" then "service xfs start".
Okay. Firstly, the above XF86Config file is wrong. I'm using X4, and the config file is the V3 one. Right, dropping to runlevel 3, stopping xfs, starting xfs, and going back to RL5 doesn't fix the problem!! I'm going to attach screenshots to demonstate the "normal" and "broken" states. The problem was fixed on restarting the machine. Looking at the XFree86 log files, I suspect the problem's due to the Matrox G400 card getting in a funny state on X restart. The font size screws up as X can't get the DDC information about the monitor. It's a card or driver fault (I think), as turning the monitor on and off before starting X doesn't help. From the X log files, the vital parts are: [normal] > (II) MGA(0): DDC Monitor info: 0x82fe540 > (II) MGA(0): Manufacturer: IVM Model: 1901 Serial#: 0 > (II) MGA(0): Year: 1999 Week: 3 > (II) MGA(0): EDID Version: 1.1 > (II) MGA(0): Analog Display Input, Input Voltage Level: 0.700/0.300 V > (II) MGA(0): Sync: Separate Composite SyncOnGreen > (II) MGA(0): Max H-Image Size [cm]: horiz.: 36 vert.: 27 > (II) MGA(0): Gamma: 2.10 > (II) MGA(0): DPMS capabilities: StandBy Suspend Off; RGB/Color Display > (II) MGA(0): redX: 0.625 redY: 0.340 greenX: 0.290 greenY: 0.605 > (II) MGA(0): blueX: 0.149 blueY: 0.016 whiteX: 0.283 whiteY: 0.297 > (II) MGA(0): Supported VESA Video Modes: > (II) MGA(0): 640x480@60Hz > (II) MGA(0): 640x480@67Hz ... > (--) MGA(0): Display dimensions: (36, 27) cm > (--) MGA(0): DPI set to (90, 96) [broken] < (II) MGA(0): DDC Monitor info: (nil) < (==) MGA(0): DPI set to (75, 75) So it looks like xfs isn't to blame, but it's a card/XFree driver bug.
Created attachment 19856 [details] Real XFree86 configuration file
Created attachment 19857 [details] Log from X with broken fonts
Created attachment 19858 [details] Normal X log file
Created attachment 19859 [details] Screenshot with broken fonts
Created attachment 19860 [details] Screenshot in normal state
Are you using a non-Red Hat kernel? If so please recompile it with MTRR support. That should fix the write combining errors. What does your /proc/cpuinfo and uname -a report? Looks like there might possibly be a bug in the DDC probe code. Temporary workaround: Hardcode your monitor's DPI settings into the config file. "man XF86Config" for details.
I'm using stock RedHat 2.4.2-2 on an Athlon. The MTRR stuff is described in bug 41856, and is fixed with a RawHide kernel. xpc1:/scratch/jss> cat /proc/cpuinfo processor : 0 vendor_id : AuthenticAMD cpu family : 6 model : 4 model name : AMD Athlon(tm) Processor stepping : 2 cpu MHz : 1299.431 cache size : 256 KB fdiv_bug : no hlt_bug : no f00f_bug : no coma_bug : no fpu : yes fpu_exception : yes cpuid level : 1 wp : yes flags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow bogomips : 2588.67 xpc1:/scratch/jss> uname -a Linux xpc1.ast.cam.ac.uk 2.4.2-2 #1 Wed May 23 18:33:22 BST 2001 i686 unknown
Do you still encounter this problem with the XFree86 4.1.0-15 update that was released?
I think it's fixed in RedHat 7.2. I haven't seen it again recently - probably should close. Shall I reopen if I see it?