FreeBSD6.2 Stable without X

Here is my problem:

If its too long you can read below --QUESTIONS-- to the end.

I have a small computer (Shuttle SK22G2), it was barebones and I built
this computer myself and decided not to buy any Windows OS with it and
stick to better quality software like FreeBSD instead.

The computer has an integrated onboard VIA graphics card 256MB on the
motherboard, the motherboard itself has chipset VIA K8M800CE, it can
have RAID 0 or 1 but at the moment I only need one hard disk (80GB SATA)
so RAID is not enabled (the second disk connexion is IDE).

The processor is low spec, the cheapest I found, AMD Sempron 2800 and
the CD-Rom/DVD drive brand NEC (Optiarch), works great. RAM is two 512MB
sticks brand TwinMos, total 1024MB.

I have tried to install FreeBSD6.2 Stable with CDs, and all works fine
right until I attempt to startx, then I get broken X message.

I tried to install two live FreeBSD CDs with installer
Frenzy(FreeBSD6.1) and TrueBSD(FreeBSD6.2), the same thing happens it
installs fine and all works great from the command prompt but as soon as
I do startx I get a broken X message, it says to check the var/logs X
which I do and see nothing strange (not that I understand much anyway).

I managed to make X start in Frenzy live CD (FreeBSD6.1) after two
months of trying, then after three days it stopped working saying broken
X, I reinstall and then X may work or not work, if it works again it
will crash in a few days, maybe straight away it will refuse to work again.

I decided to go for Linux then and managed to get a free Linux
evaluation SuseLinuxEnterpriseD10 DVD, I installed it and right at the
end of the installation it crashed, 2 minutes before finishing. I tried
Topologylinux based on Slackware, installed fine, X crashed.

I went for Ubuntu, live CD too, great, X starts and then the screen
freezes, I got a free Kubuntu CD, the installation process stops in the
middle.

I have tried Freesbie2.0 (FreeBSD6.2 liveCD), X does not work.

But I have found two CD's that do not break X, NewBie (NetBSD3.3) and
Olive live CD (OpenBSD3., now the problem is I can't install them on
the hard disk they have no installer.


My opinion was that the problem is with the graphics card, so I got an
ATI RADEON 128MB second hand (PCI-Express) and tried all those CD's
again,there has been no improvement, exactly the same problem with X.

Any indication of where the problem may be? I am between the graphics
card or something in the motherboard, like the RAID controller, but I
only have one hard disk so I don't see how.


The computer has no internet or modem, so I can't copy the full the
error message here but if really needed I will copy by hand.


--QUESTIONS--

It would be very helpful if someone can point out if it is possible for
FreeBSD6.2 stable X to fail by something else that is not the graphics
card so I know what hardware is failing.


Is there some other live CD (if possible BSD) with hard disk installer
that I have missed? It would be helpful to know so I can try it.

I tried NetBSD and OpenBSD3.8 iso (not official), but they come
barebones (FWM or somehing) with no packages and I can't download them
from the net so I would need a full distro live CD installable.

Jordi wrote:

[Crashes]
> --QUESTIONS--
> It would be very helpful if someone can point out if it is possible for
> FreeBSD6.2 stable X to fail by something else that is not the graphics
> card so I know what hardware is failing.

Try memtest86.

HTH, Helmut