How to reset the Xorg / xserver?

xserver keeps crashing on my general user account both in unity 3d and 2d. It doesn't do it on the guest account. That's why I want to reset / rollback everything xserver related, hoping this is going to fix it. Most answers on this involve sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg. However, this does nothing for me (generates no output) and I read in other forums, that it's deprecated. So, what's the current way to reset all xserver / xorg options; what's the alternative to up vote sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg ? 3 down Thanks Edit: X crashes during work, not before login or so. And the effect of a crash is, that I vote favorite get thrown out of the session, not a freeze or machine crash. xorg reset xserver edited Aug 15 at 2:59 asked Jul 4 at 18:25
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Jorge Castro thomas 22.6k38187363 1613 @Jorge Castro The version of Ubuntu is important here, as things have changed. There is no more "gdm" and neither works the dpkg-reconfigure, I believe. thomas Jul 4 at 21:08 feedback

2 Answers
active oldest votes If your guest account is not affected this could be a user-specific setting that is causing the problem. Try deleting ~/.config/monitors.xml answered Jul 4 at 19:06 up vote 0 down shareimprove this vote
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Jorge Castro 22.6k38187363 Thanks, but that didn't help. Actually I don't think it's the monitor settings, as the guest account doesn't crash, even when I configure both monitors ... thomas Jul 4 at 20:03

OK, while that was not really it, the idea behind it solved my problem: one-by-one deleting files in ~/.config dir did work for me! :-) @Jorge Castro: if you modify your answer into this direction, I'll mark it "accepted" thomas Jul 5 at 15:10 I have no idea what files you deleted, feel free to add all that information in the answer though, glad you got it sorted! Jorge Castro Jul 5 at 15:12 feedback To reconfigure packages that are already installed, you can refer to: Ubuntu Manpage: dpkg-reconfigure - reconfigure an already installed package Using the terminal: 1. If you've got to a blank screen while booting up, press CTRL + ALT + F1 to access the terminal. Then, depending on your desktop environment, terminate the X using: o For Gnome (Ubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop o For KDE (Kubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/kdm stop o For Xfce (Xubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/xdm stop 2. For the reconfiguration process:
3. sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Note: A backup is always recommended before running the configuration, so you can do it using:
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup

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4. Restart the GUI: Again, this depends on the desktop environment, so: o For Gnome (Ubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start o For KDE (Kubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/kdm start o For Xfce (Xubuntu): sudo /etc/init.d/xdm start If fail to perform the above steps, one can always edit the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually and replace the file contents. Refer to: Binary package xserver-xorg-core in ubuntu lucid examples and default linux configuration files answered Jul 4 at 19:04
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edited Jul 4 at 20:51

Zuul 496114 For sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop I get sudo /etc/init.d/gdm command not found and sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserverxorg does not do anything for me, as I pointed out in the question. Thx for answering though ... thomas Jul 4 at

19:21 @thomas Very strange, but just added the links were you can collect the default contents for the xorg.conf file. Perhaps manually setting the file contents can help you. Zuul Jul 4 at 20:52 In Ubuntu 12.04 the display manager is lightdm, not gdm. Why the dpkgreconfigure doesn't work, I don't know! :-/ thomas Jul 4 at 21:04 @thomas Perhaps reinstalling the dpkg itself may allow you to use it! Zuul Jul 4 at 21:27