New user here. "No screens found" error when trying to boot GUI headless on a Pi 4

Troubleshooting
1

Hi everyone, I tried installing and uninstalling two different desktops, but both times I got this error:

X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Linux 4.15.0-99-generic armv8l Raspbian
Current Operating System: Linux DietPi 5.4.72-v7l+ #1356 SMP Thu Oct 22 13:57:51                                           BST 2020 armv7l
Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_                                          alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=1 snd_bcm2835.enable_headphones=1 bcm2708_fb.fbwi                                          dth=0 bcm2708_fb.fbheight=0 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 smsc95xx.macaddr=(redacted):                                          EC vc_mem.mem_base=0x3ec00000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x40000000  console=tty1 root=PART                                          UUID=(redacted) rootfstype=ext4 elevator=deadline fsck.repair=yes rootwait quie                                          t net.ifnames=0
Build Date: 27 August 2020  08:51:48AM
xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1+rpt2+deb10u1 (https://www.debian.org/support)
Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
        Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sat Nov  7 08:59:10 2020
(==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
(EE)
Fatal server error:
(EE) no screens found(EE)
(EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
         at http://wiki.x.org
 for help.
(EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional info                                          rmation.
(EE)
(EE) Server terminated with error (1). Closing log file.
xinit: giving up
xinit: unable to connect to X server: Connection refused
xinit: server error

Configuring autostart to boot into the desktop does nothing as well, it always brings me back into the DietPi command line menus as if nothing happened. Any help is appreciated!

2

Hi,

many thanks for you message. Pls can you post error log /var/log/Xorg.0.log

3

Sure! Here it is:

[ 32263.275]
X.Org X Server 1.20.4
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 32263.275] Build Operating System: Linux 4.15.0-99-generic armv8l Raspbian
[ 32263.275] Current Operating System: Linux DietPi 5.4.72-v7l+ #1356 SMP Thu Oct 22 13:57:51 BST 2020 armv7l
[ 32263.275] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835$
[ 32263.275] Build Date: 27 August 2020  08:51:48AM
[ 32263.275] xorg-server 2:1.20.4-1+rpt2+deb10u1 (https://www.debian.org/support)
[ 32263.275] Current version of pixman: 0.36.0
[ 32263.275]    Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
        to make sure that you have the latest version.
[ 32263.275] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
        (++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[ 32263.276] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sat Nov  7 17:52:12 2020
[ 32263.276] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[ 32263.276] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[ 32263.276] (==) No Layout section.  Using the first Screen section.
[ 32263.276] (==) No screen section available. Using defaults.
[ 32263.276] (**) |-->Screen "Default Screen Section" (0)
[ 32263.276] (**) |   |-->Monitor "<default monitor>"
[ 32263.277] (==) No monitor specified for screen "Default Screen Section".
        Using a default monitor configuration.
[ 32263.277] (**) Option "BlankTime" "0"
[ 32263.277] (==) Automatically adding devices
[ 32263.277] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[ 32263.277] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[ 32263.277] (==) Max clients allowed: 256, resource mask: 0x1fffff
[ 32263.277] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[ 32263.277]    Entry deleted from font path.
4

Could you try it with autologin user root, if it’s currently not the case?

5

I tried that, and nothing seems to be different. I’m currently logging into it through SSH (with Putty). It asks for the password and then brings me back to the command line DietPi menu. Running “startx” produces the same result as before.

6

The SSH protocol is a pure console protocol, so you cannot run a desktop or any other graphical program through it :wink:. Aside of X11 forwarding, but then you need to run an X server on the client machine.

A desktop can only be accessed from an attached monitor or via VNC/remote desktop solution with a related VNC or XRDP server installed.

Now I see the “headless” in the topic title, I’ve overseen that. If you really need to access from a remote machine to a desktop on the DietPi system, I suggest to use VNC:

7

ahh there is no monitor connected to the RPI?? Well that would explain it :slight_smile:

On an RPi you can use as well RealVNC. Or go with XRDP if you like to use Windows Remote Desktop :slight_smile: