This is how i got into this trouble I'm not sure i did everything the right way so I'm certainly not blaming anyone....This is a link to the post i put on linux mint


http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=111035



I was having trouble with linux mint 13 netowrking ... someone recommended wicd and I tried it and it went well
I will have to come back and edit this but here is my present problem I can't get the X system to work I think ... I have access to the console or terminal is all. here is the result of typing X


nate@nate3 ~$ X
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
if this server isno longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.
Please consult the X.org Foundation support
aaat http://wiki.x.org
for help
ddxSigGiveUp: Closing log


Thanks,
Nate

Hi,

it seems that X may already be running. To confirm, you can run
If you don't understand the output of the above command please post it here on the forum.

Evo2.

Try pressing Ctrl+Alt+F7?

Hi,

ahh, ok, I see that you posted more information on the mint site. So, just to make sure I understand, you are saying that X will start, but that it will crash. Is this correct?

If so, please check the contents of /var/log/Xorg.0.log (or similar) and also ~/.xsession-errors

Evo2.

this is the result of what you asked me to run

ps aux | grep X
Root 973 -0.0 1.4 42908 14328 tty8 Ss 16:26 0:00 /usr/bin/X :0 -audit 0 -auth /var/lib/mdm/:0.Xauth -nolisten tcp vt8
nate 6827 0.0 0.0 4368 812 tty1 S+ 19:03 0:00 grep --grep --colour=auto

results of second thing you asked
/var/log/Xorg.0.log
-bash: /var/log/Xorg.0.log: Permission denied



results of ctrl alt f7 gave me a black screen other f keys gave a prompt that i can loginto and then get the normal prompt but all txt.

---------- Post added 08-27-12 at 07:40 PM ----------

thanks to you all for the help

thanks, Nate

Hi,

the output from ps indicates that X is running on vt8. Did you try Ctrl+Alt+F8?

You may need to use sudo to read files in /var/log/, but you will be able to read ~/.xsession-errors as yourself.

Evo2.

ctrl alt f8 gives me a black screen with no prompt.

sudo /var/command not found
~./xsession-errors
-bash: /home/nate/: Permission denied


prompt ~/ home/nate:
-bash: /home/nate/: is a directory

Ok, so it seems that so X is running but it has locked up.

Three problems here.

1. You want "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", not "/var/command".
2. You want "~/.xsession-errors" not "~./xsession-errors"
3. These are text files, that you should read by opening in a pager like "less" or upload to the forum.
Eg.
You can scroll in less using the arrow or pgup, pgdn keys, and can quit by pressing "q".

Evo2.

have to shorten this.

less ~/.xsession-errors
/etc/mdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
localuser:nate being added to access control list
Setting IM through im-switch for locale=en_US.
Start IM through /etc/etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default.
Failed to connect to the virtualbox Kernel service

last line 4 times then
--
and no prompt


the other is such a long file and i would havce to type it into this screen on this computer ... can't cut and paste. only a txt window
it scrolled up the top of the screen i can't even see it at all ... anything i can look for and i page up and down ... won't scroll

Hi,

there is nothing that looks suspicious in your ~/.xsession-errors file (except that you may have upgraded your kernel since setting up virtualobx).

It's going to be really tough to understand the problem without the Xorg.0.log file. Basically we would just be guessing.
I think you either need to transfer the file to another machine or use a text based webbrowser (such as lynx, w3m or links) to upload it to the forum directly from your ubuntu machine.
One other option is to boot from a live CD (or usb stick), mount the relevant partition on your harddrive and get to the log file that way.

Evo2.

don't havce any clue how to transfer it to another machine . it's not on a network and i don't know how to get it there and don't know how to run a text based browser though in the past i have done so but very minimallly. maybe this would be a very good lesson but then maybe it wouild be just as easy to reinstall.... sheesh ... I'm looking through the /var/log/Xorg.0.log but i don't havec any idea idea what i'm looking at it wouild take me a month to type it in and that not accurately

thanks,
Nate

Type in? Why don't you just mount a flash drive and copy the log to it. Then once you have that, take it to another computer which has internet and a GUI and just copy and paste or attach the file?

Here's some hints about how you can go about doing it. Log in as root user, since you're on Ubuntu do the following.
Once you're root plug in your flash drive. After you plug in run the dmesg command.
You should see information about a drive being connected and some letters identifying it (for example sda, sdb, or sdc, etc.). Once you know the drive name it's time to look up the partition name. In my case I'll say my flash drive is sdb.

That is "fdisk minus ell as in L". Once you have the partition name, in my case it would be /dev/sdb1, then you can mount it.
Essentially what we did was mount the flash drive, copy the log file, and then unmount the flash drive. Once the flash drive is unmounted you can unplug it and take it to another computer.

It is better to learn than to reinstall so keep up the good work!

Hi,

if this machine has a wired connection it should be trivial to get it on the network. If you are using wireless it is still pretty easy. All you will really need to do is edit a few lines in a text editor.

Evo2.

ok i'm headed to bed ... thanks be back tomorrow :>)

My wife went to bed which leaves me the laptop so I'm still here I just copied or should havce copied the files to the flashdrive. how do i get it over here ???? on the laptop i can be in ubuntu or windows
i'm in windows right now i'll try this ....i could do it in windows but it's not columnized probably pretty hard to read so im goin to ubuntu