Desktop Environment login failure...GDM problem? I'm desperate for help
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Desktop Environment login failure...GDM problem? I'm desperate for help
I just installed Ubuntu 10.10 and when I try to log in to the regular desktop environment, only the backsplash coloring is there. I can, however log into safe mode and see the GUI there. Occasionally, I will get the treat of using the regular desktop environment, but it will ultimately freeze, and if I go to a different runlevel and restart gdm, the same thing happens....only backsplash. Here's what I've looked into, all of which has failed by the way: gdm.conf, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...dm/+bug/500377 even though that "fix" was for an earlier release, and of course reinstalling a few times. *Sigh*
I'm running it on a Toshiba Satellite L25-S1217, Intel Celeron, 874MB RAM, and 60GB HD with the stock Radeon graphics card.
Please, I'm begging someone to help with this! If there is any other info that I may provide for you, please let me know.
I always try different distributions on a new machine until I find one that works well with the hardware. However there is probably a solution for this problem using your current distribution.
I tried the link in your post. I got this message.
Quote:
There’s no page with this address in Launchpad.
I guess the first question is whether you are using the restricted ATI driver or the open source Radeon driver. If you are using the open source driver then you could enable the restricted drivers repository and install that ATI driver. This can be done from the command line. (Edit /etc/apt/sources.list then use apt-get update and apt-get install.)
Last edited by stress_junkie; 01-29-2011 at 07:55 AM.
I always try different distributions on a new machine until I find one that works well with the hardware. However there is probably a solution for this problem using your current distribution.
I tried the link in your post. I got this message.
I guess the first question is whether you are using the restricted ATI driver or the open source Radeon driver. If you are using the open source driver then you could enable the restricted drivers repository and install that ATI driver. This can be done from the command line. (Edit /etc/apt/sources.list then use apt-get update and apt-get install.)
You might check the X server log file for errors as follows:
Code:
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log
Post anything marked as an error unless there are lots of them.
No errors to report. I'm thinking maybe there is a hardware issue, could that be possible? Or perhaps conflicting drivers? On the plus-side, I'm able to log on to Desktop Environment far more often than before since installing the drivers you suggested. The display seemed a little "buggy" when I was running 10.04 also (ie delayed reaction from gui when clicked or selected via keyboard).
I have an old desktop with only 512Mb of ram the only way I could get it to login consistantly was to take out "compiz" or login falesafe desktop.
Where was the file path that you found 'compiz' in? I didn't see it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe or in /etc/X11. Thanks for the suggestion! I can't wait to try it!
I'm not sure if in #10 you mean that you never see the login GUI or that you can see the login GUI and enter your user name but then never see the desktop. The following only applies if the login GUI appears to work but you never get to your desktop GUI.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickjpost
Where was the file path that you found 'compiz' in? I didn't see it in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.failsafe or in /etc/X11.
I'm no compiz expert but I notice on my machine there is a .compiz directory in my home directory. You could rename that, then try to log in.
In a console you could log on to your account and enter this command.
Code:
mv .compiz disable.compiz
Then try to log in through the login GUI.
You may also want to try some live CDs of other distributions. I'm showing Linux Mint 10 to my clients when we can't restore Windows onto their machines. Mint 10 is pretty darned good.
Last edited by stress_junkie; 01-30-2011 at 05:44 AM.
I'm not sure if in #10 you mean that you never see the login GUI or that you can see the login GUI and enter your user name but then never see the desktop. The following only applies if the login GUI appears to work but you never get to your desktop GUI.
I'm no compiz expert but I notice on my machine there is a .compiz directory in my home directory. You could rename that, then try to log in.
In a console you could log on to your account and enter this command.
Code:
mv .compiz disable.compiz
Then try to log in through the login GUI.
You may also want to try some live CDs of other distributions. I'm showing Linux Mint 10 to my clients when we can't restore Windows onto their machines. Mint 10 is pretty darned good.
I can see the login GUI with my username and can enter my passwd, but after entering I get the logon music for Ubuntu then just the backsplash. When I renamed the .compiz I still get the same result. Very strange because yesterday, after I installed the open source driver, I logged onto my system multiple times and considered the issue resolved.....glad you still kept an eye on the thread. Thanks for that, friend!
--I have not yet tried MINT but I do recognize it as a good distro. I'm in the process of studying Ubuntu and Fedora at the moment in a Linux class (The class is covering Fedora). I will move to other distros once I feel I am greatly knowledgeable in these distros but don't want to tackle more than two distros since I am fairly new to Linux (I've only worked with Linux ingeneral for about a year and a half).
Create a new user account and log on to that. This will determine if it is a system wide problem or a problem with your user account settings.
You can create a new user account on the command line as follows:
Code:
sudo useradd -m test
sudo passwd test
su - test
The commands above will create a new user account named test. Then the password for the account is created. Then the account is verified by logging into it.
Note that if you perform the second command immediately after the first then sudo will not ask you to enter your normal user account password before it executes the passwd command.
The third command simply switches to the new test account to ensure that it is working.
Once you know that the test account is working then log off of your machine, get to the login GUI, and try to log in as test. This will create new configuration files for the test account. For this reason it may take more time than you would expect in order to log in to a new account for the first time.
Last edited by stress_junkie; 01-30-2011 at 07:12 AM.
Create a new user account and log on to that. This will determine if it is a system wide problem or a problem with your user account settings.
You can create a new user account on the command line as follows:
Code:
sudo useradd -m test
sudo passwd test
su - test
The commands above will create a new user account named test. Then the password for the account is created. Then the account is verified by logging into it.
Note that if you perform the second command immediately after the first then sudo will not ask you to enter your normal user account password before it executes the passwd command.
The third command simply switches to the new test account to ensure that it is working.
Once you know that the test account is working then log off of your machine, get to the login GUI, and try to log in as test. This will create new configuration files for the test account. For this reason it may take more time than you would expect in order to log in to a new account for the first time.
I created a new user, but something odd happened. I am unable to log on as this new user. At first, I thought it was because the other user was logged, which I know shouldn't matter but still....anyways afterwards, I have been able to log in successfully several times as the original user that I created during setup. BUT I also removed an extra ATI driver that I thought may have been contibuting to the issue. Hmmmmmm...curious indeed. This, my friend, is why I love Linux! There is always a puzzle to solve invigorating my lust for Linux knowledge!
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Desktop Environment login failure...GDM problem? I'm desperate for help
