I have installed arch linux on virtual box
but while trying to run
#gdm start

the message

could't connect to system bus:failed to connect to socket to /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket


shows
what is upto?

Try running the command gnome-session to try to start GNOME without GDM.

Thank u MTK for the reply

I have tried but it shows the message

**(gnome-session:735)** cannot open display

Do you have an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file? If so, post it.

no /etc/X11/xorg.conf file

The directory /etc/X11 contains

sessions
twm
xinit
xorg.conf.d

When there is no xorg.conf file, it tries to automatically detect the settings.

Anyway, how about:

?

xinit /usr/bin/twm

Something happening

mm may be loading twm but suddenly a blank screen which is stucked appears fully black -- i have to forcefully shutdown to recover from it

Did you try clicking on it with your mouse? A menu should pop up if TWM is working. I forgot which button, I think it's the left one, but try all of them.

Also, did you try Ctrl+Alt+F2 to get out of it?

Yes exactly

when left button clicked, a context menu appeared. Selected exit and get out of it.
The last fewlines of terminal are

using config directory /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d
failed to load module "vboxvideo" (modules does not exist, 0)
failed to load module "fdev" (module does not exist , 0)
xinit:connection to X server lost

Since there was a menu, that means X and TWM (which is actually an extremely minimal desktop that comes bundled with X) worked fine.

It's probably a GNOME problem.

Do you have dbus and hal installed, and if so, did you add them to the DAEMONS array in /etc/rc.conf?

dbus was already installed

there was some problem while updating hal

included both in th e daemons array

when starting gdm

The login box arrived and after entering the password, it becomes stuck. Cannot recover by using menu as in twm. Also pressing Alt+Ctrl+f2 invokes the main linux interface(host ).

Should I reinstall gdm?

What do you mean? Do you expect there to be a TWM-style menu in GDM?

What's a "main linux interface (host)"? The command line?

Anyway,it's when you said that you had to reset, I wondered if it would work. Now that it doesn't get stuck, it doesn't matter.

Also, did you put dbus before hal in the DAEMONS array (remember that you have to reboot for it to take effect)?

Oh sorry

This arch is installed in virtualbox under debian lenny as host operating system
for getting arch linux I have to press the right control key. While running the gdm command, username and passwod is asked and the cursor changes to shape of small watch. Afterwards no progress. The background appears as black and the cursor is the small watch.

The control toggles between virtual machine(arch) and host (debian) by using the right control key. We should activate the ctrl+alt+f2 when the virtual machine gets control. Otherwise it will interpret it as the host key combination and it shuts down the debian system.

It means that after running gdm, I am not able to get the control for arch virtual machine. Therefore I have to get out from the situation by closing virtual machine from debian.


Yes I have put the dbus and hal as mentioned.

the line on the /etc/rc.conf file is

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network netfs crond dbus hal)

OK, I remember now, for VirtualBox I think you have to use just Alt+F? (without Ctrl) to switch terminals.

And did you reboot the VM after editing DAEMONS? If not, running these should have the same results:

And then, could you try this:

And attaching the file ~/gnome-session_output.txt to your post.

**(gnome-session:787):WARNING ** :cannot open display

How can I attach the text file generated in virtual machine when the display is not working.

above lines I have typed