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I'm pretty new to Linux (Fedora 2), but I was bold (or dumb) enough to use the Login Manager under KDE 3.3 to change the login procedure. I changed to <default> the display items (I can't remember what they were, but originally one was Bluecurve) and requested passwordless login for my account. When I rebooted, the boot sequence made it to about the 10th line (I can't recall label, but default response is <default>) before displaying a dark screen with an 'X' for the mouse icon. The bootup just hangs, and I can only get out by hitting my power button once which activates the power down sequence before shutting my computer down (CTRL-ALT-F5 and CTRL-ALT-DEL do nothing). It don't know how to interrupt the login sequence, although I don't think I'd know what to do if I could. Have I trashed my Fedora installation? I have been trying to transition from Windows and recommending Linux to others. Now I'm not so sure that I'm ready for this. Thanks for any help you can provide me.
Hi Beginux -- can you boot up in safe mode, leaving you at a login prompt ? From here, you could type <startx> and see what happens - it'll almost certainly be exactly the same as before, but hopefully X will exit semi-gracefully and report the errors that are bothering it.
Alternatively, if you type <grep WW /var/log/XFree86.0.log> (the log filename may be slightly different on your system - type <ls /var/log/X* to see what's there) you will be given a list of the last warnings before X crashed. If it is an option in your XF86Config file (usually located in the directory /etc/X11/ ) then you may be able to copy across a backup of the old one, eg. as root:
Code:
cd /etc/X11/
ls X*
cp XF86Config-4 XF86Config-4.notworking
cp XF86Config-4.bak XF86Config-4
and then try <startx> again. Unfortunately, once X has a problem you are usually stuck to the good old command line to get things running again
Thanks so much for your help. I was finally able to get to the command line by hitting CTRL-ALT-BKSPC. It appears that Linux is fully booted (hard-drive thrashes for several moments as before), but I never see the login form. Anyhow, I logged in as 'root' and, using Midnight Commander, viewed /etc/sysconfig/desktop. It has DESKTOP="GNOME", so this is not apparently the problem. I tried typing 'kdm' on the command line thinking that would run KDE and that I could then go into the Login Manager again, but that did not work. I tried changing parameter values in /etc/X11/xdm/kdmrc where Login Manager variables seem to be set, but without any effect (problem first occurred after I modified parameters via Login Manager). When I typed 'startx', I only got info display (no apparent error). I still have not tried to replace the xconf file with its backup, so I will give that a try. I know I must be close to the solution, but I can't quite hit it. I'm convinced that I need to repair a configuration parameter somewhere, but I don't know where. I tried to identify modified files by change date. Well, I'm still open to suggestions. Again, thanks.
Hello. Here's the latest -- After hitting CTRL-ALT-BKSPC to get a login prompt, I logged in under my user account and typed 'startx'. That got me back into KDE. This is major progress. Now I only need to recover the login screen, and I'll be happy. When I try to access Login Screen from KDE's System Settings menu, I'm able to enter my root password but no Login Screen forms appear. At least I can use KDE for now.
Hi mjrich, Thanks again for your help. I actually solved my problem by hitting the 'I' at the beginning of bootup to activate Interactive Startup. Everything returned to normal after that. I guess that messing with Login Manager parameters set a parameter to make startup non-interactive, but my login couldn't complete properly. I'll stick with a standard login from here on. I'm happy with Linux again, especially now that I have a bit more familiarity with its configuration files. - Frank
Great to hear that everything's worked out well ! I've been away down south (of NZ) since late Thursday, and haven't been able to check back here till now.
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