lucid is in loop, will not boot all the way

pebmich · 06-22-2010, 10:54 PM

My computer is a dual-boot computer, with Windows 7 and Lucid Lynx installed

It boots up to login screen and asks for user name. So far so good. Then, computer asks for password and, when the 'Enter' button is pushed, the computer loops around and asks for user name.

The only way to break the loop is to turn the computer off.

Blender3D · 06-22-2010, 11:08 PM

I've had the same problem, only I have multiple users. One user logs in, goes to the Lock Screen, and I switch to the Login Menu. I click my user, enter the password, and then things get strange: my screen flashes black for a second and goes back to the Login Menu, but logs me out instantly without confirmation >.<

Try logging in via command-line. Press CTRL+ALT+F1 (CTRL+ALT+F7 gets you back to GUI) and login that way. Post the outcome so that the problem can be pinpointed to either the login system or GNOME.

Blender3D · 06-22-2010, 11:09 PM

Wait, it asks for the username? Are you logging in via command-line?

Blender3D · 06-23-2010, 01:31 AM

If it stalls for a few seconds, that is Linux's way of preventing bruteforcers: you entered your password wrong.

Are you trying to login as root? If so, did you first login into a sudo-capable account and run:

Code:

sudo passwd root

Hope your problem gets fixed!

pebmich · 06-24-2010, 12:30 PM

It didn't help, but thanks. Cannot get into GUI and, being the newbie that I am, I do not know enough to do command-line processing.

CTRL + ALT + F1 and CTRL + ALT + F7 take me through the whole loop. There are about seven steps between 'F1 and 'F7 that are right-clicked ... Because I am not at home while writing this, I will send you another message that will lay out the steps between 'F1 and 'F7.

Again, Thanks for your help, and additional info will be heading your way tonight or tomorrow.

ken ( pebmich )

pebmich · 06-25-2010, 09:31 PM

I wish to escalate my problem to higher authorities.

Right now I am locked out of linux because of what I dimly perceive is a kernel, or grub problem. I may as well go back to Windows and scrub linux from my computer because I d--n sure am not getting any benefit out of linux the way things are now.

It would be nice if one of you geeks would work with me on this problem.

Thank you,

ken ( pebmich )

business_kid · 06-30-2010, 02:54 PM

Calm down - you are relying on our good will to get anywhere.
I'll not claim to be a higher authority, but your password is not being accepted. That's whats going on. The username/password is case sensitive. I suggest you boot off an install cdrom. When it asks for a keyboard, or language, look for an open console with Ctrl_Alt_F2. It will say something like

root:#

Then you type these commands #and not my comments

fdisk -l # shows you all your disk partitions. Select your root partition, the one you gave / as a mount point to. It will be a linux partition
mount /dev/sdax /mnt #where x is your partition number
chroot /mnt # sets you on that partition
passwd root # enter your password for root
passwd luser # enter your password for yourself
exit

Then reboot and you should be able to log in.

pebmich · 07-01-2010, 04:23 PM

business kid,
Thank you, but there are still problems.

partitions 1 and 2 do not end on a cylinder boundary. fdisk -l brings up sda1 and sda2, but the computer says it cant find "mount /dev/sda1/mnt or /dev/sda2/mnt in /etc/mtab or /etc/fstab.

cat /etc/fstab and cat /etc/mtab both bear this out --- there is no sda1 or sda2 in these two directories.

Where do I go from here?

PTrenholme · 07-01-2010, 06:57 PM

You missed the blank between the /dev/sda1 and the /mnt

Here's business_kid's instructions with the actual commands in bold font (with a few minor changes).

Code:

fdisk -l /dev/sd?    # shows you all your disk partitions. Select your root partition, the one you gave / as a mount point to. It will be a linux partition
mount /dev/sdax /mnt # where x is your partition number
chroot /mnt          # sets you on that partition
passwd root          # enter your password for root
passwd luser         # enter your password for yourself (if your logon name is luser)
exit

<edit>
By the way, from what you said, you have 2 partitions on /dev/sda. In a typical Ubuntu installation, one of those partitions - the smaller one - will be a "swap" partition used to hold blocks of active computer memory when your random access memory (RAM) is full. That partition can't be mounted.
</edit>
<edit2>
A "dual boot" computer? I hope that your Windows 7 system is on /dev/sdb because your first hard drive seems to only have two partitions on it, and they are both Linux ones.

Unless you tell it otherwise, Ubuntu will reformat your hard drive, erasing any prior partitions, so a default Ubuntu installation will not produce a dual-boot system. (Unlike Windows, Ubuntu will warn you before reformatting the whole drive, but many people have been "burned" by ignoring the warning.
<edit2>

business_kid · 07-02-2010, 03:26 AM

/hangs head in shame

Thx, PTrenholme, I can think but not type

pebmich · 07-03-2010, 12:12 PM

Thanks to all of you as the situation is well taken care of.

Now, another problem: how do I install KDE? GNOME is the only thing installed and cosmetically speaking it would be nice to have KDE installed, too.

TNX again and all the best to you.

ken

PTrenholme · 07-04-2010, 12:56 PM

To get the basic KDE desktop up and running, just do a group install of KDE from the repositories. After that's done, there should be a "Menu" option either on the logon box or the bottom of the login screen that will let you select the display manager to be used after you log on.