Hi everyone,
Just like most of you I am a newbie to ubuntu and linux and love it ! Just recently ran into trouble with my install of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Alternate AMD64. I went through the installation process without any major problems. Rebooted sucessfully and ended up on the log on screen. Now the trouble starts: I type username and password in, the screen changes for a second, gets black, and I end up again on the log in screen. Tried to change the session to "failsafe gnome", get lucky there, but can't go online to update the computer or check internet.
I run grubloader with win xp and ubuntu 8.04 on a Athlon 64 3200 processor with 2 gb ram. I am connected thru a Speedstream 4200(Siemens) ADSL modem to the internet(works in win xp)
Any help or suggestion is very much appreciated !

I don't know how many of the most of us actually use ubuntu, and I suspect the most of us aren't newbies either.

You will need to check the system logs to find out why your user can't log in; the logs are in /var/log

I would imagine this is video driver related. Can you figure out which videocard is in that box?
It would be interesting if you could examine the output of these two commands:
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep EE
and
cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep WW
These should print any graphics related errors and warnings.

Hi Seniormembers, thanks for the ideas and things to do. I ran the commands, though the results never made sense to me. Must have done something wrong.(typed suggested cmd into terminal - terminal told me, yes you typed in a few cmds - that's all)Sorry guys, my first steps in terminal.
Here are the specs of my mobo. Currently running onboard videographics until I get my new g-card.I am convinced it is the g-card. Installed different linux OS with same result.

* Motherboard manufacturer's name: MSI MS-7093
* HP/Compaq name: Albacore-GL6E

CPU/Processor

* Socket: 939
* Supports Socket-939 for AMD K8 Athlon 64 FX processor
* Supports Newcastle:4000 + and above
* Supports Claw Hammer: 3000+, 3200+ and 3400+ and 3700+ Sempron: 3100+ and above

System bus

* 2000 MegaTransfers/second for Athlon64
* 1600 MegaTransfers/second for Sempron

Chipset

* Northbridge: RS480
* Southbridge: SB400

BIOS features

* The mainboard BIOS provides “Plug & Play” BIOS which detects the peripheral devices and expansion cards of the board automatically
* The mainboard provides a Desktop Management Interface (DMI) function which records your mainboard specifications
* Supports boot from LAN, USB Device 1.1 & 2.0, and SATA HDD

Form factor

* Micro-ATX form factor
* 24.4cm X 24.4cm

Memory

* Four 184-pin DDR DIMM sockets
* Supports dual channel, eight memory banks DDR 333/400 DDR DIMMs
* Supports 2.5v DDR SDRAM DIMM
* Maximum HP/Compaq approved memory is 4 GB*



NOTE: *Actual available memory may be less
Expansion slots

* One PCI Express x16 graphics
* Three PCI
* One SCSI connector for PCI Extender Card for two additional PCI slots (optional)
* No AGP slot

Video graphics

* Internal onboard graphics using system memory
* PCI Express x16 slot

Serial ATA

* 4 SATA connectors
* Each connector supports 1 serial ATA-150 disk drive
* Hot Swap function

Onboard audio or audio card Controller: AC-97

*
Realtek ALC658C 6-channel CODEC chipset
*
Dolby 5.1 audio support
*
Location: Integrated

Onboard LAN

* Realtek RTL8100C
* 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet controller

A quick check shows that motherboard has an ATI x200. I would try a sudo apt-get install fglrx-driver from the command line to install the proprietary driver and reboot.

Hi Jay73,

Thanks for the fglrx-driver tip. trying to download it as a .deb package or in a seperate repository onto me harddrive so ubuntu can install it from there, since ubuntu has no internet connection established either.

Hi; I had the same problem and downloading and installing the proprietary ATI driver was the answer.