I'm running on an Asus A8N5X with an Athlon 3800+ processor. After installing FC6 with no problems, I started to do the updates. After updating kernel and the gdm, now when I boot up in either kernel, it initially gives me the Gnome screen and under "details" I get green all the way to smartd (also green). Then it kicks me to the command prompt and won't startx. Among the error messages I get are: "invalid MIT-Magic-Cookie-1 key" and "unable to connect to server."

Keeping in mind that I'm not a programmer, is there anyway I can save this situation or do I have to do a re-install?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

P.S. Also, at the command line, what are the commands to restart and shutdown. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked.

Sounds like you have may have a X configuration issue, please try booting into runlevel 3 then running startx.

When the grub splash screen is displayed press any key.
Select the Linux boot choice and press the 'e' key.
Select the kernel line and press the 'e' key again.
At the end of the line add a space followed by the number three (3).
Press the 'Enter' key when done followed by the 'b' key

Log on and supply the password when asked, when ready type (press the 'Enter key after entering the command); startx

Does the GUI Desktop start??? If no, what is the error(s) listed?? What graphices card are you using???

Something to try, as root;

system-config-display --reconfig --set-resolution=1024x68 --set-depth=16


Press the three key combo of Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot and to shutdown type something like; poweroff

.

Thanks for the feedback.

I can't explain it but after shutting down the machine for a while and going off to run some errands, I just started it up to follow your directions but everything started fine.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I'll save them in case the problem returns.

I had the same problem. This problem also occurs intermittently, 50% of the time, upon restarting. I don't have a root cause but I do have a solution.
Ensure that you complete the software update process correctly, without errors.
I assume this happens as a result of the software updates process being interrupted by errors or package conflicts.
Another symptom, is when the problem occurs and startX fails. If you login at the text prompt, you will notice that the DISPLAY environment variable is not even set. This is a hint that the FC6 installation (or update thereof) has a serious issue.