SuSE 9 - Login problem
 

Hi everyone,

Has anyone had a problem with the graphical login in SuSE 9, namely that after one or two reboots, the graphical login fails completely except for the failsafe option? What happens is that the screen blanks and then the login prompt comes back up on the screen. The WMs and GUIs can be started manually from the failsafe xterm prompt, but this makes it difficult to use things like YaST2 if you need to. Anyone got any idea what's wrong? 8.1 and 8.2 never had this problem.

Matt

bad X11 config, i think. log in on the text console and observe the most recent X11 log, usually /var/log/XFree86.0.log... "less <path-to-logfile>" and look for the error messages near the end.

Hi Matt

I don't have an answer but I have a possible workaround in the meanwhile - of course if you're more interested in tinkering and finding out *why* it doesn't work then ignore this. However, there are times when you just want a functioning computer and don't have time for the fascinating but sometimes frustrating linux experience.

I had the same problem. I kept my /home on a separate partition when I upgraded and I am fairly sure that there is a configuration file in there from 8.2 that causes 9.0 to crash and which the installer did not modify.

As a workaround, I backed up my documents, made a clean install of SUSE 9.0 overwriting my old /home then copied my documents back into my new /home. The problem has gone. Perhaps this would work for you?

(I am running pretty much a default installation and keep my mail on my server and my personal data on my Palm so it was relatively easy for me to do so. If you have a lot of configuration files in your /home it may be harder.)

Having said that, while I now have SUSE 9.0 working smoothly on my Thinkpad T20 when I tried to upgrade my desktop (a Franken-puter of parts cobbled together from different machines) I ran into so many problems with X freezing and crashing and apps running slowly (3 m 11 seconds to launch SuSEhelp on a P4 1.8G...!) that I have downgraded back to SuSE 8.2. Sadly I am too busy at the moment to play around with getting it to work. I do not know if these problems are related and have no time at the moment to experiment and explore.

Hi there and thanks for the reply,

My first install of v9.0 was an upgrade, and it simply didn't work, so I reinstalled the whole thing from scratch. I did have a method which got the GUI working, namely to go in as failsafe and start KDE or whatever manually, but the problem with this is that it makes it difficult to run YaST2 because it needs to run as root. Perhaps someone can tell me how to do this.

You know, I very nearly cancelled my order for v9.0 for financial reasons (and because it doesn't have GNOME 2.4). I have installed Mandrake v9.2 which came free on the Linux Format cover disc, but I am just about to give up on that too because of the crappy version of Emacs they have supplied with it which seems to forget your font settings, and XEmacs which indents without asking me. I am also intending to go back to v8.2. I cannot help but feel that we are being charged for shoddy goods - I do not have the time nor the expertise to tinker with it to make it work, and anyway, that's SuSE's (or Novell's) job. That's what we pay them for, not just the CDs and the shitty packaging they come with which scratches the DVD! (This has already corrupted one of my 8.2 CDs I think which is one reason why I was so quick to upgrade to v9.)

We can only hope that Novell will fix some of the glaring bugs in SuSE's distro.

Matt

I have been having the same problem. I've reinstalled twice only to have the problem return. I can log in as root, create a new user and it will work for a while then the new user will have the same problem. suse 9

SuSE 9 problem - sorted!
 

Hello there,

I've actually got this problem sorted - you need to ensure that there is a .xinitrc in your home directory - copy the .xinitrc.template file to .xinitrc - which is what I did and I haven't had this problem since.

Matt

You just copied xinitrc.template to your home directory and it fixed the problem? I haven't had luck with it yet.

Thanks in advance.

The .xinitrc.template is already in your home directory. Just type

cp .initrc.template .xinitrc

That worked for me ... also Roger Whittaker of SuSE UK suggested I make a new user and then compare his .xinitrc to mine.

Sorry if it doesn't work, you should contact SuSE because it's clearly a bug in their software.

Matt

Thanks for your help. It seems to have worked.

Lon

Thanks for the info.


Been dealing with this problem for a while.
Helped big time

:P

~lanlord~

SuSE 9 - Login Problem - sligh difference
 

Thanks a lot for the tip. I had the same problem of getting returned to the logon screen after a clean install. When I checked based on your indication I had a file .xinitrc in my home which was empty. I didin&t find though the .initrc.template there so I started looking arround for one. What I did find is /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc which seems to be the same template so I did the following:

cd /
cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc /root/.xinitrc

so overwritting my existing .xinitrc with the one in /etc/X11/xinit/
!! The file in /etc/X11/xinit is not hidden.( The name is not prefixed with ".")


This seemed to have worked. I can now login to KDE normally. Thanks again for the tip.

Costi