system hangs on login, known problem, don't know how to fix.
 

SLES8

Essentially the system boots but hangs on login.

This happened because I was trying to add directories to the path for root.

Looking for a way to do this, I found that the path should be adjusted in the /etc/profile.local file but there wasn't one, so I coppied the profile file named it profile.local then added the 2 extra directories required by mysql. I then found myself in this fix.

I've tried using the install disk in rescue mode but that does not mount the disks and I'm not sure if it has detected any or how to check that.

Obviously the removal of the profile.local file should alow to login.

any ideas??

The way you tried it was good. With fdisk -l you should get a list of recognized drives. Find out what your rootpartition is and mount it to, let's say /mnt/rescue (you may have to create this first with mkdir /mnt/rescue). After that, edit /etc/profile.local and that's it.

Thanks for that. I've now managed to get the system to login as root by renaming the profile.local file unfortunately it is still not a happy box. Instead of going straight into KDE it opens a prompt in a small box. If I type kde it starts and the box remains on the screen and is now labeled "Failsave". If I close failsave, KDE crashes out and I am returned to the login.

Any ideas on how I can get rid of this?

And did I use the right approach for changing the path or is there a better way?

Thanks

It sounds as if something more than just a buggy PATH has caused your trouble. Did you execute any scripts from that location that could have messed up your system? I mean a path doesn't do anything to your system as long as it is not used.

What do you find in the logs (/var/log/kdm.log and /var/log/messages)?

OK,

It was a simple thing. at the logon it always says KDE but it will go into the last option you chose, in my case failsafe must have been the last option. All I had to do was reselect KDE.

Thanks for you help. All I need to do is put in the path for mysql, any advice?

At least I know how to recover now if I get wrong, but I'm not sure what went wrong last time.

Actually /etc/profile.local is the place to do this. If you only need the path on console, you could also put it in /home/<user>/.bashrc or /root/.bashrc

Maybe there was some trouble with the syntax. Could you post your modifications here?

Interestingly, it seams that the path change was not the problem after all.

If I just copy /etc/profile to /etc/profile.local my login problem reoccurs. The ownership and permissions are exactly the same for both files i.e.

-rw-r--r-- root root

I suppose I could try to cut the profile.local file down so that it only has that part related to the path is there. Do you think that would work?

here are the last 2 kde.log entries. The first didn't login the second did.

XFree86 Version 4.2.0 / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6600)
Release Date: 23 January 2002
If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
newer than the above date, look for a newer version before
reporting problems. (See http://www.XFree86.Org/)
Build Operating System: SuSE Linux [ELF] SuSE
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Wed Mar 9 12:50:48 2005
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config"
kdeinit: sending SIGTERM to children.
kdeinit: Exit.
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap

XFree86 Version 4.2.0 / X Window System
(protocol Version 11, revision 0, vendor release 6600)
Release Date: 23 January 2002
If the server is older than 6-12 months, or if your card is
newer than the above date, look for a newer version before
reporting problems. (See http://www.XFree86.Org/)
Build Operating System: SuSE Linux [ELF] SuSE
Module Loader present
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Wed Mar 9 13:05:33 2005
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/XF86Config"
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
QPixmap::convertToImage: Cannot convert a null pixmap
DCOPServer up and running.
DCOP Cleaning up dead connections.
Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy
mcop warning: user defined signal handler found for SIG_PIPE, overriding
Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (-3)
QObject::connect: No such slot KWrited::block_in(const char*,int)
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'unnamed')
QFont::setPointSize: Point size <= 0 (-2)
error stat'ing fd 3: Bad file descriptor
QObject::connect: No such signal KDockArea::docked()
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'view widget')
Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy
QObject::connect: No such signal KDockArea::docked()
QObject::connect: (sender name: 'unnamed')
QObject::connect: (receiver name: 'view widget')
Mutex destroy failure: Device or resource busy

Okay, I think I understand now: don't copy profile into profile.local since profile is a script that calls profile.local for additional options. You probably cause some kind of endless loop or something similar. Simply create a file with the PATH export you need and save it as profile.local.

OK, that makes sense.

If I specify a path with just the two extra directories I need, will it invalidate the path already setup in profile?

If you have an example it would be usefull I've had no end of problems with this in the past.

Thanks

If your /etc/profile.local would look like this:
the new path will be added to the actual existing path ($PATH is the existing PATH variable). You can check how your PATH looks like if you type 'echo $PATH' on console.

Yes that all works now

Thanks