Hey all,

I'm a novice user. I just finished installing Fedora
Core 4. It went normally and without any problems.

I SSH'ed into my new server via a local area network,
ran "setup" from the prompt, and for security reasons,
proceeded to shut down some system services that I
believed were not needed.

Here's the problem. After doing this, and then
rebooting the server, the display is a "mess." It
progresses normally through the startup procedures,
but when it actually gets to the Fedora Core GUI login
screen, the screen becomes a jumbled mess of color
without a visible login prompt. The problem only
appeared after I shut off those extra daemons.

I can still SSH into the server normally via a WinXP
box across the LAN. I did so, then went over the
daemon list several times trying to figure out where I
went wrong. None of the services listed seems to have
anything to do with display per se, nor any of the
GUIs supported by Fedora Core 4.

Help, please. Any idea what I need to re-enable in
order to fix this display issue?

Thanks, Matt

I would start by reenabling the services all of them. then turn them off one by one until you find the cuprit. Not sure about fedora core IV if you can set them back to default or not.

Gee, it'd be just swell if you could tell which were the daemons you actually turned off. You must be out of my reception, I can't read your mind from here which is a shame, then I could help you!

cylarz: Did you stop xinetd?

An awful lot of stuff depends on it.

If that wasn't it and assuming you don't remember what you turned off, listed below are all of the “starts” from /etc/rc5.d on a functional FC3 system. Maybe that will help you find the problem. xinetd was the one that jumped out at me.

ls /etc/rc5.d/S*

S01sysstat
S04readahead_early
S05kudzu
S08arptables_jf
S08iptables
S10network
S12syslog
S13portmap
S14nfslock
S15mdmonitor
S18rpcgssd
S19rpcidmapd
S19rpcsvcgssd
S25netfs
S28autofs
S33nifd
S34mDNSResponder
S40smartd
S44acpid
S55cups
S55sshd
S56xinetd
S58ntpd
S80sendmail
S85gpm
S90crond
S90xfs
S91smb
S95anacron
S95atd
S96readahead
S97messagebus
S98cups-config-daemon
S98haldaemon
S99local

I did shut off xinetd. Someone asked me "why do you need xinetd?" I couldn't answer.

My system answers incoming ssh and http requests. That's all it does. It doesnt need to serve anything else. Obviously ports 22 and 80 need to be left open...

I know I need to run iptables, sshd, httpd, and whatever daemon controls the networking device. Can you think of anything else I need? Your list seems really long. For instance, why do I need kudzu unless i'm adding new hardware?

Thanks...

Look through the /etc/xinetd.d services and see if you are using any listed service for which its configuration includes “disable = no”.

If you want to reestablish login functionality, wouldn't it make sense to turn on too many services and then figure out which ones you don't need by selectively turning them off? Doing the experiment will go a lot faster than speculating on which services are really important to have running.

If you know which services were disabled, then start by turning them all back on. This is basic troubleshooting that does not require a lot of intellectual input.

Also, review cs-cam's comment. If you don't want to show your cards, then don't expect a lot of input.

Are you sure it has anything to do with these services at all? It sounds a lot more like an X config problem than anything.

As I said, I followed the earlier poster's advice of turning *all* services on. This has indeed corrected the display problem.

As I also said, however, I have been reluctant to go back through and turn anything off again, because as it is none of the services on the list seem to have anything to do with the display issue I was experiencing earlier. In short, I have no idea why turning services on and off should affect this. (The list I refer to is the one available when I type "setup" while logged in as root on the Fedora Core 4 command prompt and from there go to "system services.")

As to it being an X config issue, I'm not experienced enough in Linux to say yay or nay to that one. What I can tell you, however, is this: the problem began when I turned off too many services, and it went away when I turned them *all* on. So that tells me that it must have something to do with turning a given service or services on or off. The only service I can see that has anything to do with this is the "X font server." Could that be related to the issue? I doubted it initially.

What I'm trying to get you guys to tell me is - what service would that be that controls a display and can't run one without it? Which one do you think I need to avoid turning off in order to avoid a repeat of the problem? And which ones typically need to be left running on a box that responds to ssh and http requests but does nothing else?

Thanks, Matt

PS: As to not showing my cards (and therefore not reasonably expecting much input) I don't understand this remark. I've told you what I'm trying to do - if there's a piece of information you need in order to help me, by all means ask.

Enabling all then shutting them down one by one is a good way to trouble shoot, as well as learning a large deal about the actual services themselves and getting just the barbones ones you need. There is a GUI called system-config-services that allows you to turn them on/off and gives a brief description of each.

Without people knowing what services are running already, how can they tell you which ones you need/dont? or how to fix your problem? we could list hundreds that are/aren't already running, wasting yours and our time

Your question here is different from your original

the original problem was that you had a messed up display when logging in, WhatsHisName's list of services will help you to resolve your initial problem, by making sure they are all enabled you should have an ok GUI to log into and you can check that against which you have stopped to try and identify the problem. Once you fixed your problem then either google each and find out info about each service or go through one by one :P, you are right though, there are alot of services in FC standard that you dont need.

Where, exactly, prior to post #8 did you say these things?

As suggested, shut them down one at a time, testing for a display problem after each one until you find the one that causes the problem. After you identify which one is the culprit perhaps someone can explain to you why it causes the problem.

Understood. I was hoping for a shortcut but it looks like there isn't one. Thank you. I'll post again if I have another question.