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11-30-2004, 02:38 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Rep:
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I'd like my desktop back....
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Just installed Mandrakelinux Community 10.1 today on a box, for the first time.
(easy install, everything went smooth)
I chose the Gnome 2.6 desktop (while installing)
Looks nice, easy to work with, has the options I want.
Didn't do anything with it yet, just sort of looked at the stuff, and shut it down.
Went downtown.
Got back and re-booted a few minutes ago, and it brought up two problems:
1) the auto-login doesn't work (I can live with that)
2) When it boots up, I get the Ice WM desktop, not what I installed.
I want my desktop back
I don't like "Ice WM" - it's the worst desktop I've ever seen, and doesn't have the options I wanted to start with.... I'd almost prefer a WinDoze desktop <<shudder>>.
Can someone point me to information on this problem ??
Please....
How can I get my default desktop back ??
PM
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11-30-2004, 02:44 PM
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#2
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Moderator
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Kent, England
Distribution: Debian Testing
Posts: 19,192
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On the login screen, there should be a couple of buttons (I forget their names but they are beneath the password line). Click the right hand one and you should have the option to change your desktop. And the lack of auto login is no bad thing, you just have one more layer of security if someone should power on your pc when you are not around.
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11-30-2004, 03:11 PM
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#3
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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Nope - no buttons.
I also just noticed:
When it starts up, it's set to failsafe (in LILO), and I have to select Linux, then it defaults at runlevel 5, but then changes to runlevel 1 and goes into single user mode, with an "SH-2.05b#" curser, which I have to exit out of to get back to into level 5, and the start-up routine, which then has to finish it's run so I can log-in.... to Ice WM.
Then I have to log-out and sign in as another user before I can shut down the system..... (I created 3 accounts, just in case...)
Did I do something wrong during the install ??
All I did was choose custom install, and un-tic Open Office, and let it do its' thing from there....
??
PM
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11-30-2004, 03:14 PM
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#4
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Moderator
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Kent, England
Distribution: Debian Testing
Posts: 19,192
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When the packages had finished installing, did you setup LILO and other things or just leave them as they were?
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11-30-2004, 03:24 PM
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#5
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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It did it's own thing, and it chose LILO automatically anyway, but I did go thru the first run app, and set up the Internet connection, just for poops and grins....
I mean, it's not like I'm just trying out Nix, I've been into Red Hat since 6.0 and Mandrake since 5.something....
I've been WinDoze free for quite a while now.... and I have 3 boxen using RH, Mandrake and Xandros I use daily... I put 7 to 10 hours a day on the Net, every day, 365 days a year - and maintain half a dozen sites as well - I just never ran into this kind of thing before.
PM
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11-30-2004, 03:28 PM
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#6
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Moderator
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Kent, England
Distribution: Debian Testing
Posts: 19,192
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I remember from my last install that at the end (before it all completes for the first time) there is a whole list of things to change - resolution being one of them. Are you sure that Gnome is installed? It my be that it isn't on there or not on there correctly.
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11-30-2004, 03:42 PM
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#7
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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Yes - the other 2 accounts bring up Gnome 2.6 w/no prolems - just my main account brings up Ice WM.... for some odd reason.
I can't think of any reason that setting up my Internet connection would cause this kind of problem... and that's all I did. (well, that and change the font size so I could see the words a little better @1024x768)
I did have a bit of a problem setting up my card and monitor - I've got a 3DFX card and a Haitachi monitor, so I had to fish around for a bit, but once I realized my Mobo had Alsa on it, I just set it up w/the Alsa drivers, and bingo....
I let it start up, and went thru the first time routine, then, I re-started a few times, just to make sure everything was kewl, and I shut it down and went downtown - when I got back, I was an IceWM user....
I'm gonna' go into root, and delete the account, shut down, re-start, and go back into root and set it up as a new account again - see if that works... I'm a Linux user, I don't yell at the computer anymore....
      <<laughter>>
I'll bb in a few....
PM
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11-30-2004, 04:14 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Distribution: Ubuntu
Posts: 1,040
Rep:
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It's probably too late by now to suggest this, but you might try changing the login runlevel in /etc/inittab. After the list of runlevels, there's a line with the one currently selected; every time I install I have to manually change it from 5 (Mandrake's default) to 3 (which I prefer--non-graphic terminal login).
Maybe if you changed it back to 5 it would also give you back the Gnome desktop.
By the way, IceWM is not a desktop, just a window manager. I used Gnome for quite a while when I first came to Linux, and it's nice, I would use it again with no qualms. But I tried IceWM and was hooked from the first five minutes! Different tastes. That's one of the best things about Linux--especially when it works... 
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11-30-2004, 04:25 PM
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#9
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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Well, that didn't go so well....
I got the account deleted, and shut down, and re-started and set it up again, but:
I noticed at start-up, I get:
"Unknown symbol or unknown module ..."
"No more processses at this level changing to init 1..."
(I can't read it all - this system runs too fast  )
Then, I get the sh-205b cursor again, and have to type in exit, then it starts up the right way....
Then, I get a good log-in page, which I use, and when it brings up the start page for the account, I get:
"Error occured while loading configuration information for gnome_segv"
"Some of your configuration settings may not work properly"
and it goes into a loop, and won't go any further... I get a blue screen with no icons
(wow - deja vu...)
I'm going in - there must be something in gnome-segv that's causing all this....
(Where's my snorkle and fins......)
BB soon.... I hope....
PM
Last edited by Post Modern; 11-30-2004 at 04:28 PM.
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11-30-2004, 04:32 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Distribution: Ubuntu
Posts: 1,040
Rep:
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Quote:
Originally posted by Post Modern
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Well, that didn't go so well....
I got the account deleted, and shut down, and re-started and set it up again, but:
I noticed at start-up, I get:
"Unknown symbol or unknown module ..."
"No more processses at this level changing to init 1..."
(I can't read it all - this system runs too fast )
Then, I get the sh-205b cursor again, and have to type in exit, then it starts up the right way....
Then, I get a good log-in page, which I use, and when it brings up the start page for the account, I get:
"Error occured while loading configuration information for gnome_segv"
"Some of your configuration settings may not work properly"
and it goes into a loop, and won't go any further... I get a blue screen with no icons
(wow - deja vu...)
I'm going in - there must be something in gnome-segv that's causing all this....
(Where's my snorkle and fins......)
BB soon.... I hope....
PM
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Wow...this is like what happened to me recently when I screwed up my Mandrake 9.2 in the process of experimenting with a couple of Debian distros on, I thought, another hard drive. I ended up doing a clean install of Mdk 10.1 OE and spent about two days re-doing virtually everything that comprised my system.
If you find a simpler way out of such a mess, I'll copy it down for future reference!
Make sure your breathing tanks are fully charged... 
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11-30-2004, 06:44 PM
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#11
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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OK - this is not working, no matter what I do - I can't get into anything but a terminal.
What's the command for closing out and shutting down from a Terminal ??
A terminal is the only thing I can bring up.
Anyone know ??
I'm just going to delete the user completely - that should do it - if I can get out without causing more errors... but first, I have to get out and restart as root.
Without a start bar, that's a trick I need to learn......
PM
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11-30-2004, 06:53 PM
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#12
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Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Distribution: Ubuntu
Posts: 1,040
Rep:
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You can't use su to become root??
Well, if you're in a terminal you can try "exit" and that should present you with a chance to log in as root.
To power off the computer you can issue "poweroff" or I think some distros have "powerdown" or "shutdown"
commands. It's "poweroff" for mine, and I don't need to be root to do it. But I don't think that's what you're
wanting to do.
Try "exit" and see if you can log in again in that terminal.
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11-30-2004, 10:35 PM
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#13
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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Poweroff did it.
Thank you...
Yes, I can exit and bring up the terminal again.
I think the solution is simple: I'm going to delete the user account in root.
The other two accounts I set up don't seem to be effected.... I'll just use one of them........ for now
Thanks -
PM
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11-30-2004, 11:50 PM
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#14
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Member
Registered: Nov 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Distribution: Fedora Core, RH, Mandrake, Xandros, Knoppix
Posts: 110
Original Poster
Rep:
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BTW:
When I deleted the account, it seems like the computer kept the information, because when I tried to set up a new account with the same user name, it came up exactly as it did in the first place, same problems back again, just as if I had never deleted the account in the first place.
If that's so - is there a way to delete the information perminently ??
PM
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12-01-2004, 12:07 AM
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#15
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Senior Member
Registered: Jan 2003
Location: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Distribution: Ubuntu
Posts: 1,040
Rep:
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I did a Google search and also a search here on LQ and could not immediately find out where the information is stored.
Obviously a clean install would do the trick, but that's a bit drastic....
I was going to suggest you try creating an account for a "different" (named) user, but found a post in a thread
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...225#post796225
where that was tried and didn't do any good.
SO...
Hmm....
If it was me, I'd try an "upgrade" type install at this point, just out of impatience. But many wiser than me
advise against such action, and I realize it's better to find out what's really wrong and fix it. But for now I'm
stumped.
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