[SOLVED] Unable to login to my Ubuntu 13.10 but can login to my Gnome Classic?
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Unable to login to my Ubuntu 13.10 but can login to my Gnome Classic?
Hey,
I've got a crazy one here, which most likely will turn out to be a simple solution? Early yesterday I installed the cinnamon desktop and the Gnome desktop through my terminal. When finished I ran an update as well as a upgrade, at the time there were none.
I rebooted and at the login page there they werer; Cinnamon & Cinnamon 2D, next came Gnome, Gnome Classic, Gnome Fallback an Gnome Fallback (something) The word slipped my mind momentarily. Last was Ubuntu. I logged into the Cinnamon desktop environment and spent most of the day on Cinnamon. Even did an update for it whilst there.
A couple hours ago more or more I closed Cinnamon then logged out. When the login screen came back up, I scroll down to Ubuntu an made it my choice to log in. To cut to the chase, it would not allow me to log in. I put in the correct password. The screen would go black for a few second then there'd be that 'ba dump' sound and the login screen would reappear.
A number of attempts at unsuccessfully loging in, I restarted my PC and logged I successfully to the GNome Classic. From whence I write this thread.
During my failed logi attempt through Ubuntu, a couple times I caught glimpses of a white window. It was there and then gone an it looked to have writing on it, but what it said I was not able to make out.
I have considered removing the Cinnamon and Gnome desktop set ups in case they were to blame somehow? If they were not the cause for my inability to sign on with Ubuntu and I still could not sign on I'd be royally screwed. So I ain't touching anything.!!
Last edited by herakles_14; 10-24-2013 at 05:25 PM.
Reason: typo
Distribution: Debian Testing, Stable, Sid and Manjaro, Mageia 3, LMDE
Posts: 2,628
Rep:
Ubuntu uses the Unity Desktop. This conflicts with the Gnome desktop on some hardware.
Cinnamon is a fork of the Gnome Shell desktop.
They could certainly be the cause of your problem.
I, personally, would think that the Unity desktop is the problem but that is just me. Removing it would be something you could do. You may have to reinstall Cinnamon and/or Gnome Shell from the tty after doing this though. Ubuntu doesn't like you to have control over your computer. They do, of coarse, know better than you do how you really want it to look and feel.
I had a crazy idea of try to use the recovery mode to set things right. I dodn't recall whether I was to tap the F2 key or F8 or F12 after the restart to be able to select the Recovery Mode?
I like you suggestion of removing Unity. I know from removing 'XFCE' with the commandline of; 'sudo apt-get autoremove xfce desktop' I don't know whether that command woudl work wioth Unity or not?
Right now I have Cinnamon and Gnome. If i were to dump Unity by whatever means available, could I still login using either Gnome or Cinnamon or would that option be lost to me? You mention about how I would need to reinstall Gnome and Cinnamon from the tty before drop kicking Unity. What is tty? Okay, did a quick check and found tty was the termninal, just a shorter way of saying it. Both the Gnome Shell and the Cinnamon one were installed via the terninal or tty. That beng the case if I buried Unity I should not have any issue in using either to log in to my Computer?
I think I'll run a search on how to safely remove Unity while keeping Gnome as a desktop.
If it proves that i need to reinstall Gnome by way of the terminal before exiting Untiy? Is there any way of just having the Gnome 3 and the so called Gnome Classic and not 'Gnome Fallback or Gnome Fallback, not having something or other'?
That looks pretty good. You should probably check all the file names to make sure they are actually the same. While they probably are it will be easier to change them in the command you use instead before rather than after you use it.
I have no idea what Ubuntu is using for package names for Unity. Nemo is a better file manager than Nautilus.
I don't use Cinnamon much but do have it on a LMDE install (with Mate) on my loaner drive. I prefer Mate. Cinnamon is a pretty good job though. Has been getting more stable since they basically forked Gnome Shell instead of trying to develop extensions for GS to get what they wanted out of Cinnamon.
Remember that you are, sooner or later going to have to version upgrade your system. This is not going to make that easier. You appear to be getting Cinnamon from a ppa. I wouldn't upgrade the system at all. I would do a clean install with a netinstall ISO and then add your extra stuff to it. Will save a lot of trouble removing things. Version upgrades really don't need to be done every time a new release comes out either.
That is a good idea about check the file names, a question though, let us forsake of argument say I am using Gnome or Cinnamon will the files there have the same names as the files of Unity? These instructions assume you still have access to Unity? I'll nevertheless check the file names.
I saw something when I restarted my PC, which may shed some light on the problem of not loggig in with Ubuntu? I say may? Okay, you know that the various Distro's have their own unique logo and that is what you will see before you go to the login screen. Well, I've restarted my machine a couple times and each time I saw the Gnome logo just prior to the login screen. Then as now I am using the Cinnamon desktop. I had the idea that if I remove the Gnome desktop envvironment then perhaps after another restart I could log in with Ubuntu? Here is where it gets interesting, I open the software center. Type in the search bar 'Gnome' up pops at the top of the page; 'Full Gnome Desktop environment with extra components' Only it does not have the usual green check mark indicating it is in use. I also checked the Synaptic Package Manager and it was the same there. I did some thinking then recalled both the Gnome and Cinnamon desktop thingee's came from a 'Unixmen' web pge about ten things to add to Ubuntu 13.10. The commandline for installing Gnome was:
Is it possible this is somehow preventing me from logging in using Ubuntu, will the removal of this Gnome rectify the problem? Would a commandline of:
'sudo apt-get autoremove gnome-shell ubuntu-gnome-desktop' do the job?
I'm not going to do anything for the moment. I am still debating about removing Unity. I am getting used to Cinnamon an the mostly like the Gnome set up, I say mostly but for the two superfluous extra Gnome destkops; Gnome fallback and Gnome fallback (No effects). I'd be just as happy to have Gnome and Gnoem Classic an that is it, no more. I guess the latter two are the special components?
You again brought up a good point concerning the next upgrade. I can see where I might have some issues with trying to upgrade were I to get rid of Unity? A clean install/upgrade using the ISO might be the best solution.
Either that or install the Gnome Desktop as opposed to the Unity Desktop. I have a number of things to ponder over.
This is the command they invoke to install things. apt-get and dpkg communicate well or you would not be installing anything, therefore this stuff should be showing up.
It would be good for you to post the entire contents of your /etc/apt/sources.list and anything that may be in /etc/apt/sources.list.d.
Another thing I would like to see is the entire output of;
I really don't know what Ubuntu is doing currently with package management. The last time I had anything from Comical installed was Xubuntu 12.04-testing and it was removed the day it was released. So nothing has been on here since April of 12.
I am usually running Debian testing as I am now. This is my production OS. I don't use sudo as I have a root password and use my root terminal.
Only one of these commands is for a meta package, like the ubuntu-gnome-desktop and gnome-shell packages that install a lot of other packages, but this is the kind of output you should get from the apt-cache command;
If you are getting that sort of output then I would be concerned about the condition of your Synaptic and Software Center (or what ever it is called) because they should be getting that information too.
If you want to build a custom install of any distro that is fine. There are ways of doing it that are better than installing from the default install media, the Live CD (or DVD - whatever Ubuntu is using). Ubuntu offers a netboot ISO. I thought it was a netinstall. They are very similar but netinstall images are usually a bit bigger. http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/13.10/
Which gives no useful information at all. This is standard Comical practice as they want to keep users ignorant.
The image you want will be the "mini.iso" if you follow the link for your architecture (32 or 64 bit). This is a huge 36MB. All you are installing from it is a kernel, grub and the entire CLI package management setup. Install doesn't take long. You boot to a black screen with a log in prompt.
If you simply run the command to install a desktop environment, any one of them, that package will also install all the xorg stuff you need to have video support for a desktop. At least the last time I did an Ubuntu mini install that was the way it worked. See no reason they would have changed that.
This means that if you simply log at the tty login with your user name and password you will be a user prompt ($) at that prompt simply type;
Code:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
or what ever DE you want.
If you need to get packages from a ppa for Cinnamon and want to install that write down the CLI command for getting the ppa in your sources.list and to get the public key for that ppa before trying to install whatever the meta package for Cinnamon is.
This will take a while to install. When it is done you should be able to type;
Code:
sudo reboot
and boot to a gui desktop.
This will put you on a desktop to the smallest Ubuntu you have ever used. It will probably need a number of packages that you use daily because they are not directly related to whatever DE you installed. It will, however, because of not having a lot of other stuff installed, not have as much potential for conflicts between packages.
If you want to use Unity, don't mess with other DEs. It will only cause you grief. It does not play well with others. It was not designed to play nice with other DEs. It was meant to be a platform for Comical to test a phone and tablet OS on Ubuntu users computers. It does that very well. If you have a touch screen it will even work pretty well. There are actually other DEs that will work as well or better than Unity on a computer with a touch screen.
They will not work well on a phone though. They were designed for desktop and laptop computers. Unity was scammed off on Ubuntu users for a convenient bunch of test monkeys for the development of the Ubuntu phone as should be well evident to anyone still using Ubuntu.
It really does not work well with the rest of the GNU Linux computer DE flock. Use it by itself and it will work.
If you want something else don't have Unity on that install at all.
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What if anything does the above tell you? If I were to use the command; "sudo apt-get install gnome-shell" would that overwrite the 'gnome-shell ubuntu-gnome-desktop' I have apparently?
Distribution: Debian Testing, Stable, Sid and Manjaro, Mageia 3, LMDE
Posts: 2,628
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Gnome Shell was undoubtedly install with the ubuntu-gnome-desktop package. That is a meta package.
A meta package actually contains nothing. It has a lot of dependencies. All of them are installed. One of them, for the gnome desktop, would be Gnome Shell.
If you were to use;
Code:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
Your out put would be something like
"gnome-shell is at the current version"
What we do know is that you should be able to remove Gnome by using the command;
Code:
sudo apt-get purge ubuntu-gnome-desktop
and that the fact that all its depends, including gnome shell are installed shows that Software Center and Synaptic should both be showing them as installed.
I wouldn't trust either of them as far as you can spit.
Software Center is, I am sure installed by the meta package ubuntu-minimal or at least the ubuntu-desktop package which makes removing it difficult. Synaptic is something you had to have installed so it is not hard to remove.
I would run;
Code:
sudo apt-get purge synaptic
then;
Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure software-center
then reboot or at least log out and back in and check and see if software center is behaving.
Then reinstall synaptic and see how it is doing.
I would use neither of them to install or remove packages. They are not acting correctly as they are and even if they straighten out I would be very wary of them.
You also need to realize that you are logging into Ubuntu no matter what DE you are using. Unity is the default DE installed with Ubuntu. If you install another DE you are still logging into Ubuntu, just a different DE.
So you are logging into Ubuntu successfully. Why you aren't able to log into Unity is a slightly different question. A very interesting one.
I think it is simply that installing the Gnome DE has conflicted with some part of Unity. Unity could be called a gnome shell. The package gnome-shell gives you the Gnome Shell DE. Unity is another shell, however, for gnome and it gives you the Unity DE.
When you consider that Ubuntu, after bullying the Gnome project for years to do things on the Ubuntu schedule, insisted on Unity, then in early development, with the Ubuntu copyright policy as it was at the time pissed Gnome off and they said no. Ubuntu then takes their dollies and goes sulking off home. Develops Unity as a complete shell to use in place of Gnome Shell on the Gnome3 backend.
Unity and Gnome Shell have some major differences. To make Unity be what they wanted for a foundation for the Ubuntu phone, rather than make Unity conform to the base gnome packages they modified the gnome packages to conform to Unity.
I think you screwed that up when you installed Gnome Shell.
I no longer can access my account at the UFs because they were cracked and the new "security" arrangements mean that I can only get back in there if I get an Ubuntu One account. As I have a reluctance to fold to extortion I am not about to do so. But due to that I am not up on the soap opera call Ubuntu and what the gossip and ins and outs or Unity's incestuous relationship/rivalry with Gnome Shell is currently. It was not that good before. A lot of people have had trouble using Gnome Shell on Ubuntu.
Cinnamon should have been available in the Ubuntu repos (universe) where it showed up with version 12.04 unless they removed it. The ppa should simply be, perhaps, a bit ahead of the package through the regular repos. I have not run a search on that but if it is indeed in the repo it would be better to use it from there than the ppa.
That said, Cinnamon is based on Gnome3 and Gnome Shell. Started as a custom extension for Gnome Shell. So I suspect that you are going to be causing problems for Unity that way too because it is Gnome base running what is a closer relative to Gnome Shell than anything else.
This is probably the reason you are not able to boot to Unity. Most of the problems I read about are people installing Gnome Shell and then not being able to log into it. You have 2 different shells calling for the standard gnome base configuration and only Unity calling for something different. Somehow Unity lost the conflict in spite of being the default install. Probably because it is not optimized to run on a computer like yours. If you tried the same thing on a tablet it would probably go the other way. On a phone for sure.
Far be it from my intent to talk you out of using Unity if that is what you want to use. It is your box. Get rid of all other DEs if that is the case.
If you want to be able to explore and customize, get rid of Unity.
I did a restart after the purge's and the Gnome options to log in was still there. I then ran:
'sudo apt-get autoremove gnome-shell ubuntu-gnome-desktop'
Package 'ubuntu-gnome-desktop' is not installed, so not removed
The following packages will be REMOVED:
gdm gir1.2-gck-1 gir1.2-gcr-3 gir1.2-gtop-2.0 gir1.2-mutter-3.0
gir1.2-nmgtk-1.0 gir1.2-telepathyglib-0.12 gir1.2-telepathylogger-0.2
gnome-shell gnome-shell-common gnome-shell-extensions gnome-tweak-tool
libept1.4.12 libgdm
I can either remove these seven packages or leave them as they are?? I am going to lose them.
Those seven packages I removed also removed from the log in screen 'Gnome' and 'Gnome Classic' It however left 'Gnome Fallback' and Gnome Fallback (No effects). How to get rid of them?
I rebooted then signed in using the Gnome Fallback. What came up next was a black screen with a horizontal bar at the top and one at the bottom. I signed in the gnome because I wanted to see if it was in someway connected to regular gnome. It sure was not, so I rebooted with the intent of login in using Cinnamon.
Here is where it goes from bad to worse. It will not accept my password and calls it invalid.
I ammaking this post using my Nook HD tablet. I shut the PC down for several minutes now to see ? Okay, success. I am logged into Cinnamon. I am still going to post this entry via the tablet as a remainder what can go wrong!!
Distribution: Debian Testing, Stable, Sid and Manjaro, Mageia 3, LMDE
Posts: 2,628
Rep:
Well I wouldn't worry too much about what was removed. You posted the apt-cache policy on the ubuntu-gnome-desktop package. It is installed. If you package manager can't find it your package management system is broken. Quite badly.
This could probably be fixed using lower level (more basic) tools like dselect. I am not sure this is worth the effort and time it would take for you to understand it. This is really interesting stuff but the middle of a wreck is a poor place to learn about it.
And it may not work. dselect is depreciated and probably not even installed.
If you are booting to a working desktop I would call it a win.
Gnome fallback was not going to work. That is part of gnome-shell-common (I think) and is going to be dropped soon altogether. You booted to gnome shell and failed because you had removed gnome shell.
Your login screen was different because you had removed gdm and libgdm. I was pretty sure you would be using the package gdm3. You could install that. If you dare installing something.
What all do you have on this drive and how big is it? Are you installed on just / or on / and /home?
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