[SOLVED] HELP! HELP! Can't get gconfd or anything to run

[tipiglen]

I was shutting down and suddenly there was a power cut.

On restart, I get to normal login screen, username, password, usual wait for music, then blank black screen, and a message telling me
Failed to contact configuration server; some possible causes are that
you need to enable TCP/IP networking for ORBit, or you have stale NFS locks
due to a system crash. See http://www.gnome.org/projects/gconf/ for information.

and another saying the power manager cannot be started and I ahould se my administrator )that's me, and I'm clueless)

In shell terminal as root, I can't get gconftool to spawn gconfd

I'm in bloody ******* just to get to the forum.

PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!

I await a good Samaritan
ed

[albinootje]

I was shutting down and suddenly there was a power cut.

On restart, I get to normal login screen, username, password, usual wait for music, then blank black screen, and a message telling me
and another saying the power manager cannot be started and I ahould se my administrator )that's me, and I'm clueless)

In shell terminal as root, I can't get gconftool to spawn gconfd

Can you boot in "recovery mode", "drop to root shell prompt",
and do this :


chown -R username:username /home/username
rm -r /tmp/orbit-*
rm -r /tmp/esd-*
init 2

where "username" is the name of your user.

[tipiglen]

Can you boot in "recovery mode", "drop to root shell prompt",
and do this :
Code:

chown -R username:username /home/username
rm -r /tmp/orbit-*
rm -r /tmp/esd-*
init 2

where "username" is the name of your user. I'll try in a few minutes when I go back to linux. I don't thing I have those files in my /tmp directory. I don't have a clue what orbit is.

I haven't looked to see why I might no longer oen my oen home directory, but I'll give it a try.

I'm getting very frustrated. I tried
/etc/init.d/gdm restartand all that happens is I get a login screen which won't accept input. Ctrl/Alt/f1 gets me back to shell, ...


find -name gconfdgets nothing.

Grrrrr!
ed

[albinootje]

I'll try in a few minutes when I go back to linux. I don't thing I have those files in my /tmp directory. I don't have a clue what orbit is.


Can you install the following :


sudo apt-get install icewm

And then choose "icewm" as "session" at the gdm screen.
Then you have a better change to log in and fix things.

And do you have any files in /lost+found ?

[Aearenda]

I'd be doing what albinootje said in the first post, assuming the fsck stage of startup works without complaint :-)

[tipiglen]

well, I got in with
/etc/init.d/gdm restart(somehow), by opening "another" X.

Seems to be working OK, but I don't know what happens if I shut down and restart... we'll see in a few moments.

I'll check out icewm later perhaps

I'll check back in awhile (If I can get back)

;-)
ed

[tipiglen]

Back in just like nothing had happened.

I did do one important thing
mv /home/ed/.gconfd/saved_state /home/ed/.gconfd/saved_state~ Which I think is the key to being able to re-start. I reckon the saved_state file got corrupted due to the power cutoff during shutdown....

Now there's a new one.

I hope this may be of use to anyone else who has this problem

Thanks guys and gals for your thoughts

A happy ed
http://ubuntuforums.org/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[albinootje]

Back in just like nothing had happened.

I did do one important thing
mv /home/ed/.gconfd/saved_state /home/ed/.gconfd/saved_state~

Good! :)

I still recommend checking whether there are any files in /lost+found to get an idea whether you lost some files after that sudden shutdown.

[tipiglen]

Lost + Found is empty. Thanks.

Happy Solstice (+1)
ed

[iFrag_svk]

Thank you, I had the same problem.
mv /home/username/.gconfd/saved_state /home/username/.gconfd/saved_state~
solved it. :)