Lightdm will not start

[P-I H]

I don't know if this is related to the thread "After the last update i get a black screen"


In my case grub is started OK, but I don't get to the login screen.
In syslog I get the following about lightdm:

Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 irqbalance[1203]: * Starting SMP IRQ Balancer: irqbalance
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 dns-clean[1197]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 apport[1210]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Cleans up any mess left by 0dns-up.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Start the PulseAudio sound server.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: automatic crash report generation.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 irqbalance[1203]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: daemon to balance interrupts for SMP systems.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: Tool to automatically collect and submit kernel crash signatures.
Aug 30 23:03:39 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: start Samba daemons for the AD DC.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 winbind[1199]: * Starting the Winbind daemon winbind
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 nmbd[1202]: * Starting NetBIOS name server nmbd
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 nmbd[1202]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: start Samba NetBIOS nameserver (nmbd).
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting LSB: start Samba SMB/CIFS daemon (smbd)...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 winbind[1199]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: start Winbind daemon.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Received SIGRTMIN+21 from PID 296 (plymouthd).
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Wait for Plymouth Boot Screen to Quit.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1284]: ** (lightdm:1284): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1284]: ** (lightdm:1284): CRITICAL **: x_server_get_address: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Getty on tty1...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty1.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Login Prompts.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Reached target Login Prompts.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1284]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 smbd[1328]: * Starting SMB/CIFS daemon smbd
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 smbd[1328]: ...done.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started LSB: start Samba SMB/CIFS daemon (smbd).
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Multi-User System.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Reached target Multi-User System.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Graphical Interface.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Reached target Graphical Interface.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Update UTMP about System Runlevel Changes...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Update UTMP about System Runlevel Changes.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Startup finished in 4.435s (kernel) + 4.776s (userspace) = 9.211s.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 avahi-daemon[627]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv6 with address fe80::52e5:49ff:fe3e:753a.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 avahi-daemon[627]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv6 for mDNS.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 avahi-daemon[627]: Registering new address record for fe80::52e5:49ff:fe3e:753a on eth0.*.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 sh[646]: [23:03:40] online
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1284]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1284]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1386]: ** (lightdm:1386): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1386]: ** (lightdm:1386): CRITICAL **: x_server_get_address: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1386]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1386]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1386]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory.
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:40 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1435]: ** (lightdm:1435): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1435]: ** (lightdm:1435): CRITICAL **: x_server_get_address: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1435]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1435]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1435]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1484]: ** (lightdm:1484): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1484]: ** (lightdm:1484): CRITICAL **: x_server_get_address: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1484]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1484]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1484]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 sh[646]: [23:03:41] online
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Started Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1533]: ** (lightdm:1533): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1533]: ** (lightdm:1533): CRITICAL **: x_server_get_address: assertion 'server != NULL' failed
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1533]: /etc/modprobe.d is not a file
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1533]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 lightdm[1533]: update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service holdoff time over, scheduling restart.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Stopping Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Starting Light Display Manager...
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: lightdm.service start request repeated too quickly, refusing to start.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Failed to start Light Display Manager.
Aug 30 23:03:41 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Unit lightdm.service entered failed state.
Aug 30 21:03:46 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 systemd[1]: Time has been changed
Aug 30 21:03:46 pi-GA-990FXA-UD3-1310 ntpdate[1190]: step time server 91.189.89.199 offset -7199.954588 sec

[Bashing-om]

P-I H; Hello;

Hard for me to say, but I would suggest to get these out of the way as possibilities.
Let's see if we can get to a terminal:
At the grub boot menu with the latest kernel highlighted press the 'e' key for edit mode -> boot parameters screen,
arrow down and across to the terms "quiet splash" and replace them with the term "text" - with out the quotes,
key combo ctl+x to continue the boot process to the terminal login ( TTY 1). Can you log in here with user name and password ( no response to the screen when pass word is entered).

As we have:
1)

(lightdm:1284): CRITICAL **: x_server_local_get_authority_file_path: assertion 'server != NULL' failed

So let's see that you have the authority to access the GUI:

ls -al /home/<your_user_name>/.Xauthority
ls -al /home/<your_user_name>/.ICEauthority

2)

update-alternatives: error: no alternatives for x86_64-linux-gnu_gfxcore_conf

no graphics driver loaded ? Let's look !

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
sudo lshw -C display

Samba ?

Cannot add dependency job for unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service, ignoring: Unit systemd-vconsole-setup.service failed to load: No such file or directory

Remove Samba ? See what results ??

4) I ain't got a clue !

lightdm[1484]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]

Does the directory exist, and if so what is telling what, that this directory is a file ???

ls -al /etc/modprobe.d

Good places to start,

let's see what we find out

[P-I H]

The installation of the system was made as Ubuntu 13.10. It's upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 and then changed to Ubuntu 14.10, I think in May.
Now the boot ends with some lines shown on the screen. The last three are:

Starting Light Display Manager ....
[OK]     Started LSB: daemon to balance interrupts from SMP system
[OK]     Started LSB: Tool to automatically collect and submi...ash signatures.

The login screen never shows up.

I can start a terminal and login with Ctrl+Alt+F1. However the keybord is not the correct one.

ls -al /home/<your_user_name>/.Xauthority

gives

-rw------- 1 user user 313 "date" /home/user/.Xauthority

ls -al /home/<your_user_name>/.ICEauthority

gives

-rw------- 1 user user 239422 "date" /home/user/.ICEauthority

spci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
sudo lshw -C display

both tells that the graphic card is a Geforce GTX 660. The 2:nd command gives some more details.

I don't think Samba is related to the problem.

lightdm[1484]: message repeated 3 times: [ /etc/modprobe.d is not a file]

/etc/modeprobe.d is a directory that contains config information.
Most files are since 2012 and 2013. The newest are modesettings.conf from May 2014 and fbdev-blacklist.conf from April 2014.

[Bashing-om]

P-I H; Welp;

All looks in order to this point, let's see if we can get a bit more info:
From the console (Ctrl+Alt+F1), what results with terminal command:

sudo service lightdm start

Maybe in executing the GUI startup routines from the login manager a problem exists that will not be prevalent when starting only lightdm from console.
Or get least provide some additional info.

gotta be a cause

[P-I H]

Tried that, but the same happend as with the boot. The process stops and the lines I mentioned above is shown.

I had a problem with blank desktop before. That was fixed when i removed some configuration files in Home with the command:

rm ~/.gconf ~/.gconfd ~/.metacity ~/.compiz-1 ~/.config/compiz-1 ~/.config/dconf -rf

I can try that.

[Bashing-om]

P-I H; Well:

Removing the .configs files might have a positive affect.
But; let's try resetting to defaults in compiz and unity .. see what effect that has on lightdm before moving up to look at how lightdm is configured.

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
unity --reset-icons
setsid unity

then log out and back in and see if there is a change.

fault isolation,

Oh where oh where

[Elfy]

just a thought here - but wouldn't it be better to know that the current issue lots of people are having is fixed before doing anything else - how are you going to know if this is fixed - if it's not in fact the same thing

[P-I H]

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/
unity --reset-icons
setsid unity
These commands didn't work. The system complained about no X and no upstart. The system uses systemd.

I also tried the more brutal version with
rm ~/.gconf ~/.gconfd ~/.metacity ~/.compiz-1 ~/.config/compiz-1 ~/.config/dconf -rf
That didn't work either.

[P-I H]

The system started OK. I then made these upgrades and got the problem:

2014-08-29 06:28:37 startup packages configure2014-08-29 06:28:37 configure nfs-common:amd64 1:1.2.8-9ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:37 status half-configured nfs-common:amd64 1:1.2.8-9ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 configure gsettings-ubuntu-schemas:all 0.0.3+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status unpacked gsettings-ubuntu-schemas:all 0.0.3+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status half-configured gsettings-ubuntu-schemas:all 0.0.3+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status installed gsettings-ubuntu-schemas:all 0.0.3+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 configure libsignon-extension1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status unpacked libsignon-extension1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status half-configured libsignon-extension1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status installed libsignon-extension1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status triggers-pending libc-bin:amd64 2.19-4ubuntu2
2014-08-29 06:28:38 configure libsignon-plugins-common1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status unpacked libsignon-plugins-common1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status half-configured libsignon-plugins-common1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status installed libsignon-plugins-common1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 configure libsignon-qt1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status unpacked libsignon-qt1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status half-configured libsignon-qt1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status installed libsignon-qt1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 configure libsignon-qt5-1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status unpacked libsignon-qt5-1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status half-configured libsignon-qt5-1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:38 status installed libsignon-qt5-1:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 configure signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status unpacked signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status unpacked signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status unpacked signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status half-configured signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status installed signond:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 configure signon-plugin-password:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status unpacked signon-plugin-password:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status half-configured signon-plugin-password:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status installed signon-plugin-password:amd64 8.57+14.10.20140827-0ubuntu1
2014-08-29 06:28:39 trigproc libc-bin:amd64 2.19-4ubuntu2 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status half-configured libc-bin:amd64 2.19-4ubuntu2
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status installed libc-bin:amd64 2.19-4ubuntu2
2014-08-29 06:28:39 startup packages configure
2014-08-29 06:28:39 configure nfs-common:amd64 1:1.2.8-9ubuntu1 <none>
2014-08-29 06:28:39 status half-configured nfs-common:amd64 1:1.2.8-9ubuntu1

[Bashing-om]

P-I H; Yuk !

Release 14.10 I guess is now systemD rather than upstart. I had not even given that a thought as I have yet to even see 14.10.
Let's wait for those who do have experience with 14.10 to chime in here, see what their advise is.
Else we can see how the package manager tools - as known from earlier releases - perform in 14.10. Try to fix those broken dependencies ??

going where few have gone before