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Thread: [SOLVED] can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

  1. #1
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    [SOLVED] can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    I am pasting together a couple e-mails here and it's late, so my apologies if something doesn't make sense.

    This is not a GNOME issue since I install KDE and that doesn't work either, but I was trying to fix a 915resolution issue I was having with the resolution being funky after hibernation (worked fine otherwise)

    I also did 'apt-get dist-upgrade' and that didn't fix either issue, though it did appear to update the kernel.

    When I try to 'startx' from any account other than root, I get the following error:

    'waiting for X server to shut down FreeFontPath:FPE "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc" refcount is 2, should be 1; fixing it'

    When I boot up (I do the super secure, auto login) I get the error

    'GDM could not write to your authorization file. Thus could mean that you are out of disk space or that your home directory could not be opened for writing. In any case, it is not possible to log in. Please contact your system administrator.'

    at some point I was actually able to log in and I got this error:

    'Your session only lasted less than 10 seconds. If you have not logged out yourself, thus could mean that there is some installation problem or that you may be out of disk space. Try loggin in with one of the failsafe sessions to see if you can fix this problem.

    *box* view details (~/.xsession-errors file)'

    and that errors file says...

    '/etc/gdm/Xsession:Beginning session setup...
    setting IM through im-switch for locale=en_US.
    start IM through /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/all_ALL linked to /etc/X11/xinit/xinput.d/default
    mkdtemprivate socket dir: Permission denied'


    Possibly it's a permission issue, but that's the case for ALL the users other than root. Very strange. I even created a new admin user.

    On the Carolina Open Source Initiative list I got the suggestion to use fsck, but I'm not sure how that would help.

    I also saw this error message:
    'xauth: error in locking authority file /home/whitdoug/.Xauthority'

    I tried to do something with the login screens (I can't remember what, it's late), but I got this error message:
    'an error occurred while trying to contact the login screens. Not all updates may have taken effect'.

    One of the things I installed trying to fix the hibernation issue was acpi_support_0.91build2_i386.deb, but I wasn't exactly sure what I was doing, I was just following some instructions. I'd get the post on ubuntuforums I was looking at, but that's more difficult since I'm not logged on to my account any more....and I'm tired. I'll look into it more tomorrow.
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
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  2. #2
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    possibly the user does not own files in his home directory
    login as root and try this
    chown -R username:username /home/username/

  3. #3
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    I don't think normal users are generally able to start the x server via the startx command on a normal ubuntu install. You could try something like
    Code:
    sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart
    You might also want to move/delete the file which tells gdm to log you in automatically.
    Code:
    sudo mv /etc/gdm/gdm.conf-custom /etc/gdm/back_gdm.conf-custom
    You might also want to check the permissions of the users home folders.
    Code:
    ls -l /home
    Finally I remember having an issue similar to this when my home partition stopped mounting at boot due to a UUID issue so if you have /home on a separate partition you might want to make sure it is being mounted using the command
    Code:
    mount
    Registered Linux User #464572
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  4. #4
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    Code:
    root@laptop:~# ls -l /home
    total 12
    drwxr-xr-x  26 cosi       cosi       4096 2008-06-19 22:25 cosi
    drwxr-xr-x  10 douglasawh douglasawh 4096 2008-06-19 22:28 douglasawh
    drwxr-xr-x 100 whitdoug   whitdoug   4096 2008-06-20 01:10 whitdoug
    none of those user accounts works....

    EDIT: should I be able to see the .Xauthority file from root or does xauth have to be used to read that file? I'm getting an encoding error with I try to look at the ,Xauthority file.
    Last edited by DouglasAWh; June 20th, 2008 at 06:47 AM. Reason: additional information
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
    My website: http://opensourceplayground.org

  5. #5
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    ok, I also set /.Xauthority to chmod 777 and I ran fsck, but neither of those fixed the problem...
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
    My website: http://opensourceplayground.org

  6. #6
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    I have also not uninstalled and reinstalled gdm. I installed KDE, but I'm not sure how to log in as that. Can someone please help me? I do not like doing everything as root.
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
    My website: http://opensourceplayground.org

  7. #7
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    bump. Please help me! I've posted at Yahoo! Answers and on two listservs and so far know one knows what is going on
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
    My website: http://opensourceplayground.org

  8. #8
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    bump. I still haven't gotten any useful info. I'd also like to know how to make my root GNOME more like my normal account GNOME.
    I am not a lawyer...yet.
    Music Manumit Podcast - remixable Creative Commons music!
    My neglected blog: http://douglasawh.wordpress.com
    My website: http://opensourceplayground.org

  9. #9
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    Have you tried removing the custom configuration for gdm as I suggested. To log in to kde you will need to modify the session settings on the login screen, obviously if you are logging in automatically you won't be able to do this.

    Have you tried making a new user and then seeing if that user has the same issue?
    Registered Linux User #464572
    journal.ryanhaigh.net
    www.ryanhaigh.net

  10. #10
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    Re: can't log in except as root - lots of error messages

    Do you have any disk space? What is the output of:
    Code:
    df -h

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