Unable to log in via gdm(?) after update, User not able to log in

[Shielder]

Hi all, I've a strange problem that I think I've had a long time ago, but can't remember how to solve.

As a user, I am unable to log in to my fully updated SL6.2 system via the graphical login manager.

However, root is able to log in via the graphical manager and if I press ctrl-alt-1 to get to a console, I can then log in as the user.

I fully updated my system, but I changed some permissions to get MCNP to install, so maybe I've messed something up.

Any hints on what to look for? Sorry about this, I know I've done something wrong, I just can't figure out what.

Andy

[zxq9]

Do you know what you changed to install MCNP? I'm not familiar with that package or what is necessary to make it work, so I can't help you if there is some magical quirk that its introducing.

That said, try knocking your system down to runlevel 3 on boot by default, and see if you can log in as a normal user and then $ startx on your own or not.

You can accomplish this by running # telinit 3 or:

CODE

# sed -i.bak -e 's/id:5/id:3/' /etc/inittab

as root (note that this makes a backup of inittab at /etc/inittab.bak, and after you get things straightened out you'll want to # mv /etc/inittab.bak /etc/inittab to set things back once you're done messing about with the authentication settings), or you could always just edit inittab by hand in vim, though that's sort of a waste of time unless you like to read comments.

From your description you should be able to log in the text console and startx from there. If it does then your problem probably lies with your GDM (I'm assuming GDM, am I wrong?) configuration. If it doesn't work you might want to run authconfig-tui and see how authentication is set up for some basic clues. There is a little constellation of authentication subsystems you can explore setting files for, but I like to start with the big pieces first to try narrowing down the problem before reading through all the other junk.

Give this a shot and let the forum minions\me* know:
1- What you changed to get MCNP to work (this is the most important bit)
2- If logging in from runlevel 3 and startx works
and we can start narrowing things down.

(I had tried to use a slash and "me" but that resulted in a bold red self-reference. Is that a forum feature? slash+me == *zxq9 and bolds stuff to the end of the next /n. Weird.)

[Shielder]

Just to resurrect this thread from the dead... (sorry )

I managed to get my system working after going through any changes I'd made.

For some reason, I'd inserted the line

export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0

into my .bashrc and .bash_profile files.

This was what was stopping the login via GDM.

Following your hints zxq9, I booted to runlevel 3 and managed to start x with no problems. So, I figured that there was something stopping the gdm process and my investigations turned up the error above.

Sigh... what an idiot I feel...

Thanks for the help. I hadn't thought anout manually starting x. I guess that's why I don't administer any systems anymore...

[zxq9]

Can't say exporting a specific display variable in .bashrc is an element I took into account. I'm amazed you tracked that down.

I've learned something about post-installation configuration over the years... if most of it can be done from the shell, then I do it from the shell, then I dump the history to a file and remove the fidgeting/fanagling bits until I've condensed it down to the essential steps that got my system the way I want it. Then that becomes a post-install script and I never have to wonder what happened here or there.

I'm always a little surprised how tiny those final scripts tend to be as well. Things that take a lot of time and hair-pulling to figure out the first time through (for example, getting OpenLDAP to do anything without resorting to the "deprecated" configuration methods) wind up collapsing into a 10-line script, including all the key generation and security config. Frightening... and also makes me wonder why such a script isn't included with the goddam package to begin with.

Every so often I ask myself "Have I done anything lately that is 1) significant, 2) detailed and hard to remember, and 3) in any way magical?" If the answer is yes, I dump the history of the event, just in case.

[bunni]

QUOTE (Shielder @ Oct 18 2012, 08:18 AM)

Just to resurrect this thread from the dead... (sorry  ) I managed to get my system working after going through any changes I'd made. For some reason, I'd inserted the line export DISPLAY=localhost:0.0 into my .bashrc and .bash_profile files. This was what was stopping the login via GDM.  Following your hints zxq9, I booted to runlevel 3 and managed to start x with no problems.  So, I figured that there was something stopping the gdm process and my investigations turned up the error above. Sigh...  what an idiot I feel...  Thanks for the help.  I hadn't thought anout manually starting x.  I guess that's why I don't administer any systems anymore...

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Sheilder, just so you know, I've had the exact same problem, on SL6.3. I don't think *you* added that to your .bashrc, I think MCNP did. I guess someone should tell them .....