Mark, Thanks for your help. Here is what happened.
If I login as robin the mail contains 137 messages all saying that backup21 needs to have a file configured. I don't use that program anymore so those aren't interesting. When I login as root there aren't any messages. I tried to login to TWN, Twn and Failsafe from the display manager (?) screen but in each case it just returns to itself. I found xsession-erriors: it's empty. I can't find a file named .xinitrc in / or in /home/robin There are two other things which may be helpful. First, when I'm logged in a console if I don't type anything for a short time lines beginning with "DROPPED IN=eth0 OUT=MAC=ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff: " appear many times on the screen. This happens both when I'm logged in as root and as robin. Second, I have tar balls of /etc, /usr/local and /var (minus /var/cache, var/spool, /var/tmp) created just before the problem arose. But the tar ball of robin was created after the problem began when I found I could log in and use gnome. I would appreciate any help. Robin On 10/1/07, Mark Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On 9/30/07, Richard Carter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > <snip> > > However, if I choose "Console Login'" from the Menu tab login.succeedsand I > > get a message "You have new mail", which I don't understand. > <snip> > > > "You have new mail" when you log in as root: this generally means that > your system has been running cron-jobs as root (often security-related > jobs such as checking for UID/GID changes, disk usage, etc.) To read > them, use the 'mail' command. At the mail prompt, (&), use 'n' to > read each message if you would like to. I use a .forward file in the > /root directory to send these messages to an email account I actually > use. It can be nice for boxes you don't look at often, to see if the > disk is filling up, or if there have been any ssh brute-force attacks, > etc. > > > On 10/1/07, Richard Carter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Szemir; After I log in as root, startx starts the gnome desk top!!! But > if > > I enter startx as robin lines from /var/log/Xorg.0.log (I think) are > > displayed none of which begin with EE although one line did say that the > > kernel was disabling IRQ #201. Using find I couldn't find a file > called > > xsessions-errors. > > The file is named .xession-errors, and it is usually in the home > directory of your user (/home/user/.xsession-errors) > 'locate' is often more helpful than 'find' for finding files, if it is > installed, that is > > > Gustin: I checked gdm.log and kde.log but I couldn't see any thing that > > > looked l like an error. Xorg.0.log contained some warnings about > missing > > fonts, the mode of the clock and the fact that AIGLX: 30 driver doesn't > > support some visuals but nothing beginning with EE I also checked > > /var/messages. This is a very big file most of which looked innocent > > although it did say that a message handler couldn't be found and that > there > > was a bad irq. > > > > The problem with all this is that I don't really know what to look for > in > > all these log files so I may well have missed something important. I > wonder > > of the problem is that the kde login manager is corrupted? > > > > Any further suggestions? > > Try a more basic window manager, such as twm. If your display manager > (where you are logging in from) is returning to itself, it is because > whatever it tried to run failed to do so. This is what happens when > you use ctrl-alt-backspace to exit from kde/gnome. So what you need > to do is find out what is causing it to fail. This could be in the > xorg log or .xsession-errors. It is usually easier to log in to the > console as your user, run startx, and go from there. > > See if there is a /home/username/.xinitrc file and report back with > its contents. > > This is the #2 reason I don't use a display manager if I can help it. > Just one more thing to break. (#1 reason being it makes it difficult > to use other ttys in some circumstances.) > > -Mark C. > > _______________________________________________ > clug-talk mailing list > [email protected] > http://clug.ca/mailman/listinfo/clug-talk_clug.ca > Mailing List Guidelines (http://clug.ca/ml_guidelines.php) > **Please remove these lines when replying >
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