no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible [SOLVED]

[timek718]

I suspect this is an leftover from the KDM-dbus problem from a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I haven't been able to use KDM's graphical interface to login to my desktop.

It is not possible to login using the KDM login box. However, after switching to a console login, I can login & then manually start X with startx. Then everything else behaves itself, & you wouldn't know there was a problem.

I haven't seen anyone else having similar problems with this, so I suspect that it is because of a configuration error. Or, maybe there's a one-off dbus command that needs to be executed.

Anyone have any ideas?

bob

[doctordruidphd]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

Might try: Switch to the console, login and,

sudo service kdm stop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kdm

You may also need to install the kde-workspace-kgreet-plugins package.

then reboot.

[timek718]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

Might try: Switch to the console, login and,

sudo service kdm stop
sudo apt-get install --reinstall kdm

You may also need to install the kde-workspace-kgreet-plugins package.

then reboot.

Thanks for the sugguestion, but no joy. I also tried reinstalling the kde-workspace-kgreet-plugins package. Also no joy. I'll try dpkg-reconfigure. Maybe that will do the trick. I'm not optimistic, but it seems like it's a misconfiguration in my setup.

[timek718]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

dpkg-reconfigure kdm

didn't work either.

I wonder if the problem could be in how KDM handles passwords? Maybe something isn't set right or they passwords aren't being handled properly?

Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated.

bob

[doctordruidphd]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

When you say you can't use the login box, does this mean you cannot type in the username and password boxes, or that the login is failing? What error messages do you get, or what exactly happens when you try?

Edit: Another useful place to look is /var/log/auth.log

[timek718]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

When you say you can't use the login box, does this mean you cannot type in the username and password boxes, or that the login is failing? What error messages do you get, or what exactly happens when you try?

Edit: Another useful place to look is /var/log/auth.log

Here is the relevant part of /var/log/auth.log:

Aug 28 20:09:36 beast kdm: :0[1384]: pam_unix(kdm-np:session): session opened for user tim by (uid=0)
Aug 28 20:09:36 beast kdm: :0[1384]: pam_ck_connector(kdm-np:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0
Aug 28 20:09:38 beast kdm: :0[1384]: pam_unix(kdm-np:session): session closed for user tim
Aug 28 20:09:43 beast kdm: :0[1697]: pam_unix(kdm:session): session opened for user tim by (uid=0)
Aug 28 20:09:43 beast kdm: :0[1697]: pam_ck_connector(kdm:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0
Aug 28 20:09:43 beast kdm: :0[1697]: pam_unix(kdm:session): session closed for user tim
Aug 28 20:09:55 beast login[1757]: pam_unix(login:session): session opened for user tim by LOGIN(uid=0)

the "nox11 mode" looks suspicious, but I'm completely out of my depth here.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible

Yeah, the "nox11mode" means "No X11 Mode", meaning either logins via X are disabled, or something in X is not loading right.

OR -- I did some googling on this. Check your session type before you log in. Apparently if it's set to "failsafe", it will exhibit this behavior. Not very failsafe, eh? You want it set to "plasma desktop", or whatever it's called now -- I don't have any way of checking it while logged in.

[timek718]

Re: no graphical KDM login but CLI login is possible [SOLVED]

Yeah. That was it. Turns out that no session type was selected. I chose default and was able to login. Then for good measure I rebooted to see if it would login automatically. And it did.

Thanks a bunch.

bob