(Solved) Oh jesus.... I broke it

[beyond]

Having problems logging in. Last night I installed some apps, decided to disable desktop effects to increase performance. I disabled effects and when I restarted, soon as I get on my desktop, it freezes and doesnt recover.

I think this may be because Compiz is still activated, while my settings are for "no Desktop effects". I figured if I disabled the effects, Compiz would automatically be disabled as well. I can tell when I log in Compiz is still functioning, the little blue box jumps up and down once or twice, then freezes.

I dont think this has anything to do with any apps I installed. Hope not.

I tried to use another kernal, no good. I also tried to boot into failsafe, but got an error that x-terminal wasnt found. I JUST got Kbuntu setup the way I like it.... re-install is not an option.

I should be able to login under recovery, but I am clueless at the command line. Should just be able to disable Compiz, then I think the XServer will start normally.

Help?


beyond

[JohanLingen]

Re: Oh hell.... I broke it

Well, it certainly has nothing to do with hell. Going to hell needs a fix from Jesus.

But this requires just a fix by killing Compiz, which you can do by starting up like you would normally do, pressing CTRL+F1 to enter a console and then use the command

sudo killall compiz

. Then go back to your KDE session by pressing CTRL+F7.

[beyond]

Re: Oh jesus.... I broke it

Control+F7 doesn't bring up a console, but I had no problems getting one up.

Entered that command and nothing. Says no process terminated.

Tried editing the boot commands to kill compiz on startup... nothing

Still locks up as soon as the desktop loads. As far as I can tell there are no errors when the system boots.

If I kill compiz, do I need to select, or "replace" it with another window manager? If so, which one?

Thanks again for helping out!

beyond

[JohanLingen]

Re: Oh jesus.... I broke it

CTRL+F1 brings you into a terminal session
CTRL+F7 brings you to a KDE session

Can you still enter a terminal session when KDE is frozen?
(and BTW, have you tried repairing your X-server yet? You can initiate this by selecting "Recovery mode" from the GRUB menu)

If not, try entering the killall compiz command in the terminal session, then login to KDE. Return immediately to the terminal session and repeat the compiz command until you are sure that KDE is past the critical point (because you entered the killall command before, you can now use arrow-up to speed up te process of entering the command).

If that is not working, I think we should conclude that Compiz is not the problem. If so: what applications did you install and are any of them autostarting?

[JohanLingen]

Re: Oh jesus.... I broke it

BTW, I'm positively surprised by your swift conversion: your title already shows that Jesus is the better way than hell. Then please, use the name of Jesus in your prayers in a close relationship with God, not as an outcry-to-nobody to indicate the severity of your annoyance with a bunch of electronics?

[beyond]

Re: Oh jesus.... I broke it

lol JohanLingen, amen

I actually get no response when I type CTRL+F1. I've tried it at various stages during boot. I can get to a terminal though by selecting recovery mode... but CTRL+F7 does nothing. (?)

I entered the killall command with a root terminal (root@mybox) Just says "no process terminated".

Maybe your right, it's not Compiz

I installed a lamp configuration before restarting. I didnt configure anything, just installed Apache, Mysql and PHP. I also installed virtual box and had Windows XP running inside the VM Machine.

Not even any hints of a problem. Worked fine, I just had compiz running and full desktop effects. Figured I could get a little better performance by cutting back on the desktop effects... they are cool and all, but not needed to be productive.

I will try as you suggest again. I really dont want to re-install if I can help it

Thanks again everyone!


beyond