No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

[c_martini]

I just installed the Karmic rc on my laptop this past weekend and it was more or less running ok. The only thing I did this morning was to launch the ATI Catalyst Control Panel and setup my second attached monitor. On restart, the boot sequence stops at a login prompt with some suspect messages displayed (photo attached). I can no longer get into KDE at all. I have tried logging in and then using the ctrl, alt, f7 shortcut. This does nothing. I disconnected the external monitor and this also makes no difference.

I need help getting back into the desktop and figuring out what went wrong. Any help appreciated.


UPDATE:

The first photo is the first message I was getting on boot.

The second photo is after I have tried the following commands:

sudo kdm

does nothing

sudo /etc/init.d/kdmstart

does nothing

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

seems to do something but no message returned. I restart after this and still get the same error (second photo).

[vinnywright]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

not realey shure about the ATI catalest stuff (dont have eney ATI hardware) but it sounds like it borked your xorg.config somehow..........so try booting into recovery moad .....when you first start the box if Kubuntu is the onley system you mite not see the grub boot screen if it's onley showin for 1-2 seconds so just start taping the 'esc' key as the box fires up and dont stop untill you get the grub screen or it starts to boot in witch case you must try agin.

when you get the grub screen you should see kernel choises use the up down arow key's to hilite the line that ends in "recoverey" and hit enter

when it boots you will see a chois for fix X or recover X or somthing similar (ben a long time sence I'v ben thare) pick it and folow the prompts.

PS: thars no piture atached to your post!!

VINNY

[c_martini]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

not realey shure about the ATI catalest stuff (dont have eney ATI hardware) but it sounds like it borked your xorg.config somehow..........so try booting into recovery moad .....when you first start the box if Kubuntu is the onley system you mite not see the grub boot screen if it's onley showin for 1-2 seconds so just start taping the 'esc' key as the box fires up and dont stop untill you get the grub screen or it starts to boot in witch case you must try agin.

when you get the grub screen you should see kernel choises use the up down arow key's to hilite the line that ends in "recoverey" and hit enter

when it boots you will see a chois for fix X or recover X or somthing similar (ben a long time sence I'v ben thare) pick it and folow the prompts.

I don't recall seeing this in the recovery options but I will try this again and update...

[vinnywright]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

if I remember rite it's the last choise and off the screen in the box you will see you must scrole down to see the rest .......

VINNY

PS:the second piture you posted shows that yes xorg.config is borked

if you cant get it with the recovery moad log in at the screen in your first pitchur and do this.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

then reboot

[c_martini]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

This appears to be a corrupt xorg.conf file. I have deleted this outside of the system (was able to boot the system as a virtual machine within virtualbox inside windows) and was able to get back into KDE. However, now kwin crashes continuously and closes.



I don't know how to fix this. I think I may have to reformat and start over again. This sucks. I have been at this 4 days now and am faced with starting all over again >

[doctordruidphd]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

Before looking at what I wrote below, there is one simple thing you might try, and that is turning off compositing in kde. You will have to edit the kwinrc file using a text editor of some sort, vim, nano, joe, or whatever. To do this, login at the text prompt, then:
cd ~/.kde/share/config
vim kwinrc
(or whatever editor you use)
Look for the heading that says [Compositing], find the line that says "Enabled=true", and change that to "Enabled=false" (without the quotes).

Save it , then
sudo service kdm stop
sudo service kdm start

If no luck, proceed with what's below.

sudo kdm

does nothing
Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/kdmstart

does nothing

The correct command for this in Karmic is:

sudo service kdm start

or stop, if that's what you want to do.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Thsi command should re-write your xorg.conf file. You might want to move your rpesent file somewhere else, i.e.,

cd /etc/X11
sudo mv xorg.conf xorg.conf.doesntwork

See if there is an xorg.conf.failsafe, or something similar to it in that directory. If there is,

cp xorg.conf.failsafe xorg.conf

and reboot. This will put you into VESA mode, no accelerated graphics, but you may get a desktop.

Edit:
Another tip you might want to try is installing another desktop, so that when kde bombs, you can still get to familiar software. There are several, icewm is small and works:
sudo apt-get install icewm icewm-common icewm-themes
You can do that from the command line, and from the login screen, choose Session, and select it.

[c_martini]

Re: No longer launches desktop, only login prompt...

Before looking at what I wrote below, there is one simple thing you might try, and that is turning off compositing in kde. You will have to edit the kwinrc file using a text editor of some sort, vim, nano, joe, or whatever. To do this, login at the text prompt, then:
cd ~/.kde/share/config
vim kwinrc
(or whatever editor you use)
Look for the heading that says [Compositing], find the line that says "Enabled=true", and change that to "Enabled=false" (without the quotes).

Save it , then
sudo service kdm stop
sudo service kdm start

If no luck, proceed with what's below.

Compositing was already disabled.

The correct command for this in Karmic is:

sudo service kdm start

or stop, if that's what you want to do.

Good to know.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Thsi command should re-write your xorg.conf file. You might want to move your rpesent file somewhere else, i.e.,

cd /etc/X11
sudo mv xorg.conf xorg.conf.doesntwork

See if there is an xorg.conf.failsafe, or something similar to it in that directory. If there is,

cp xorg.conf.failsafe xorg.conf

and reboot. This will put you into VESA mode, no accelerated graphics, but you may get a desktop.

Have tried this per your suggestion but none of this has made a difference. I can get into KDE fine, but kwin will constantly crash.

Edit:
Another tip you might want to try is installing another desktop, so that when kde bombs, you can still get to familiar software. There are several, icewm is small and works:
sudo apt-get install icewm icewm-common icewm-themes
You can do that from the command line, and from the login screen, choose Session, and select it.

I have been using the system rescue cd to boot with and make any file amendments. It works well although I have to manually mount the disk partition in order to make adjustments to any files. Probably easier to do as you say and just install an alternate desktop.

I think the only thing left to do really is reformat the partition and start over. I will wait until the official release of Karmic tomorrow. Lets hope the same issue does not come up again...

Anyways, thanks for your help!