Please help I can't login to KDE desk top

[absolute beginner]

That would be right


Now lets make sure your system is intact and everything that should be installed is. Run the following commands in a terminal:

sudo apt-get update                    # Grab the latest package lists
sudo apt-get install -f                # Fix any broken packages
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop   # Make sure everything that should be installed is
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade              # Bring your system fully up to date

Ok have done this successfully. Seems the system was pretty up to do date.

It's made no difference to the login problem with the orignial 'maxandnell' user login. When I try to login with this username into the kubuntu desktop it just returns me to the login screen.

I don't know if this helps shed any light I have noticed that If I login as maxandnell through the console interface I can login OK to carry out the sequences of commands kike those above OK. But if I type 'startx' from the console interface the kubuntu desktop loads and it begins to open the Skype appliction and then there is a message asking me if I want to use Cairo-Dock (no openGL) or CLLX -Dock (cairo-Dock with OpenGL), but before I can do anything the screen just goes black.

Could it be that my son inadvertently changed his video settings under his profile to something his video card can't support or am I barking up the wrong tree?

[dibl]

You could try ripping out cairo-dock. I would log in to the tty console, and stop KDM running with

sudo service kdm stop

then

sudo apt-get remove --purge cairo-dock

then try starting kdm

sudo service kdm start

and try logging in. Also (if that doesn't get it), you could reboot the machine, choose Recovery login from the grub menu, and then choose "Fix X" on the recovery menu.

[absolute beginner]

You could try ripping out cairo-dock. I would log in to the tty console, and stop KDM running with

sudo service kdm stop

then

sudo apt-get remove --purge cairo-dock

then try starting kdm

sudo service kdm start

and try logging in. Also (if that doesn't get it), you could reboot the machine, choose Recovery login from the grub menu, and then choose "Fix X" on the recovery menu.

When I typed 'sudo apt-get remove --purge cairo-dock' it said it wasn't removed as it couldn't find it. So I used KpackageKit and searched in accessories on 'cairo' I then clicked on all the pale crosses which turned then turned red. I then hit the apply button. It seems that this removed cairo-dock plus a quite a few of his other applications.

Some partially good news is that now when I now login as maxandnell from the console and then type startx I can start and operate the Kubuntu login as maxandnell which I could not do before removing cairo-dock. I notice as soon as I login that it starts the skype application (haven't found a way to stop this yet)

However if I boot the machine normally and try to login as maxandnell on the kubuntu desktop login screen it still just returns me to the login screen after a couple of seconds.

I don't seem to have the option Fix X on the recovery menu.

[james147]

What happens if you start moving the users config files to a backup location, I would start with the ones you think might be causing the problem.

ie you can run

mv .kde kde-backup

to reset all kde applications to their defaults then try to log in again, if the issue clears up then its a problem inside .kde if not then its outside .kde (one of the other hidden files)
you can restore the settings by removing the newly created configs and moving the old ones back (best done when not logged in to the gui)

rm .kde && cp -r kde-backup .kde