The Singularity has Arrived

[Elias]

Sorry for starting yet another (second thread), but this one completely staggers me. For no apparent reason and out of the blue, Kubuntu 12.04 sees fit to begin asking me for a password to log in. I KNOW what username and password I used, but when I enter it, it's not good enough. I use the proper case too. It is a little password box that comes up that gives me options like "failsafe" and has the default wallpaper set in the background.

In other words, I am completely locked out of my own OS. I changed no options save the desktop... switching between folder and desktop views. I made no change to merit this. It's almost as if the computer woke up and was like, "nah, you aren't logging in"

Edit: I have tried every option provided to me by the password box, but nothing lets me log in. It does not tell me it's a wrong password unless I enter it incorrectly, at which point the field for user and password (denoted by icons of a man and a lock) turns red. When I enter it correctly, it asts like it wants to log on, but brings me right back to the password box.

I am completely vexed and somewhat annoyed. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I did try to search for this issue, I assure you. It's far easier to search instead of writing this out and waiting for a response. If you find something, my apologies, but I tried. ;-)

[Snowhog]

This sounds very much like the KDM Login Loop issue, and if it is, it is likely that you have a space problem. Boot into failsafe mode, and from the prompt type:

df -hTtext4

(if your filesystem isn't ext4, omit the ext4 from the command)
This is from my system:

Filesystem     Type  Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda5      ext4   15G  5.0G  9.3G  36% /
/dev/sda6      ext4  100G   23G   73G  24% /home

What you are interested in, is the amount of Use% reported for your root partition. If it is reported as 95% or higher, you don't have enough space to do a graphical login. That is fixable.

[Elias]

Okay, it wouldn't let me boot into failsafe from the GUI password box. I know the password is correct, because I was able to boot into a command prompt. I entered df -hTtext4 and my Use% read 10%. I'm trying to work with Occam's razor here, so I don't have my caps lock on or anything... or do I?

Either way, I know my password is correct because it works in the prompts, but not in the graphical box. I'll keep playing with it using the info you gave me as a lead.

[Elias]

Just played around with it some more. Just so I'm clear:

At the GUI password box I was given these options to login; Default, KDE Plasma Workspace, KDE Plasma Workspace (failsafe session), Failsafe

I tried each one of those, properly entering my password, and it loops me right back to the password box.

How do I even begin to login to failsafe, much less change my Use% to something under 95%?

If this is something obvious, I, again, offer my apologies.

[claydoh]

try logging in to the recovery mode from your Grub boot menu, and select the command prompt from there. then try the command listed, this will not need a password, and is a full admin (root) mode

[Elias]

Alright clay, here's what happened.

I logged into recovery mode via grub. I saw not option that simply read command prompt, however I did select "Root Drop to root shell prompt." When I did I was given a command line and in it I entered df -hTtext4 and my readout was the same as above; my Use% is at 10%.

Using the information given to me by Snowhog, I have searched "KDM Login Loop issue" but have come up empty handed.

[vinnywright]

at the login box do ctrl>alt>F6 you will be switched to a TTY console login .......log in...... that is type your login name hit enter then type your password (you will not see any dots or anything) and hit enter
when you get the prompt $ type

rm -rf .Xauthority

then........

sudo reboot

if your still locked out get back in to that TTY session and do

mv .kde .kde-old

and reboot again......and report back

O and wile your in the TTY if none of this works do a

ls -la | less

(less displays one screen full of output at a time ...use the down arrow key for more......Q will exit it and give you the prompt back)and see if any of your files/directory's are labeld with root root insted of you you and by you I meen your user name


VINNY

[claydoh]

there are other things to try as well, to see what the actual problem is.
(renaming .kde is imo more a last ditch effort thing)

From the crtl-alt-f1 (or 2 or 6), log in as decribed . then kill kdm:

sudo service kdm stop

then try starting the xsession manually:

startx

look for errors if it fails - it should, something is definitely broken
If you do get to your desktop, that is ok, it means something in kdm is busted
you can log out, it will take you back to the blank terminal
there try this

startkde

DO NOT USE SUDO WITH STARTX OR STARTKDE!!
If there is any error message note that.
If nothing else, the error messages will give us something to search on.

If it is a file permissions/ownership problem, often kdm will fail and tell you there is such problem in a little window.

[Elias]

@Vinny with your method I have a file/directory named (without the quotes) "drwxr-xr-x 3 root root"
Also, permission was denied when moving .kde to .kde-old. Permission was also denied when I tried the code rm -rf .Xauthority

@Clay I made it to the startx command... after hiting enter it sits there for a minute, times out, then the entire screen goes blank.

Now, if I may, I'd like a few words. Will simply nuking Kubuntu and replacing it with a fresh copy forever fix this issue? In other words, is it something with the OS or my hardware? The odd thing is it was all working fine. I log out then back in then I'm greeted with this password box of doom, that's what makes me believe it's not my hardware. If it was it would not have worked the first, second or fifth time I booted into Kubuntu.

If it's a prob with the OS is it likely something related to the actual coding of Kubuntu or a corrupt install?

I installed Kubuntu 12.04 from a USB drive. I burned Kubuntu to that drive using the Pendrivelinux Universal USB Installer.

[claydoh]

This confirms a permissions error, and that is easy to fix by logging in with the root shell prompt from the grub menu and fixing the permissions.

From that , type in:

chown -Rv username:username /home/username

you will see the changes scroll by if it has to change the ownership of the files - if you have a lot of files in your home dir, it might take a short bit of time.

simply nuking .kde won't fix the file permissions on any other files that may have been changed.


Yes, you could nuke and start over, but if you have a separate home dir on its own partition, if you don't wipe that out, the permissions problem will remain. While it is theoretically possible that a bad sector on a drive, or simply a corrupted file may be present, it is often from running a gui config tool using sudo from the command line instead of kdesudo.

Finding out what the problem is can help prevent it from reoccurring later, but I know it can be frustrating getting there

I doubt it is hardware or OS related, or related to how you installed.

[Elias]

I want to take a minute or five to thank the people in this thread for helping me. Honestly, I do appreciate that more than it seems.

Still, I struggled with this for hours and hours... finally I gave in and nuked the OS. The fresh install went fine, but after an update (I skipped the kernel update), BAM, stuck at Plymouth. Something told me not to update, but I second guessed myself and paid the price.

I had Kubuntu 11.10 and never had these problems, I have run Windows 7 for years and never encountered a problem I couldn't fix within a reasonable amount of time. This 12.04 is, for me, a complete and utter travesty of an OS, and I have thrown in the towel. I cannot devote hours and hours to getting an OS to work for I just want an OS that works, not a hobby. I thought this Linux stuff was supposed to be sooo stable. Pffft, off to Windows, actually I'm on it right now as smoke pours from Kubuntu's engine bay.

What a complete waste of 12+ hours of my life. From Kubuntu's Homepage: Kubuntu 12.04 LTS is a grand example of friendly, fast and beautiful software. We recommend it as the perfect OS for casual users, students, Linux gamers, software developers, professionals, and anyone interested in a free, open platform that is both beautiful and useful.

Just like the carryout down the street is surely "The home of World's greatest hamburger." Guess what, they aren't, and anyone who says so doesn't have a tongue or have ever tasted a burger.

A "grand example," "friendly" and the kicker, "casual users." Yeah, really casual friendly. I guess after I go ahead and drop this History major for one in computer whatever from MIT, I'll get this working.

What a frustrating experience....

Edit: The [not so] funny thing about this is that before I was getting stuck on some password screen, now I am stuck on the Plymouth or splash screen. God, I want to love Linux so bad. Grrrrr!!

Another edit: I guess it's my computer, out of desperation I was installing Ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop (the subject of this thread) as I wrote this. I went ahead and updated it, and what do you know... stuck at the splash screen. The odd thing is, as I said earlier, I have run earlier versions of Kubuntu (and Ubuntu) without many problems. >

[claydoh]

If I may ask, why did you skip the kernel update? Usually old kernels are not removed and you can boot to a previous one from the grub menu.

I am sorry you had such a bad experience. I can assure you that it is not the norm, though that is obviously of little help to you.

Not knowing your hardware (as it was never specified) I could not say what could be the culprit here, but seeing as Kubuntu and Ubuntu share the same stuff under the hood it not not too surprising that both showed the same results more or less. It does rule out some basic troubleshooting items such as verifying the iso images's md5sum. But we will probably never know, now, what the cause was.

[Elias]

Clay, I skipped the kernel update because thinking back it was after an update that got me here in the first place. In that particular instance, I chose to update the kernel by checking the box next to kernel update (or something like that) in the package manager. Now when I went to update on my second install, I just went ahead and left those unchecked thinking they were like that for good reason.

Here are my specs according to Windows 7's run command msinfo32:

Current Date

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name ELIAS-PC
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Inspiron N7010
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 460 @ 2.53GHz, 2527 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A11, 3/31/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.6
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
User Name Elias-PC\Elias
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 7.80 GB
Available Physical Memory 6.17 GB
Total Virtual Memory 15.6 GB
Available Virtual Memory 13.8 GB
Page File Space 7.80 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys



btw - ty ty, and sorry about the outburst. Linux is feeling like, I dunno... an abusive OS right now. Oh how I wish I could get Linux stable enough to forever wash Windows from my HD, but I feel as if I have to have it as a safety net. It's like a spare tire, this Windows - please get me off this donut, man.. I can't do over 60.

[Elias]

Guess that's it then. With the LTS do they roll out large updates, something like service packs that I can look forward to that might address this problem?

[Elias]

To anyone who happened upon this thread the problem has been solved on the Ubuntu forums.*

Quote:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair might help you out... read thoroughly..
Go with the 2nd option mentioned in the link.

Goodluck


Please refer to post #7