Re: Failsafe mode

From: mbjj (mbjj1_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 09/19/05 

Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:29:35 GMT

Kevin Nathan wrote:

> On Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:33:16 GMT
> mbjj <mbjj1@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>> Here is what I have.
>
> Will need more detail, but I'll do what I can with what you have and
> try to indicate what else you need to include.
>
>> I boot up into the bootup screen if I let it continue to autologon as
>> my primary user [lets call it ABCD] it takes me to a blank screen
>> with a terminal command line in the upper right hand corner.
>
> This could be several one of several things.
>
> 1. Does it look like a small terminal window in the upper right hand
> corner with the rest of the screen being a different color? (That seems
> strange, I've usually seen them in the upper left hand corner.) If so,
> goto #2, if not, goto #4.
>
> 2. try Ctrl-Alt-Backspace at this point and see if you get a black
> screen with a white prompt. Again, assuming this is what you get, goto
> #3, if not, goto #5.
>
> 3. do:
>
> su
> (enter root password)
> init 3
> grep DISPLAYMANAGER= /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager
> grep DEFAULT_WM /etc/sysconfig/windowmanager
>
> and post what is returned.
>
> #4. Ok, so it must look like a full screen black background with a
> white prompt. If this is the case, goto #3. If not, goto #5.
>
> #5. Unsure of just where you are in this case. Let's move on to the
> next part of your description:
>
>> It puts me to my home directory commandline prompt. Startx does not
>> work. It gives me an invalid message.
>
> This tells me you might already be in runlevel 5 and have gotten an
> error trying to load a windowmanager. Do:
>
> runlevel
>
> and post the output here. Then perform step #3 above.
>
>
>> If I exit out and log back in as my alternate user [lets callt it
>> ABCDEFG] it'll start X and all is well.
>
> Ok, X server works as does your display manager and window manager.
> This is good to know -- hope springs eternal and all that . . . :-)
>
>
>> If I exit out and try to log back in as ABCD I get an invalid login
>> message.
>
> Without knowing the actual msg, cannot help much here.
>
>
>> What am I looking for in YaST that will let me [as ABCD] change the
>> session setting and go back to my normal logon
>
> Edit /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager and make the lines containing
> 'DISPLAYMANAGER=' and 'DEFAULT_WM=' read as follows:
>
> DISPLAYMANAGER="gdm"
> DEFAULT_WM="gnome"
>
>
>> or let me choose who I want to log in as.
>
> Edit /etc/sysconfig/displaymanager and make the line containing
> 'DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN=' reads as follows:
>
> DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN=""
> or
> DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN="no"
>
> I would strongly suggest doing this in any case. Logging in is
> important in the overall security scheme and having to do it helps to
> keep security uppermost in your mind. This autologin garbage is only
> meant to make Linux appear more Windows-like, or to appeal to those who
> detest having to login (like my older brother:). For those that think
> logging in is too big of an inconvenience, Linux is the wrong choice.
>
>
>> The only error messages I am getting are "invalid logon" notes as
>> ABCD.
>
> If that is the actual error msg, then I am unsure what is happening
> here. I've never seen that . . .
>
>
>> I use Gnome and this one is kicking my a** and I'd like to do
>> it to because as soon as I selected "failsafe mode" and hit the enter
>> key it dawned on me that I made a big mistake. But thats how we learn.
>
> Yes, that's true! :-) I'm not a big fan of GNOME, so I'm not sure if
> the edit commands above are correct for the GNOME wm. If that doesn't
> work then, just for testing purposes, change it to:
>
> DISPLAYMANAGER="kdm"
> DEFAULT_WM="kde"
>
> When finished with all the edits, do:
>
> exit
> startx
>
> and let us know the results.
>
>
the grep displaymanager is: KDM
the grep windowmanager is: KDE
the runlevels are: 5 3

By the way, I do appreciate your help with this.

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