Gnome stops loading!

jamo · #1 26th July 2006, 10:33 AM

Im running Fedora 5 on a laptop, although I'm pretty sure thats unrelated to this problem. Gnome stops loading, as in i get as far as a background screen and a mouse with the swirling thing, then it freezes there. I'f I press keys on the keyboard the harddrive seems to flicker, but nothing on the screen, and the mouse stops responding. It has been working before; I did remove print server software before I rebooted. Even if I stop any modules from loading (via the interactive startup) it makes no difference.

How do you try and troubleshoot a problem like this? I really dont want reinstall (again

)

Any help would be appreciated!

tomcat · #2 26th July 2006, 10:42 AM

Create a new user and check if you can log in with the new account. If this is the case, remove the hidden gnome / gtk config files in your broken accounts directory as root.

jamo · #3 26th July 2006, 10:55 AM

Forgive me for my stupidity, but how do I create a new user? How do I get to a prompt?

landoncz · #4 26th July 2006, 02:49 PM

To get to a prompt hold down <ctrl> <alt> and an F-key other than F7, so like <ctrl><alt><F2> all at once will switch you to a virtual terminal on F2. You can always swith around back and forth to all your virtual terminals, remember that your GUI is usually on F7....

Once you have switched to a text terminal, login as root and type:

Code:

man useradd

That will show you all the options for adding a user. Once the user is added, switch back to your GUI login screen and attempt to login to Gnome with that user...

jamo · #5 27th July 2006, 12:07 PM

Thanks for the tips. It freezes just before i get to a login prompt, so even if i have added a user, I cant switch back and log in. Do you have any more suggestions?

jamo · #6 30th July 2006, 06:21 AM

Okay, I can switch screens just before, and get to a prompt. If I try and run "X" it comes up with a black screen with a mouse cursor. If I run "startx" it boots to xwindows no problem. This guy has the same sort of error:

http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=99030

I have tried changin the driver to "vesa" in xorg.conf, deleting it and running setup, but the same problems still occurs. Is there any way I can remove gnome and re install it, or perhaps somewhere I can find this information out? I cant find any useful information in the logs. Please ANY help would be much appreciated!!!!!!!

Seve · #7 30th July 2006, 06:34 AM

Hello:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamo

Is there any way I can remove gnome and re install it, or perhaps somewhere I can find this information out?

You can use the yum groupremove
log in as root [su - password]
# yum groupremove "GNOME Desktop Environment"
and to install it again
# then yum groupinstall "GNOME Desktop Environment"
hth
Seve

jamo · #8 1st August 2006, 03:01 AM

Right, ive done that (over dialup, which is why its been so long!), and now I have gnome when i run a "startx" Yay! A couple more problems. GDM is still broken, so i re-yummed it, and now instead of crashing, it just sits there. So if I bypass it i can get into gome. Id love to get it back though!! When I try run gdmsetup i get this (ive seen others report this, but nobody seems to know why or how to fix it):

Failed to Connect to Socket, Sleep 1 second and retry.....

Then after 5 tries..

Could not access GDM configuration file.

Does anybody know what socket its trying to use, and why it cant find the config file?

In gnome, it seems ive lost all my icons, but the files exist in the desktop directory. Plus I cannot add icons or select the desktop, and my background keeps reverting back to the default. Also, my "shutdown" button has gone. Anybody know how to get that back?

Thanks!