Cannot login, not error, nothing, just a beep!

[HeinzVoerbakje]

Hi all,

This is the second time this happened to me, the first time I just reinstalled, but now I don't want to do that anymore if it can just happen again.

When I try to login with gdm I doesn't. I do not get an error, it does not say my login is incorrect, I just get a beep. When I run recovery mode I can enter X as root (startx), but when I login as a regular user it says: 'X: user not authorised to run the X server, aborting', I'm not sure this is related though.

It started after loging out of mint, booting into Windows, and then I could not login into Mint anymore. I cannot recall installing anything strange.

Who can help me, I really like Mint and I don't want to revert to windows....

Thanks, HeinzVoerbakje

[Husse]

Did you log out of Mint and rebooted to Win?
Not that I think you can, but...
I believe this has to do with the authority files in home
.Xauthority
and
.ICEauthority
At least .ICEauthority can be deleted and is rebuilt on the first log in
This is done in "Recovery mode" and the path is /home/your_username/.ICEauthority
Note - in "Recovery mode" you are root - always leave with a reboot or by exit unless absolutely necessary to do otherwise

[HeinzVoerbakje]

Hi all,

Unfortunately, no cigar, I deleted both files, but I can still not login. really weird....

Who can help me out?

[Husse]

Does this still happen?

when I login as a regular user it says: 'X: user not authorised to run the X server, aborting'

This is the xauthority that's not "happy" for one reason or other
Is it still possible to start X as root?
Just check and immediately log out if you succeed
There is one other file that may be involved, /etc/group
Check in this file that
admin:x:118:
is followed by your username and that your username preseeds
:x:1000:
Both are at the end of the file
My /etc/group looks like this

Code: Select all

root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:username
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:cupsys
mail:x:8:
news:x:9:
uucp:x:10:
man:x:12:
proxy:x:13:
kmem:x:15:
dialout:x:20:cupsys,username
fax:x:21:
voice:x:22:
cdrom:x:24:haldaemon,username
floppy:x:25:haldaemon,username
tape:x:26:
sudo:x:27:
audio:x:29:username
dip:x:30:username
www-data:x:33:
backup:x:34:
operator:x:37:
list:x:38:
irc:x:39:
src:x:40:
gnats:x:41:
shadow:x:42:
utmp:x:43:
video:x:44:username
sasl:x:45:
plugdev:x:46:haldaemon,username
staff:x:50:
games:x:60:
users:x:100:
nogroup:x:65534:
dhcp:x:101:
syslog:x:102:
klog:x:103:
ssl-cert:x:104:cupsys
crontab:x:105:
ssh:x:106:
messagebus:x:107:
avahi:x:108:
lpadmin:x:109:username
haldaemon:x:110:
scanner:x:111:cupsys,hplip,username
slocate:x:112:
gdm:x:113:
fuse:x:114:
nvram:x:115:
netdev:x:116:username
powerdev:x:117:haldaemon,username
admin:x:118:username
avahi-autoipd:x:119:
username:x:1000:
vboxusers:x:120:username
ntp:x:121:

I have changed my username to username

[HeinzVoerbakje]

[EDIT] Husse, etc/group is all fine [/EDIT]

Ok, I reckon it's a problem with GDM, since when I do the following all is fine:

1. Boot the computer
2. At the GDM login page, ctrl-alt-F6
3. Login using the console
4. sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
5. startx

So what could be wrong? May it be the GDM configuration? What file should I search for in that case?

Thank you, HeinzVoerbakje

[Husse]

[EDIT] Husse, etc/group is all fine [/EDIT]

Ok, I reckon it's a problem with GDM, since when I do the following all is fine:

1. Boot the computer
2. At the GDM login page, ctrl-alt-F6
3. Login using the console
4. sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
5. startx

So what could be wrong? May it be the GDM configuration? What file should I search for in that case?

Thank you, HeinzVoerbakje

Well this sounds like there is already a X server running when you try to log in....
I have a feeling the solution is found in the forum somewhere....

[Husse]

Another thing - the user has to own his/her home
Run gdmsetup (as root), go to the security tab and it shows these settings at the bottom.
Also check your /home/your-username folder for its rights

[HeinzVoerbakje]

Hi,

ok, I screwed up, I reinstalled gdm using synaptic, now I only get a cursor after login. I reckon I'd better reinstall Mint again

HvB

[Husse]

Yes - reinstall - if you get so many odd problems it's best
Also see to it that you have home or your data on separate partition(s)
I like the suggestions made by Fred - search for his user name and partitions and you'll find them I presume