Users Locked Out, Gdm Gone Beserk, 14 hours at work. No solution yet
 

To Anyone Who might be of assistance:

Before I begin I would like to .

(1) Declare that I understand that no, one member of the Free linux comunity, has the obligation to answer to anyones request for aid unless they so desire, or are being paid

(2) Declare that It is understood that anyone who does provide aid, does it mainly for the benefit of the
community as a whole.

(3) Declare that I not only understand, but also support, the idea, that ANYONE no matter how high up in the food chain, is OBLIGATED to do their homework before requesting free assistance from anyone else.

Having said all that I will describe my dillema, and the attempted solutions.

I was experiencing problems initiating the X server. The problems started happening right after I attempted to login to root using GNOME and halted the system when GNOME froze logging in to root. Right Now the computer starts up fine and goes right into text mode asking for my login, but when I logged in as root and 'startx' I got this message:
--------Log File: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log
Using config file: "/etc/ X11/xorg.conf"
using vt 7
(EE) Failed to load module "/usr/X!!R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a" (once-on
ly module, 136033803)
Could not init font path element unix/:-1, removing from list!

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.X.Org
for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional informati
on.

XIO: fatal IO error 104 (Connection reset by peer) on X server ":0.0"
after 0 requests (0 known processed) with 0 events remaining.
[root@localhost ~]#------

so I entered the "cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log" command, (unfortunately the first part was cut off but this is the part it
scrolled down to):

-------(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse1" (type: MOUSE)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard1" (type: KEYBOARD)
(II) Mouse1" ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
Could not init font path element unix/:-1, removing from list!

Fatal server error:
could not open default font 'fixed'

Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wikki.X.Org
for help.
Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional informati
on.

(II) I810(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 0
(II) I810(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 1
(II) I810(0): xf86UnbindGARTMemory: unbind key 2
[root@localhost ~]#------


The next thing I did was on run the "xf86config" command, which allowed me to write a configuration file sufficient to let me log into KDE -root using "startx" , However when I attempted to run gdm I received the following message:

Server Authorization directory (daemon/ServAuthDir) is set to /var/lib/gdm but this
does not exist. Please correct gdm configuration /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf and re-
start again

gdm_config_parse: Authdir /var/lib/gdm does not exist. Aborting
-------

Not only that but when I tried logging in as a user other than root I recieved the following message:

localhost login: admin
Password:
Last login: Mon Aug 29 20:57:46 on tty2
-bash: /etc/profile: permission denied
-bash-3.00$
-----------

so I changed permissions of "/etc/profile.d" (since I found no "/etc/profile") to enable everyone to read and modify etc. "( root already had permissions to do so) but that didnt help
I uninstalled and reinstalled gdm= still no changes
I looked at gdm.conf which does indeed contain a reference to /var/lib/gdm, in turn the folder /var/lib/gdm contains :1.Xauth , :1.Xservers , core.6069 , core.6664 , .fonts.cache-1 , .cookie
The file “:1.Xauth� is a JPEG 2000 Image that contains within the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
The file “:1.Xservers� contains: :1 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X :1 -audit 0 -deferglyphs 16
Im not quite sure what the core files contain and I was afraid to open them
The file .fonts.cache-1 contains:
"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/encodings/large 0 1124769710 " .dir"
"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/encodings/ 0 1124769710 " .dir"
"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ukr 0 1124770001 " .dir"
And lastly, the file .cookie contains: 1f19ae950eec7b434be5843d8dad682c

To tell you the truth I coudnt see why on earth gdm shoudnt be working, so I figured that the problem
was something internal and might be solved by restoring the computer using a backup from a week
before when the computer was running fine.

After I restored the computer using drakbackup, EVERYthing that I just stated about gdm still holds true.
The ONLY thing I see different is that, now when I sign in with a name other than root I receive this:

localhost login: admin
Password:
Last login: Mon Aug 29 22:40:02 on tty2
-bash: vt-is-UTF8: command not found
/bin/unicode_start: line4: kbd_mode: command not found
/bin/unicode_start: line4: kbd_mode: command not found
-bash: dircolors: command not found
-bash: locale: -bash: command not found
-bash: tty: command not found
-bash: tty: command not found
-bash: head: command not found
[admin@localhost ~]$

(by the way, I just checked, and found all the above commands in "/usr/bin" not only that,
but I also checked and found that the permissions for all the above files are set to allow
anyone to read or execute them.
line 4 of "/bin/unicode_start" is: "kbd_mode -u" )

Running the above commands in root, result in:
vt-is-UTF8:
(this command is weird-sometimes it does this::) "Single-byte char mode." (and other times it just presses 1 key over and over ie::) 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000(....etc etc , until I hit ctrl-c, and somewhere before it does that or in the middle of doing that it gives the error message: "is_in_UTF8_mode: Input/output error" )
kbd_mode:
The keyboard is in raw (scancode) mode
dircolors:
LS_COLORS='no=00:fi=00:di=01;34:ln=01;36:pi=40;33: so=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01.........(theres a bunch more like that, but it ends with)....*.ogg=01;35:*.mp3=01;35:*.wav=01;35:':
export LS_COLORS
locale:
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=
tty: /dev/pts/0
head:

(it just gives a big empty space that grows everytime I hit enter, and wont revert to the prompt until I hit ctrl-c)

[admin@localhost ~]$ startx
-bash: startx: command not found
[admin@localhost ~]$

AS opposed to before the restoration (when I would receive this):

localhost login: admin
Password:
Last login: Mon Aug 29 20:57:46 on tty2
-bash: /etc/profile: permission denied
-bash-3.00$

as I started up the computer I received the following notification:
Starting Postfix [Failed]
as I shut down I received the following notification:
Shuting down X font server [Failed]

AFTER seeing all this I figured that perhaps if I deleted and reinsated all the users, I might be able to login as a user other then root, but alas, woe is to me... There were no changes and I got the same results as before.

In the Meantime ---Ive discovered that although I can log in using kdm instead of gdm, Even kdm will not allow me to login using the "admin" username or any username other than root. Despite that I am still researching and experimenting (sometimes fatally, sometimes not) ---but in my heart, I am Hoping.....
that someone will come to my aid, and together we may be able to overcome an obstacle that has been set in the path of the Linux User.

Please do not ask me to reinstall my OS (unless it is inevitable)

It is specifically, "to avoid," having to face that...that..truly.. heart rending- mind twisting -teeth grinding (I need not go on) task, "that" I was more then open to the idea of installing Linux (a supposedly "WONDERFULLY stable" OS) which it really has been....

up until now.

Summary of problems:
(1) Impossible to login with any user other then root
(2) cannot get gdm to start although I can get GNOME to start using kdm.

The Latest Devolopment:
I am currently working on getting a copy of the "/var/log/messages" and "/var/log/boot.log" files, Im assuming that theyll be helpful.

PS. Ive learned that it was an extremely DUMB thing to attempt to Login to ROOT using a DM but is it really
possible that it caused this much harm?? anyways regardless of what caused this seemingly HUGE mess, I
plan to clean it up.

PPS. TO ALL THOSE WHO WISH TO TELL ME TO RTFM: Ive done, and continue to do that, and its quite
possible that I will still be doing that for the next 2 and a half years from now, if the entire linux community refuses to heed my plea. O ya, almost forgot. RTFMing is not the only thing Ive been doing.

IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO TELLS OTHERS TO RTFM, 'ONLY' IF THEY ARE 'Good For Nothing' LAZY BUMS then please forgive me If I have insulted you, Some ppl really could use a good session of RTFMing
(I just feel that having done alot I am not one of em, even though I still continue to RTFM- and I woudnt mind if someone directly pointed me to a specific...helpful Manual)

Sincerely,
Joseph

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Linux Motto
Where there's a Free-will there's a Free-way

Re: Users Locked Out, Gdm Gone Beserk, 14 hours at work. No solution yet
 

Wow. It looks like your missing quite a few files.

The important thing to do is try to remember everything that took place before this happened. Did you perform an update, or attempt to install a particular program? Update a library, perhaps? It looks like maybe that occured-- you used something like a Mandrake update, and maybe it didn't go over swimmingly.

In that same vane, don't loose sight that Linux is a stable OS. ANY OS will go sour if critical files have been deleted. Log into a SCO UNIX system, or an AIX machine, and see how well it fares if you delete /usr/lib. That's basically what has happened on this system. I can personally attest that Linux is stable-- I've got systems that I haven't rebooted in months, and they do daily work serving files, etc, and some even do remote login sessions via GDM over a network. Nary a problem if you're very methodical in what you do on the system. That holds true for any OS, as well.

Unless you've got a complete system backup, my advice is going to be for you to reinstall. you might be able to use a LiveCD like Knoppix to recover your data/settings, and that will help ease your reinstallation some. Look at it like this: now that you've gotten through all of the trials of your first install, it will be that much easier to do the reinstall this round.