KDE won't start

With SuSE Linux version 10, how can one diagnose problems when the KDE
won't start? I tried to log into my account, the KDE screen comes up and
then I am placed back at the logon screen. With no messages being
displayed, it's a little difficult to find out what is preventing it from
starting...

svetter@ameritech.net adjusted his/her tinfoil beanie to post:

> With SuSE Linux version 10, how can one diagnose problems when the
> KDE
> won't start? I tried to log into my account, the KDE screen comes up
> and
> then I am placed back at the logon screen. With no messages being
> displayed, it's a little difficult to find out what is preventing it
> from starting...

The log files are your friend here.

Ctrl+Alt+F1 will drop you to a terminal, login as user and run:

mc

this is a filemanager and you should look at .xsession-errors in
your /home dir to see if there are any messages that tell you why your
desktop is not booting.

However it can sometimes be caused by the wrong settings in your .kde
dir so the first thing to check is to rename the .kde dir to something
like .kde-bak and then Alt+F7 to get back to the GUI login screen and
try to log on again, KDE should start with a default lot of settings
now.

If you can get the GUI up then you need to look in the xsession-errors
to see what is causing it to not start and then you can edit the
configs in the old .kde dir so that you can put it back so it starts
with your old settings again

If KDE still does not start then you will need to have a look at the
other log files in /var/log/ ( xorg, messages, warn, failog, boot ) to
see if there is a more system wide problem stopping you booting to a
desktop.

HTH
--
Mark
Twixt hill and high water
N. Wales, UK
Novell Support Forums SysOp

> svetter@ameritech.net adjusted his/her tinfoil beanie to post:
>
> > With SuSE Linux version 10, how can one diagnose problems when the
> > KDE
> > won't start? I tried to log into my account, the KDE screen comes up
> > and
> > then I am placed back at the logon screen. With no messages being
> > displayed, it's a little difficult to find out what is preventing it
> > from starting...
>
> The log files are your friend here.
>
> Ctrl+Alt+F1 will drop you to a terminal, login as user and run:
>
> mc
>
> this is a filemanager and you should look at .xsession-errors in
> your /home dir to see if there are any messages that tell you why your
> desktop is not booting.
>
> However it can sometimes be caused by the wrong settings in your .kde
> dir so the first thing to check is to rename the .kde dir to something
> like .kde-bak and then Alt+F7 to get back to the GUI login screen and
> try to log on again, KDE should start with a default lot of settings
> now.
>
> If you can get the GUI up then you need to look in the xsession-errors
> to see what is causing it to not start and then you can edit the
> configs in the old .kde dir so that you can put it back so it starts
> with your old settings again
>
> If KDE still does not start then you will need to have a look at the
> other log files in /var/log/ ( xorg, messages, warn, failog, boot ) to
> see if there is a more system wide problem stopping you booting to a
> desktop.
>
> HTH
> --
> Mark
> Twixt hill and high water
> N. Wales, UK
> Novell Support Forums SysOp
>

Well, I looked at the .xsession-errors and the .xsession-errors-1: files
and they are empty. I renamed .kde to .kde-bak, tried logging on and got
the same problem. (I renamed it back to .kde) Then I looked at kdm.log
and got the following:
(==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.1.log", Time: Sat Jan 21 11:23:28 2006
(==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
(WW) MGA(0): Failed to set up write-combining range (0xe4000000,0x2000000)
(EE) MGA(0): [drm] DRIScreenInit failed. Disabling DRI.
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local, removing
from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID, removing
from list!

In the messages file:
Jan 21 11:23:29 linux kernel: mtrr: 0xe4000000,0x2000000 overlaps existing
0xe4000000,0x1000000
Jan 21 11:23:46 linux resmgr[5133]: set_facl() - ACL error on /dev/hdb4,
acl_set_file: No such file or directory
Jan 21 11:23:47 linux resmgr[5133]: set_facl() - ACL error on /dev/hdb4,
acl_set_file: No such file or directory


In the warn file:
Jan 21 11:22:01 linux nmbd[5330]:
Jan 21 11:22:01 linux nmbd[5330]: *****
Jan 21 11:22:31 linux kernel: mtrr: 0xe4000000,0x2000000 overlaps existing
0xe4000000,0x1000000
Jan 21 11:23:29 linux kernel: mtrr: 0xe4000000,0x2000000 overlaps existing
0xe4000000,0x1000000


These seems to point to some error but have no idea what it is telling me
or geve me an ide on how to correct the problem.

Thank you for your help.

> With SuSE Linux version 10, how can one diagnose problems when the KDE
> won't start? I tried to log into my account, the KDE screen comes up
and
> then I am placed back at the logon screen. With no messages being
> displayed, it's a little difficult to find out what is preventing it
from
> starting...

Same thing happens to me. The problem started after updating SuSE 10.

> > With SuSE Linux version 10, how can one diagnose problems when the KDE
> > won't start? I tried to log into my account, the KDE screen comes up
> and
> > then I am placed back at the logon screen. With no messages being
> > displayed, it's a little difficult to find out what is preventing it
> from
> > starting...
>
> Same thing happens to me. The problem started after updating SuSE 10.

OK, how does one go about removing the most recent updates? Never had
this problem before.

Alright, problem solved. All that has to be done is update your computer
(again) using YaST's Sofware Management tool.

In order to use it, load a console (Ctrl+Alt+F2 in the KDE login screen),
then login as the root. type "yast2", and then choose Software Management.
You can navigate using the arrow keys and the tab key.

Then reboot and viola! Problem should be solved. If it doesn't (it didn't
for me ), post a reply and I'll try to help.

> Alright, problem solved. All that has to be done is update your computer
> (again) using YaST's Sofware Management tool.
>
> In order to use it, load a console (Ctrl+Alt+F2 in the KDE login screen),
> then login as the root. type "yast2", and then choose Software Management.
> You can navigate using the arrow keys and the tab key.
>
> Then reboot and viola! Problem should be solved. If it doesn't (it didn't
> for me ), post a reply and I'll try to help.

Problem not solved here...

I tried booting with the nomtrr and that didn't work. I can log int root
and to new user accounts I created. Still get the message in the
/var/log/message file:
Jan 22 21:38:22 linux kernel: mtrr: 0xe4000000,0x2000000 overlaps existing
0xe4000000,0x1000000
Jan 22 21:38:40 linux resmgr[4938]: set_facl() - ACL error on /dev/hdb4,
acl_set_file: No such file or directory
Jan 22 21:38:40 linux resmgr[4938]: set_facl() - ACL error on /dev/hdb4,
acl_set_file: No such file or directory

I am playing with copying some files and directories from a user account
that does work to the one that doesn't. So far no luck.

> Alright, problem solved. All that has to be done is update your computer
> (again) using YaST's Sofware Management tool.
>
> In order to use it, load a console (Ctrl+Alt+F2 in the KDE login screen),
> then login as the root. type "yast2", and then choose Software Management.
> You can navigate using the arrow keys and the tab key.
>
> Then reboot and viola! Problem should be solved. If it doesn't (it didn't
> for me ), post a reply and I'll try to help.

Just to let you know, I renamed the .kde directory to .kde_old and then
tried to logon again. The same problem happens. Something is going on
early in the start of KDE.

svetter@ameritech.net adjusted his/her tinfoil beanie to post:

>> Alright, problem solved. All that has to be done is update your
>> computer (again) using YaST's Sofware Management tool.
>>
>> In order to use it, load a console (Ctrl+Alt+F2 in the KDE login
>> screen), then login as the root. type "yast2", and then choose
>> Software Management. You can navigate using the arrow keys and the
>> tab key.
>>
>> Then reboot and viola! Problem should be solved. If it doesn't (it
>> didn't for me ), post a reply and I'll try to help.
>
> Just to let you know, I renamed the .kde directory to .kde_old and
> then
> tried to logon again. The same problem happens. Something is going
> on early in the start of KDE.

Scott,

This looks more and more like a permission problem ( I think ) do you
happen to know which apps were upgraded?

I am thinking along the lines of permissions on either the partition or
on the "User", what is the UID of the user with the problem? ( look in
Yast>Security and Users>User Management and see if it is below 1000.

IIRC I have seen this type of error when using and old /home/<username>
dir that was from an earlier install, the default UID used to be 500
and upwards, after 9.1 ( cannot verify if it was that exact version of
SuSE, could have been 9.2 ) it was raised to 1000 so if you tried to
use an old /home/<username> it would not be able to write to the dir
and could cause the symptoms you are seeing.

2 ways round it are to lower the default UID back to cover the old user
or change the UID of the user and all the files in the problem home
dir.


HTH
--
Mark
Twixt hill and high water
N. Wales, UK
Novell Support Forums SysOp

> Alright, problem solved. All that has to be done is update your computer
> (again) using YaST's Sofware Management tool.
>
> In order to use it, load a console (Ctrl+Alt+F2 in the KDE login screen),
> then login as the root. type "yast2", and then choose Software Management.
> You can navigate using the arrow keys and the tab key.
>
> Then reboot and viola! Problem should be solved. If it doesn't (it didn't
> for me ), post a reply and I'll try to help.

Same (or similar) problem here. I run openSuSE 10.0, more or less fine so
far, but after the latest YOU update, KDE does not start up anymore. Hangs
with the background of the login screen after I login. The rest of the
system seems to be up and running though (e.g. Korn reports new mail).

It must have been the update of kdelibs. After re-doing the upgrade still
same situation. kdm.log and X.log are fine but I find tons of errors in
/var/log/messages about CPUfreq configuration files not found, modules not
found, and system not being able to use frequency scaling. One error
message tells me that AMD PowerNow can't be applied. Well, correct, I am
running a Pentium4 but why the hell is it now suddenly trying to use a
PowerNow driver ...?

Woudl be great if anyone could shed some light on it. Can post the logfile
if needed.

Cheers,
Timo.