Who can help?
I was using Libreoffice Impress and the program was struggling when I attempted to insert a video into a slide. Then the screen went black and unresponsive.
I powered off using the keyboard. I can power on and get to the login page, but after I enter the username and password, nothing happens. I’ve tried all 4 defaults in the advanced options, same problem.
The desktop is KDE
How can I take to fix this?
Then the screen went black and unresponsive.
might be a hardware issue
can you boot a live distro ( dvd or thumb drive) and read the logs for the errors ?
Maybe, but that will have to wait a day. I’ll need to go to a friend’s computer and make the thumb drive.
I’ll report back later unless there is something else I can do now.
Can you give me detailed instructions about how to access and read the logs?
I have booted from a thumb drive before, but I’m not sure about looking up the logs.
In a typical Leap 15.0 system, the logs were in “/var/log/messages”.
Thanks.
I just remembered something else important, I had gotten a warning message that my home filter was low on space just before this happened as well.
I have two home folders. I created a separate partition where most of my info is stored, just in case of system failure, so if I have to reboot everything is saved.
It was the other home folder that was low on space and I thought I fixed the problem by deleting files, but not I suspect that could be the cause.
Thanks.
I just remembered something else important, I had gotten a warning message that my home folder was low on space just before this happened as well.
I have two home folders. I created a separate partition where most of my info is stored, just in case of system failure, so if I have to reboot everything is saved
It was the other home folder that was low on space and I thought I fixed the problem by deleting files, but not I suspect that could be the cause.
When the system can not create any file for a user when (s)he logs in, the login will fail.
So check if the file system where that user’s home directory is in, is full. When youi have a separate /home file system, check /home, if you haven’t, check /.
It is quite possible that you can still login as root from the console. Thus when you get to the GUI login page, use Ctrl-Alt-F1 and login there as root. Check how full file systems are with
df
Bad news. I was logged in as root when this happened. I’ve already tried that user and it is the one that won’t work
Hopefully I can fix this when I get the thumb drive and boot from that.
But you said you were using Libreoffice?
I was. I use root. I don’t create another user. I know it’s frowned upon by many.
OK, then I quit from this thread.
If you don’t want to help, I can understand that. Thanks for the advice thus far.
Even though many may disagree with my use of root, there still may be some willing to help. Let’s see.
When running a GUI as root you can accidentally break things. It is not so much that we frown on it it is simply bad procedure that can damage things. When needed you can always start things as root but never the GUI. But running a GUI as root can change ownership of things.
Note also that roots’s home is /root not in /home
It is possible that you are just running out of space free some up from emergency mode
Thanks for the explanation.
I am in with rescue mode and have access to the command line. Can you help me with the next steps from here?
I was able to check the disk space:
/dev/loop0
/dev/loop1
/dev/loop2
/dev/loop3
/dev/loop4
All show zero available space.
The diagnosis is confirmed. Now how to fix it?
I don’t normally use the command line without guidance. I did confirm the disk space is low. I recall there are a bunch of files in tmp that I don’t need.
How can I remove them?
You need to make space. From what I have read here about the rescue mode you have to mount the relevant partions, i.e. the root partion to /mnt. Then search for excessive data. Given your user that might be in /root. Also in /var or /.snapshot stuff may pile up.
I’m not a shell expert, either. I can find my ways around but wouldn’t dare give detailed advice. Search the forum for “rescue mode” might be an idea. There is quite a lot, just a recent thread:
After all it may be more convenient to use a live system.
If you want to go on in rescue mode, basic commands can be duckduckgoed e.g. here:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/basic-shell-commands-in-linux/
I have no idea what is available in rescue mode. You’ll need at least mnt, cd, rm. Try the help option
mnt --help
cd --help
rm --help
Yeah, you’re right. I’ll search for this specific situation and see what I can find.
Thanks