ICEauthority and configuration server problem

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi everybody.

I recently installed OpenSuse 11.1 appliance build with suse studio. I have there GNOME installed. Every time I boot the system, before the login window, I get two messages:

Could not update ICEauthority file /var/lib/gdm/.ICEauthority

When I clik OK, there is another message:

There is a problem with the configuration server.
(/user/lib/GConf/2/gconf-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256)

After clicking OK on this one, I can see the login screen and I can login. It annoys me little bit.
The problem appeared also when using this appliance in liveCD mode.

#2

i’m a little confused because i don’t think there should be an
ICEauthority in /var, and wonder how it got there.

did you put it there? why would you do that?

and, tell us what you did during the session preceding the first
occurrence of this ICEauthority problem…

i wonder if you installed something and (maybe) changed permissions
with chmod/chown? and, to change permissions as root i wonder if you
logged into Gnome as root?

btw, i think if you can solve the ICEauthority problem then the
sanity-check will cease failing…

–
palladium

#3

I have the same problem.
/var/lib/gdm/.ICEauthority does exist (I did not ceate).
Get sanity-check-2 error 256.
Will not allow me to log in as me (I have checked permissions of .ICEauthority in my home dir).
Just tried a new user that had not logged in ever (and had no .ICE file in his home dir). Same error.
Tried removing the file from gdm/.
Tried a null file in gdm/.
No go.

I can’t log in to Gnome as any user; only “other” as root.

Ideas?

Thanks.

#4

did this system work ok for sometime, and then suddenly break? if so,
what did you install/update or change during the session just before
this problem first showed itself??

or, was the system born with that problem?
if so, is it community software (from http://software.opensuse.org/)
or other source? and did you do a md5sum check on the iso prior to
burning the install disk?

what version?

–
palladium

#5

Version 11.1. OpenSUSE.
Did not md5sum check but not having this issue on subsequent (non-xen) installation from same media.
This is a new installation of xen.
Gnome has worked fine until this popped up.
I had been dealing with some “out of space” issues.
I don’t know of anything specific that would cause the problem.
I still have not solved the problem and cannot log in to gnome other than as root.
Otherwise the installation seems fine.
I can’t fathom what is so sensitive about that ICE file that the software won’t re-create it on the fly or write to an empty file – but it does not.
Any idea of a solution?
Thanks.
Marshall

#6

mloneil wrote:

> Did not md5sum check but not having this issue on subsequent (non-xen)
> installation from same media.

if you still have that media i highly recommend you check it…you
don’t have to install very much garbage to spoil the entire system…

> Gnome has worked fine until this popped up.

have you ever logged into it before as root?

> I had been dealing with some “out of space” issues.

what kind of issues…i ask because no *nix responds well to an out of
space situation…

could EASILY be that you corrupted some/many files…do not run out
of space, ever…

> I don’t know of anything specific that would cause the problem.

i understand you don’t know what caused it, and neither do i…i
suspect something got updated and caused the problem…

tell me, what repos do you have active now, and usually?

> I still have not solved the problem and cannot log in to gnome other
> than as root.

my rule is never log into any 'nix GUI as root, ever…some folks
here say that is an opinion…to me it is a rule…you do as you wish
but i can tell you that logging in as root causes a lot more problems
than it can ever solve…read more:
http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Login_as_root
http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdebase-runtime/userguide/root.html
http://tinyurl.com/6ry6yd

> Otherwise the installation seems fine.
> I can’t fathom what is so sensitive about that ICE file that the
> software won’t re-create it on the fly or write to an empty file – but
> it does not.

i don’t know either, but i know that most often when someone says “i
can’t log in except as root” it means they have KILLED their .ICE*
file by changing its ownership to root…

have you checked that?
go to /home/[you]/.ICEauthority and make sure you are the owner and no
one else can read or write it…

> Any idea of a solution?

you can hope someone who knows more than me helps…

–
palladium

#7

I got the same issue on my 11.1 system yesterday after FF 3.6.3 went into high utilization and I proceeded to reboot to clear the high util every time I tried to re-launch FF.
After much troubleshooting and reviewing information on different forums, I came to the conclusion the solution was not there. I knew it was not disk space related because df, du and smarctl all checked out and I also ran the disk diagnosis program from the BIOS.

Here is what I ended up doing to get my system back in less than 5 minutes:

Boot your system in runlevel 2
Run Yast at the command line
Select Security and Users
Select the Local Security Yast applet
Select Predefined Security Configurations

You will see your settings radio button on Custom. Change it to Home Workstation or Network Workstation (whatever suits your security needs). I would recommend the most permissive of the two - you can tweak it later when you get your system backup.

Save your changes and reboot your system. Et Voila! Now what did’nt I think of that right away instead of wandering Google for hours on end :wink:

I won’t go into the details as to why it happened, I am still researching this and I have a TID to write now. But after many hours of troubleshooting and trying this and that, this was the solution that worked for me.

Good luck. I hope it works for you too.