Login screen keeps bouncing back to login screen (not password issue)

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

I have installed VirtualBox and setup a Windows Vista host, initially with a .vdi of 10gb. That filled up quickly, so I added another 20gb secondary partition, after first trying to allocate a .vdi to a SCSI controller. Configured the drive in Windows (Computer Management), and all seemed ok. I shutdown VB, and rebooted my Linux host (openSuse 11.3). Now I keep bouncing back to the login screen, and can’t login to Linux KDE, but can login to a console.

Any ideas on what might be happening here? I do have the following info:

/etc/fstab:
/dev/dis/by-id/ata-ST9250410ASG_5VG0B5VS-part5 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/dis/by-id/ata-ST9250410ASG_5VG0B5VS-part6 / ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 1
/dev/dis/by-id/ata-ST9250410ASG_5VG0B5VS-part5 /home ext4 acl,user_xattr 1 2
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs noauto 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs noauto 0 0
usbfs /proc/bus/usb usbfs noauto 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts mode=0620,gid=5 0 0

I did see a message before, that I don’t see anymore, that said it could not start NFS services due to missing entry in fstab. Another I’m seeing now is it couldn’t start the avahi-daemon, no space left on device. This is odd, since I have a 200GB drive, with half of it left, only max 30GB set to VB. Here’s my df -k output:

/dev/sda6 Use% is 100%
devtmpfs Use% is 1%
tmpfs Use% is 1%
/dev/sda7 Use% is 46%

So root “/” is mounted on /dev/sda6, which looks like it could be a problem, but why would this suddenly be a problem after working with VirtualBox? Could this be a matter of just freeing up space on /dev/sda6? Like the /tmp folder that’s under “/”?

#2

May have got past this, I had to clear tmp files and was at least able to login.

Is there way to expand the 20gb partition that’s mounted as “/”, so when I install software, I won’t run into this again?

#3

Don’t know if this has anything to do with your problem but if the /etc/fstab above is accurate you have a conflict. It shows both swap and /home using partition 5.

We need more information. As root or su please post the output of:

su - fdisk -l

Also, is that the full /etc/fstab? Where are partitions 1-4 & 7? What are they used for? What version of OS are you using (11.2, 11.3, etc.)? Did you get any messages at console or in logs during/after installing VirtualBox and/or windows?

Tom