System Froze now User Can't Login

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Okay, definitely need help with this one… I was logged in, but had not used the computer for about 48 hours. When I ‘woke’ the system, I could see that Thunderbird and Firefox were active, just as I had left them. I moved the mouse, the screen went black and the mouse pointer was visible (and could move). The system stayed like this for about 2 minutes, then wend down completely. I cut power, booted and got the login screen. Each time I put in my password, it looks as if it is loading but then just goes right back to the login screen.

I have no problem logging in as root.

#2

If you have a Parted Magic CD, boot it and run a check on the partitions.

In the meantime, tell us if this is kde or gnome.
As you have already been logging in as root, do it again and create a new user and try logging in with that.
Report back

#3

On 01/30/2011 09:06 PM, seveninstl wrote:

> I have no problem logging in as root.

you should never log into KDE/Gnome/XFCE or any other *nix-like
graphical user interface desktop environment as root…

doing so 1) opens you up to several different security problems if you
(for example) browse the net, 2) too many too easy ways to damage your
system no matter how careful your actions (for example: well
documented cases of unintended change of ownership of ~/.ICEauthority
and ~/.Xauthority from user to root sometimes occurs), 3) and, anyway
logging into KDE/etc as root is never required to do any and all
administrative duties…

so, always log in as yourself, and “become root” by using a root
powered application (like YaST, File Manager Superuser Mode) or using
“su -”, sudo, kdesu, or gnomesu in a terminal to launch whatever tool
is needed (like Kwrite to edit a config file)…read more on all that
here:

http://en.opensuse.org/SDB:Login_as_root
http://tinyurl.com/ydbwssh
http://tinyurl.com/6ry6yd

additionally: after logging into KDE/Gnome/etc as root, if you
experience problems (for example, with uncommanded file ownership and
permissions changes) and if you can provide us with details of what
you were doing while you were logged in as root, that would help us
identify if there’s a bug that needs to be fixed…thanks for your help…

that said, i expect your problem is because either your root or home
partitions are full…

when the first green screen comes up type 3 and hit enter…

you will come to a black and white screen asking for you to log in, do
so by giving your user name and password (you will not see what you
type into the password block, but the machine can see…)

when it has accepted your credentials type in


df -h

and press enter…use a digital camera (or paper and pen/pencil) to
tell us what it said…you can put the pix on (say) imagebarn…

if you are writing to us using a different machine, just leave that
one running, as i hope i’ll be around, or someone else for a kinda
quick answer…if that is your only machine and you are dual booting,
then once you have done the info fetch, then type/enter this:


su -

and give your root password, then type/enter this:


shutdown -h now

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD [posted via NNTP w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5
“release 1”, Thunderbird3.0.11,]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#4

Can create new user, can not login.

#5

DenverD,

This is what is reported:

FILESYSTEM SIZE USED AVAIL USE% MOUNT ON
/dev/sda2 20G 20G 0 100% /
udev 999M 232K 999M 1% /dev
/dev/sda3 52G 8.3G 41G 17% /home

Also, I would not normally login as root… I was just pointing out that the machine (hardware) seems to all be working fine, because I can login as root and it the OS and KDE will load as normal.

#6

Your root file system is full
Login as root if you can and do this:
Clear Temp Files at Boot
reboot

Login normally

#7

caf4926,

Thank you, but that did not fix the problem. “df -h” is still reporting the same numbers as above.

#8

Then you need to see how the space has been used in sda2. If the temp file isn’t full then check in /var/log

#9

On 01/31/2011 02:36 PM, seveninstl wrote:
> Thank you, but that did not fix the problem. “df -h” is still
> reporting the same numbers as above.

then your root/boot partition is still full…have you downloaded and
installed SO many applications?

i don’t like telling you to log into the GUI as root, so: do you have
a live CD (it doesn’t have to be the same openSUSE as you are
using–which you have not mentioned yet, as well as which desktop
environment?) that you can boot with??

if you do go into your 20GB root directory, then to /var/log and see
if there are any logs in there over (say) 5MB…if so you are going to
need to delete some logs…START with the oldest HUGE (over one GB
file)…when you have deleted a GB or so, stop and see if you can’t
then log in as yourself…

if you can, do so and immediately go back into /var/log and look
inside and find out what is the (probably) constantly repeating error
which is driving the log to massive size…

and, tell us what it is and we will try to help you fix the underlying
problem…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#10

caf4926,

You had it right on! There were two large (6.5 Gig) files in /var/log. Both files were created at the day/time the system froze and then shutdown; and both seemed to be corrupt (they could not be open). I rm’ed them and everything is working fine!!

THANK YOU!!

Also, a thanks to DenverD. When I refreshed this page, I see that you had a similar post. :slight_smile:

#11

Lol ! Well done in sorting this. This can byte (pun intended) any of us at a time. I had a case where I had a print job fail, and I did not properly clear it from the print queue.

Well 3 days later it completely filled a 1.5 TB drive. Not 1.5 MB. Not 1.5 GB. No - a 1.5 TB drive !! Major embarressment on my part - and my lesson learned. :slight_smile:

#12

On 01/31/2011 06:06 PM, seveninstl wrote:
> Also, a thanks to DenverD. When I refreshed this page, I see that you
> had a similar post. :slight_smile:

welcome, but you are NOT finished with the problem…you only removed
the huge logs which filled the drive and prevented you from logging
in…those things are the symptoms of the problem…

the problem, which needs to be sorted out is: why were the logs so
big? what was filling the logs, and how do you prevent it from
happening again??

then you will have fixed the problem and the symptoms which produced…

–
DenverD
CAVEAT: http://is.gd/bpoMD
[NNTP posted w/openSUSE 11.3, KDE4.5.5, Thunderbird3.0.11, nVidia
173.14.28 3D, Athlon 64 3000+]
“It is far easier to read, understand and follow the instructions than
to undo the problems caused by not.” DD 23 Jan 11

#13

Great
But as DenverD implies. You may need to keep on working on this.
I suggest you keep an eye on the log files there and if you find a big one, see what the content is. I seem to recall one recently where someone had a print job filling it up.
If you see a log filling up, let us see at least some of it that seems relevant.