mark_667 Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Hi, I recently installed Mandrake 10 and set up root and another user account. On the first boot I logged in as root OK. Later, when I tried to login again there was only the option to login as a normal user and not root. When I tried to login it accepted the password, started to load the GUI, but then returned me to the log-in screen without completing. I now have no way of getting into my own system! Someone please help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 (edited) It's probably a problem with X (the graphics server) or xfs (the font server). What errors are you getting? In the meantime, log in as normal user, and start the applications you want to run as root from a console logged in as root (that is btw the safest way to run your PC. You should avoid logging in as root) edit: reading your post again I think I might have misunderstood you. You mean you give the root password when you login as a normal user? That's not possible, you'll have to give the password that belongs to that user. Good luck Edited September 10, 2004 by devries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 does it return you to the login-manager or to a boot prompt? the default mandrake login-manager is rather bad and you should change your login manager to kdm or gdm after setting up the system. btw: you can restart your computer in rescue mode. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_667 Posted September 10, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Firstly, not even I'm daft enough to try and use the root password when trying to log-in as a normal user (they're different and I tried it anyway just in case). I'm not actually getting any errors, just being returned to the log-in manager. I only get a clickable choice of one user I can log-in as so I couldn't try to log-in as root if I wanted to as I never get the option of an text box for the user, only to input the password. btw: you can restart your computer in rescue mode. how exactly do I do this and will I still have to worry about the log-in? Also, I know running the computer as root isn't the safest thing, but unless I find a way to give a normal user root privelages (it's only me who uses it anyway so I'm not worried about security) it's the easiest way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durvish Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 the log in prompt for root is hidden by default in the log in screen unless you change it. to log in as root just type root for user then your password. As far as setting up root privileges for your user I would suggest not to even if your the only user. Do your admin stuff through your user by su'ing to root ( trust me you'll thank yourself for it later ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devries Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 (edited) To log into the rescue mode choose linux fail safe in the boot menu. The log in as root (by typing root <enter> paasword <enter>), then you type: init 3. To start X type: startx You'll probably see some error messages and most likely they have to do with the display settings (or they could have to do with KDE (the desktop environment). If you see a bootscreen it's a KDE problem, if you just see text it's a X problem). The change the display settings type: XFdrake and adjust them) Log out as root (by typing: exit) and start X with the startx command Good luck. Firstly, not even I'm daft enough to try and use the root password when trying to log-in as a normal user (they're different and I tried it anyway just in case). Ah there is hope for you then :D Edited September 10, 2004 by devries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtaylor57 Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Have you tried changing the user password? Maybe it doesn't like it for some reason... login as root in console: "passwd user_name" I would also suggest changing the login manager to kdm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Have you tried changing the user password? Maybe it doesn't like it for some reason... login as root in console: "passwd user_name" yeah, but he still need to log in into his box. ;) but devries already said everything that is relevant, so nothing to add but good luck. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted September 10, 2004 Report Share Posted September 10, 2004 Reboot and as soon as you see the lilo selection screen hit the Esc key which will take you to a boot prompt at which type: linux 3 and hit the enter key. This forces the system to boot into run level 3, i.e. text mode, so X won't start. Instead you'll get to a text mode login screen. Login as root and run: # startx That should allow you to boot into your gui as root or dump you back into the text mode terminal with some error messages. Post back your results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark_667 Posted September 11, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 I followed your instructions and after going to runlevel 3 the only error I got read 'Bringing up loopback interface FAILED' I then got prompted for localhost login. I found that I could only access XFdrake by logging in as root, but that didn't seem to be it. Although I found that if I ran startx as root, it booted me into the KDE GUI. I tried the Autologin to log-in the user automatically and double checked it in the login manager and rebooted. It didn't log-in automatically, and still returned me to th log-in screen. I tried changing the session type to KDE, then Failsafe, it made no difference. I tried pmpatrick's method, butI got a screen with a progress bar 'loading Linux' and then a local host login prompt. It rejected my attempt to login as root, but when I logged in as the user I could 'su' to root OK. I ran startx and got the same as the first time. Thanks for the info Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiedra Posted September 11, 2004 Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 It sounds like to me your user login got corrupt somehow. When you try to log in as a normal user, does it complain about an incorrect password? Try this. I normally don't recommend logging into a root desktop, but do it in this case. Login into kde as root since only that is working. Go into userdrake and edit your username and change the password. It's all prety self explanatory. Log out of the root desktop, and try to log into kde as a normal user. If the problem still continues, log back into a root desktop, go back into userdrake and create a new username. Log out of the root deskop, and log into your new username you created. I am confidant it will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arctic Posted September 11, 2004 Report Share Posted September 11, 2004 ... and don't forget to change the login manager! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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