brucedjones Posted September 14, 2004 Report Share Posted September 14, 2004 a few hours ago i reset my computer after setting it so that X wouldnt start when linux does, when it started to boot again it stalled for a long time when starting "NFS Daemon" then as i was greeted by a login prompt i entered my username and....it didnt work, i tried again, i tried root, i tried a backup username, nothing. it didnt recognise any of them. this isnt the first time my login information has misteriously changed, a few months ago my root password changed. has anyone got any idea whats causing this and...even better, how to fix it, im not sure i could stand a fresh install Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 For recovering or resetting your root password, see this link: http://www.desktop-linux.net/root-password.htm As to why it keeps losing your root and user password, you can set up passwords to expire after a certain length of time. I suspect some security setting is automatically doing this to you. In mcc, check your security setting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucedjones Posted September 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 i think i explained the problem badly, when i try to login in as a user, linux doesnt recognise the user, ie. i get to the login prompt, type in "root" and all that happens is i get a new login prompt underneath the old one. the same happens when i try other usernames. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 Try resetting the root password. When you make a login error, whether it be a misspelled username or incorrect password, linux won't tell you which one it is for security reasons. No point telling a cracker that they got the username right but the password wrong. You should be getting an error message that merely says login incorrect and then a new login prompt. With some high security settings you may not even get that. If I understand you correctly, your not even getting to a request for a password after typing in the username or root and hitting Enter. If that's the case it's very weird but I would still try resetting the root password per my above link using the "linux single" method which will boot you into run level 1. There is no login there, just a command prompt and you can run any command with root privileges available in run level 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucedjones Posted September 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 single mode sounds useful, but i dont know how to do it, i use lilo but get a graphical menu. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpatrick Posted September 15, 2004 Report Share Posted September 15, 2004 As soon as you see the lilo boot selection screen hit the Esc key and it will take you to a boot prompt. Then type: linux single or linux 1 and hit the Enter key. Since you say there appears to be a hangup on NFS, you can also try doing "linux 2" w/o quotes. That will boot you into run level 2 which is just like run level 3 but w/o NFS support. If you think the runlevels at boot are screwed up, you can try doing "linux 3" as well. You should be booting into run level 3(i.e. nongraphical/text mode); doing linux 3 will explicitly force a boot into this run level. And finally, if you want to boot into a graphical login do "linux 5" w/o quotes. Try the various run levels and see what happens re your ability to login. Another trick you can try is if you get to a text login and can't get a prompt to enter a password after typing in a user, hit Ctrl-Alt-F2. That should take you to another virtual terminal with a text login prompt. Try loggin in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucedjones Posted September 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2004 (edited) i booted into run level one and changed the passwords and got no complaints, but i still cant log in under any of the other run levels, i tried with other virtual terminals aswell. have you got anyother suggestions?? Edited September 17, 2004 by brucedjones Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucedjones Posted September 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2004 ok ive gone for the reinstall, what a headache Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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