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How do I get Gnome back? [solved]


mittfh
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Following on from my Bluetooth adventures (Hardware forum), I decided to install KDEBluetooth4 (& therefore KDE4), to see if I could get my Bluetooth adaptor working.

It didn't, so I then uninstalled KDE4 - unfortunately, I didn't pay too much attention to the dependency list and it wiped out a load of GNOME dependencies.

Oops - nothing like being too adventurous... :oops:

 

End result: get the login screen, but when I log in, I'm left with a blank screen, displaying only the Mandriva 2009.0 wallpaper.

I also had a brief balloon informing me gnome-power-manager wasn't configured correctly.

Logged in as root on the tty1 console, and saw a whole bunch of gnome stuff running. If only it was visible...

 

Rebooted, logged into an IceWM desktop, installed task-gnome in an attempt to reinstall any missing dependencies.

Rebooted, logged into GNOME, still no desktop, but at least the gnome-power-manager error isn't occuring.

Rebooted, decided to reinstall KDE4, just in case that fixed the missing bits of GNOME.

Well, I can log into KDE4 OK (and change the wallpaper - except not to one of Weblider's ones), but GNOME still doesn't want to play ball.

 

I must have overlooked something, but I can't figure it out... :wall:

 

(At least everything's still working - albeit with a desktop environment I'm not particularly fond of - took me ages to discover where KDE4 hides the mouse preferences...)

(Oh, and yes - I will think twice before doing anything so drastic again!)

Edited by mittfh
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It's something probably related to the gtk-qt beutification engine.

Does it work if you create a new user? If it does, then backing up/moving/wiping your former gnome settings should work.

 

Created and logged in as a new user - no difference - still greeted by a bunch of penguins admiring the starlight and nothing else...

 

To further aid diagnosis, I've attached three text files, each containing the output of "ps -A" in different circumstances:

justroot.txt - Just Root (on tty1 - CLI)

withbenonkde4.txt - Root on tty1, plus me logged in as myself using KDE4 (works fine).

withbenongnome.txt - Root on tty1, plus me logged in as myself using GNOME (standard Mandriva free wallpaper, nothing else).

 

Running top for a few minutes seemed to indicate a lot of GNOME was working - although I couldn't see anything, trackerd and beagle started up, there were regular appearances by net-applet and mdkapplet, and urpmi.update ran.

justroot.txt

withbenonkde4.txt

withbenongnome.txt

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I'm a KDE3 user so I can't help much with Gnome, but what I would do if I were you is, in the Mandriva 'install & remove software' tool (while using KDE4 or any other DE), open up the 'graphical desktop'->'gnome' section and install any package that sounds like it could be useful to make gnome work.

Installing to much normally isn't a problem, but chances are this will also reinstall what's currently missing to make gnome work properly.

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Instal gdm then switch the display manger, in the Mandriva control centre>boot>display manager, make it GDM. See if this makes any change.

 

OK, here's the latest in the saga:

 

I'm already using GDM, so that hasn't made a difference.

Before logging in to the GUI, I used the CLI root on tty1 to shift /home/ben/.g* elsewhere. No difference.

I'm currently sitting in xfce, which proves to be a better interim option than kde4 - admittely it's very Win-like, but at least PCMan is a lot faster (and IMHO nicer) than Dolphin.

 

Meanwhile, I've encountered two other hitches. The rpmdrake auto update thingy offered the 180.29 updates to dkms-nvidia-current and x11-driver-video-nvidia-current, which I duly installed. However, as nvidia-current-kernel* are still 177.70, I've had to fall back to the nv driver. Downloading and installing the nvidia driver directly from nvidia's website didn't change things either :(

 

And attempting to remove kde4-base (after double checking it wouldn't uninstall anything untoward!) - however "A fatal error occured: Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.10.0/urpm/main_loop.pm lin 312. ."

 

-oOo-

 

I have a 250GB USB drive - would it be worth backing up /home/ben/ (including . folders) and possibly other locations, then download the 2009.0 DVD and reinstall on top of itself? Or just put up with xfce for a couple of weeks until 2009.1 is released and offered over rpmdrake update?

 

Oh, and is there a system log I can interrogate from the root CLI to determine any errors thrown up during gnome login? dmesg only appears to log the boot process until X starts.

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Oh, and is there a system log I can interrogate from the root CLI to determine any errors thrown up during gnome login? dmesg only appears to log the boot process until X starts.

 

In your home directory should be a file called '.xsession-errors' which contains messages,warnings and errors from applications started from when running applications under X (at least this is on my KDE installation, not sure if it's the same with gnome but I think yes).

 

Have you tried installing any more gnome packages as I suggested previously?

 

If I were you, I would probably wait for 2009.1, but then better install it from scratch after having backed up your data and home directory.

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I've tried setting up a new user account and attempting to log into GNOME.

 

As with my 'normal' account, the panels and desktop don't appear, but running "ps -A" as root on tty1 suggests that almost everything else is running (although I can't see it!)

 

I've also successfully removed KDE4 (and everything within the Desktop Environments --> KDE section of rpmdrake) and installed almost everything within the GNOME section of rpmdrake without any effects.

 

There doesn't appear to be a .xsession-errors or a GNOME equivalent hiding within /home/ben or /home/ben/.g*

 

So I've backed everything from /home/ben (including the dot files and folders) to my USB HDD, downloaded the 2009.0 Free ISO and copied the files to a USB stick together with unetbootin, ready to reinstall from scratch.

 

Before I go ahead, is there anything else worth backing up?

 

I've been using lxde over the past few days - it's unsurprisingly faster than KDE4, and a useful backup to GNOME (but not as good as - still haven't worked out how to swap the mouse buttons, as it doesn't appear to have a graphical means, and seems to ignore the relevant option in xorg.conf...)

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Update:

 

Reinstalled 2009.0 from scratch (taking the opportunity to set a decent size to /, so I don't have to hide the DVD contents in /home and symlink them back!).

GNOME working fine (unsurprisingly).

 

Just one minor hitch...

 

The following package has to be removed for others to be upgraded:

glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586

(in order to install glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586)

 

Yes, it wants to remove one version of glibc...to replace it with exactly the same version.

 

Unsurprisingly, if I then go ahead with attempting the update...

 

1 installation transactions failed

There was a problem during the installation:

package glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 is already installed

 

Nothing like stating the obvious - but someone forgot to tell urpmi.update...I've still got the nice red exclamation mark in my systray...

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Not a lot more helpful...

 

[root@LinuxBox ben]# urpmi --debug glibc
getting lock on urpmi
loading mirrors cache
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://ftp.mirrorservice.org/sites/carroll.cac.psu.edu/MandrivaLinux/official/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/plf/mandriva/cfg/2009.0/i586
using mirror ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/plf/mandriva/cfg/2009.0/i586
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Mandriva Linux - 2009.0 (Free) - Installer.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Mandriva Linux - 2009.0 (Free) - Installer (contrib).cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Main.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Main Updates.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Contrib.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Contrib Updates.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Non-free.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/synthesis.hdlist.Non-free Updates.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Main2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Main Updates2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Contrib2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Contrib Updates2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Non-free2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/Non-free Updates2/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/PLF Free/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
examining synthesis file [/var/lib/urpmi/PLF Non-free/synthesis.hdlist.cz]
getting exclusive lock on rpm
search_packages: found glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586 matching glibc
search_packages: found glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 matching glibc
search_packages: found glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 matching glibc
search_packages: found glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586 matching glibc
search_packages: found glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586 matching glibc
found package(s): glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586 glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586 glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5mnb2.i586
opening rpmdb (root=, write=)
chosen glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 for glibc|glibc|glibc|glibc|glibc
not selecting glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 since the more recent glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 is installed
Package glibc-2.8-1.20080520.5.2mnb2.i586 is already installed
scheduled sets of transactions:
unlocking urpmi database
unlocking rpm database
EXITING (pid=19900)
[root@LinuxBox ben]#

 

Make of that what you will!

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Righteo, my system's now happy with glibc courtesy of Tux99's workaround. And a further bit of poking around with urpmi's parameters allowed me to resolve another niggle that crept up earlier today... I'll share the saga just in case it helps anyone else...

 

Rpmdrake decided it wanted to install mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.586...

 

installation transactions failed

There was a problem during the installation:

mandriva-release < 2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0 conflicts with mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586

OK, grab a root terminal and try the urpmi route...

 

[root@LinuxBox ben]# urpmi mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586
Package mandriva-release-Free-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586 is already installed

installing mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586.rpm from /var/cache/urpmi/rpms
Installation failed:
mandriva-release < 2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0 conflicts with mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586
Installation failed:
mandriva-release < 2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0 conflicts with mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586

OK, so what if I try "replacepkgs"?

 

[root@LinuxBox ben]# urpmi mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586 --replacepkgs
found package(s) mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586 in urpmi db, but none are installed

OK, let's try skipping the dependency checks...

 

[root@LinuxBox ben]# urpmi mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586 --allow-nodeps
Package mandriva-release-Free-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586 is already installed

installing mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586.rpm from /var/cache/urpmi/rpms
Installation failed:
mandriva-release < 2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0 conflicts with mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586
Try installation without checking dependencies? (y/N) y
Preparing...					 ################################################################################
######################
  1/1: mandriva-release-common
							 ################################################################################
######################
----------------------------------------------------------------------
More information on package mandriva-release-common-2009.0-0.11mdv2009.0.i586
This is Mandriva Linux 2009.0

You can find the release notes in /usr/share/doc/mandriva-release-common/release-notes.txt

or on the web at http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2009.0_Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

That's better! Computers - don't ya just love 'em! :)

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