No menu after logging in, just wallpaper

JustRob · #1 14th April 2010, 06:44 PM

I recently installed fedora 12. After installing I added software using the software manager.

Since shutting down when I log in I don't get any menu. It just shows the wall paper. I then tried to log in under other and for the username I put root but it wouldn't recognize the password.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

***Hlingler*** · #2 14th April 2010, 07:49 PM

Quote:

I then tried to log in under other and for the username I put root but it wouldn't recognize the password.

Root-user log-ins are disabled by default now. Search the Forum to find the techno-magical work-around.

Quote:

I recently installed fedora 12. After installing I added software using the software manager.
Since shutting down when I log in I don't get any menu. It just shows the wall paper.

Re-boot into run-level 3, and perform a full system software update. When finished re-boot again.

V

JustRob · #3 15th April 2010, 08:01 PM

Being somewhat new to linux and still consider myself a newbie I tried to find out how to boot into run-level 3. From what I gather it's a matter of key tapping at boot. I have three drives in my machine so after I select the fedora drive do I start tapping esc?

Also, to hopefully preempt another post how do I perform a full system update once in run-level 3?

Thanks,
Rob

***Hlingler*** · #4 16th April 2010, 03:12 AM

Quote:

I have three drives in my machine so after I select the fedora drive do I start tapping esc?

I do not know what you mean.

Re-boot the PC, and press the <ESCAPE> key (repeatedly if necessary) immediately after BIOS POST to get a Fedora GRUB boot menu. Follow the on-screen instructions to append the number 3 (preceded by a space of course) to the end of the line that starts with 'kernel ...' for the desired kernel.

Quote:

Also, to hopefully preempt another post how do I perform a full system update once in run-level 3?

su
yum update

V

JustRob · #5 16th April 2010, 08:14 PM

To explain what I was saying earlier about the three drives, I have three drives in my machine which is a Dell. One drive has windows 7, another has fedora 12 and a third is for Ghost backups. If I want to boot to windows 7 I just let it boot up. If I want to boot to fedora I tap the F12 key to go to the boot screen and select the drive that I know fedora is on.

To get to the grub boot menu I first tapped F12 to get to the Dell boot menu then after selecting the fedora hard drive I started tapping escape and got following:

Fedora (2.6.32.9-70.FC12.x86_64)

Use the up arrow or down arrow keys to select which entry is highlighted.

Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before booting, 'a' to modify the kernel arguments before booting, or 'c' for a command line.

There was only one operating system listed. I first tried pressing a 'c' but when I tried to enter su at the command line it said the command was unknown. I tried yum updated but again it said unknown command .

I then hit escape to go back and I pressed 'a' but I don't know what kernel arguments to modify.

I'm still not sure how to boot to run-level 3 to update my system.

***Hlingler*** · #6 16th April 2010, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Press enter to boot the selected OS, 'e' to edit the commands before booting, 'a' to modify the kernel arguments before booting, or 'c' for a command line.

then, when presented with the 'kernel ...' line, use the arrow keys to move the cursor to the end of said line (beware that it probably extends off-screen, as indicated by an arrow pointing to the right, so ensure that you move the cursor all the way to the end-of-line), and type (append) a space followed by the number 3. Then press <ENTER>.

You will boot into a command-line interface (text-mode only). Log in as root-user, and update.

V

JustRob · #7 16th April 2010, 09:50 PM

First thanks for replying so quickly last time!

I booted up to run-level 3 and did a yum update. It did some 430 updates! I rebooted and logged in. I got the same results, just the background with no menu.

A couple of things I noticed:

When at the login screen there is a menu bar at the bottom and the gtime on the right was correct.
I'm disabled and set the system up to use the accessibility options, for example, the mouse is operated by the holding down the numbers on the number pad on the right of my keyboard. These functions still work.
If I bring the mouse to the top of the screen or the bottom it stops. If I bring it to the left itgoes off the screen and takes a second to come back.
I right clicked on the desktop and got a menu align items, create folder, create document, change background, ect...

I suspect my problem is the screen resolution or the desktop being larger than my monitor but I don't know how to change it. I don't know where to go from here. I know when I used fedora 7 I had to edit a .conf file and write in all the resolutions for my monitor.

Thanks

slackerus · #8 17th April 2010, 02:20 PM

Rob, do you see the menu or part of it if you press Alt+F1 ?

To change the resolution press ALT+F2 and type in "gnome-display-properties". Not sure its the resolution problem though.

JustRob · #9 17th April 2010, 05:27 PM

When I pressed Alt+F1 nothing happens. I still just see the background; that's all no menu or even part of it.

After pressing Alt+F2 I changed the resolution to 1280 x 1024. As you suspected this made no difference. There is still no menu bar at the top of the screen and all I get is the background. One other thing, if I bring the mouse to the left of the screen it goes off the screen as if the desktop is larger than the monitor.

***Hlingler*** · #10 17th April 2010, 06:55 PM

Try: boot into run-level 3, then log in as root-user, and add a brand new user. Re-boot and log into desktop as that new user. See what happens. If all is OK, then your original user has screwed-up settings. You can fix by (re)moving some of that user's hidden config files.

V

JustRob · #11 17th April 2010, 09:17 PM

How do I add a new user from the command prompt as root?

slackerus · #12 17th April 2010, 09:33 PM

Type:

adduser username

then

passwd username <----- to set the password

JustRob · #13 17th April 2010, 10:12 PM

I created a new user and after logging in as that user I still just get the background and no menu at the top.

slackerus · #14 17th April 2010, 11:08 PM

Can you post your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file? You can run firefox: ALT+F2 type in "firefox"

or

Use flashdrive, plug it in, press ALT+F2 type in "nautilus". You will see your flash drive along with filesystem folder. Go to Filesystem -> etc -> X11 and copy xorg.conf.

Just to confirm you can only see plain wallpaper right?

JustRob · #15 17th April 2010, 11:36 PM

I guess to get to the xorg.conf file I have to be root. Whebn I tried as the other user it wouldn't show that file. I know how to come up in run-level 3 as root but don't know how to do anything with just command prompt. Is there a way of seeing it as the other user?