Problem with GUI starting automatically

[H2009]

Hi there,
I'm having a few problems with my GUI.
When I have my runlevel set 5, after a reboot the GUI seems to hang at the login screen - i.e. I'm just getting the spinning ball without it actually loading the login screen.

Because of this I set my runlevel to 3 to goto console directly, from here I'd login and just use startx which will get me to GUI as per normal without any issues.

But I need to try and resolve this issue as I want to autologin so I can RDC to the system.

Can someone help me resolve my GUI problem please.

[george_toolan]

How long have you waited?

Which version of Fedora and which Desktop Environment did you install?

The login screen is usually handled by gdm if you use Gnome, kdm if you use KDE or maybe even LXDM if you use LXDE.

[H2009]

I've waited for over 14 hours before giving up with it.

I'm running:
Kernel Linux 2.6.35.14-106.fc14.x86_64
GNOME 2.32.0

If you need anything else please let me know - my knowledge of linux commands isn't that good if im honest.

[sea]

If i remember correctly, you might need to edit these files:
* /etc/sysconfig/desktop
* /etc/inittab

[H2009]

Hi
When you say edit those files. What part needs to be edited?

[sea]

Promlem is, i dont have any linux installed that uses the 'old' way.

Either way:
/etc/sysconfig/desktop (the file is OPTIONAL, as you use GDM and Gnome - write the output of $(which GDM/gnome), not the $(which XY))

DISPLAYMANAGER=$(which gdm)
PREFERRED=$(which gnome)

As the next files is larger, and i dont recall the lines of its content, please show the output of:

grep gnome /etc/inittab
grep gdm /etc/inittab
grep init /etc/inittab
grep runlevel /etc/inittab
grep screen /etc/inittab

[H2009]

Hi
It seems i don't have the /etc/sysconfig/desktop

But here is the output of the other files which I knew how to get. Sorry if this isn't what you need.

gnome
no file/output

gdm
no file/output

runlevel

# rc - System V runlevel compatibility
#
# This task runs the old sysv-rc runlevel scripts.  It
# is usually started by the telinit compatibility wrapper.

start on runlevel [0123456]

stop on runlevel [!$RUNLEVEL]

task

export RUNLEVEL
console output
exec /etc/rc.d/rc $RUNLEVEL


# rcS - runlevel compatibility
#
# This task runs the old sysv-rc startup scripts.

start on startup

stop on runlevel

task

# Note: there can be no previous runlevel here, if we have one it's bad
# information (we enter rc1 not rcS for maintenance).  Run /etc/rc.d/rc
# without information so that it defaults to previous=N runlevel=S.
console output
exec /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit
post-stop script
	if [ "$UPSTART_EVENTS" = "startup" ]; then
		[ -f /etc/inittab ] && runlevel=$(/bin/awk -F ':' '$3 == "initdefault" && $1 !~ "^#" { print $2 }' /etc/inittab)
		[ -z "$runlevel" ] && runlevel="3"
		for t in $(cat /proc/cmdline); do
			case $t in
				-s|single|S|s) runlevel="S" ;;
				[1-9])       runlevel="$t" ;;
			esac
		done
		exec telinit $runlevel
	fi
end script




# rcS-sulogin - "single-user" runlevel compatibility
#
# This task runs /bin/bash during "single-user" mode,
# then continues to the default runlevel.

start on runlevel S

stop on runlevel [!S]

console owner
script
	. /etc/sysconfig/init
	plymouth --hide-splash || true
	[ -z "$SINGLE" ] && SINGLE=/sbin/sushell
	exec $SINGLE
end script
post-stop script
	if [ "$RUNLEVEL" = "S" ]; then
		[ -f /etc/inittab ] && runlevel=$(/bin/awk -F ':' '$3 == "initdefault" && $1 !~ "^#" { print $2 }' /etc/inittab)
		[ -z "$runlevel" ] && runlevel="3"
		exec telinit $runlevel
	fi
end script

screen
no file/output

Init

# color => new RH6.0 bootup
# verbose => old-style bootup
# anything else => new style bootup without ANSI colors or positioning
BOOTUP=color
# column to start "[  OK  ]" label in 
RES_COL=60
# terminal sequence to move to that column. You could change this
# to something like "tput hpa ${RES_COL}" if your terminal supports it
MOVE_TO_COL="echo -en \\033[${RES_COL}G"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'success' color (currently: green)
SETCOLOR_SUCCESS="echo -en \\033[0;32m"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'failure' color (currently: red)
SETCOLOR_FAILURE="echo -en \\033[0;31m"
# terminal sequence to set color to a 'warning' color (currently: yellow)
SETCOLOR_WARNING="echo -en \\033[0;33m"
# terminal sequence to reset to the default color.
SETCOLOR_NORMAL="echo -en \\033[0;39m"
# Set to 'yes' to allow probing for devices with swap signatures
AUTOSWAP=no
# What ttys should gettys be started on?
ACTIVE_CONSOLES=/dev/tty[1-6]
# Set to '/sbin/sulogin' to prompt for password on single-user mode
# Set to '/sbin/sushell' otherwise
SINGLE=/sbin/sushell



grep default /etc/inittab
# inittab is only used by upstart for the default runlevel.
#   0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#   6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
id:3:initdefault:

[sea]

There it is.. the very last item!

sudo nano /etc/inittab

Search for the part:

# inittab is only used by upstart for the default runlevel.
#   0 - halt (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
#   6 - reboot (Do NOT set initdefault to this)
id:3:initdefault:

And replace the 3 (multiuser) with 5 (GUI).
Save the file CTRL+O and exit CTRL+X.
Reboot and you should 'land' in your DE / GUI

[H2009]

Hi,
Yes that is correct. But if I do that, it will never load. I've manually changed that to level 3 to go right into command line to bypass the issue. From there I use startx

[minds57]

Is there any update here? I'm having the same problem. Setting my run level to 5 does not start the gui. On boot, the system hangs at the login prompt. I've found that I can switch to a different virtual terminal, login to a text prompt, and do startx. Then the gui starts just fine. Just like yours...

Have you investigated the video card driver as the culprit? It seems like the problem occurred right after I install the NVIDIA drivers. I tried changing my xorg.conf file to use the vesa generic driver, but the problem remains.