KDE 3.4 on Fedora Core 3 small login issue

[lucian_iuga]

Hey guys! I upgraded to KDE 3.4 in Fedora Core 3 and it is working fine, except for a small detail which is bugging me. The thing is I have done this once before on the same machine, but because of a problem (not related to the KDE upgrade) I had to restore a backup of the system and then redo the upgrade. Whereas the first time KDE created a very nice graphical login screen, now I have nothing but a blue one with two input fields, no images, no nothing. The first time I did the upgrade I made a "manual" one, downloading the packages and dependencies and I had to use some --nodeps and --force options. This time I used yum and everything was smooth. But... I want the graphical screen back. I mean, at least a background image. I can't change it at all. Any setting I make in kcontrol doesn't have any effect. Any ideas?

thanks

[bitrain]

I think you mean the login manager? That is in K menu -> System Settings -> Login Screen But I don't know if it can handle the kdm (if you use it), the default is gnomes login manager, the gdm

[lucian_iuga]

well, that's just it: any setting I make even in K menu -> System Settings -> Login Screen does not apply. That's the strangest thing. So, none of them works. I tried to set non-graphical, and not even that had an effect. I

[bitrain]

Originally Posted by lucian_iuga

well, that's just it: any setting I make even in K menu -> System Settings -> Login Screen does not apply. That's the strangest thing. So, none of them works. I tried to set non-graphical, and not even that had an effect. I

Do you have the kdm or gdm? The gui login screen program seems to apply only to the gdm (from gnome).

kdm settings are in /etc/kde/kdm

[lucian_iuga]

I'm afraid I don't understand your question... I only have kde installed. about kdm and gdm, I found referenceres to both in various config files. it seems that before the upgrade it was gdm providing graphical login screen. it was different in that user name and password were on different screens, you type the login name, press enter and the next screen asks for the password. now, both input fields are on the same screen, so I guess it's kdm managing the screen. but there seems to be some kind of conflict. what happens is that I set an image in kcontrol as login background, and it's only shown for a split second before the monotonous blue screen, then again a split second after I press enter to login, before the "loading" screen

[vtomov]

I have a similar problem. I just did a fresh install of FC4 and gdm and kdm seem to be fighting! In my /etc/sysconfig/desktop, I have:
DESKTOP="KDE"
DISPLAYMANAGER="KDE"

This should bring up the KDE display manager upon boot. It does, HOWEVER, the background image remains the standard blue-curve Fedora login screen that is displayed by default by GDM. I am pretty sure that it is KDM that is starting because:
I have configured KDM from the KDE control center (under Administration->Login MAnager) to run in a certain language and show a certain background image. Now, when I see the blue, GDM-linke login screen, all the prompts are in the language I selected (Bulgarian) and right after I login, I see--for about a second--the background image I have selected for KDM.

Really weird!

[vtomov]

This fixed my problem.

As root, backup the file: /etc/kde/kdm/kdmrc.
Then edit this file and delete the following line:

Theme=/usr/share/apps/kdm/themes/Bluecurve

Now when I login, I have KDM the way I have configured it from the KDE control center.

BTW, this same file seems handy for changing a lot of the settings for KDM. E.g., there were 2 lines in there that said, AllowRootLogin=false. This prevented me from loging in as root from KDM. Maybe a good idea, but I changed them to =true, at least fo now.

[lucian_iuga]

thanks. that helped, although it didn't solve the problem completely. I deleted the line, but then I get a black screen and the login dialog, no matter how I set it in control center. But at least I changed the theme to a nicer one I found on the computer. Still, it's not how it should be. I mean, for example, if I set it to show the KDE logo or the clock, that doesn't happen.

[lucian_iuga]

BINGO! starting from your idea, I found the README in /etc/kde/kdm and used genkdmconf which completely solved my problem. I used the --no-old option, to be sure. well,, it says there it may not work very well (as I guess happened on original install) but now it's ok.