KDE4 won't let me login

matrix13 · 2012-06-19 16:52:04

I installed KDE4 using pacman. I was using xfce4 util this time. I have not removed xfce4 before installing kde.
I installed a minimal version of kde. Modified inittab as per Arch wiki for installing kde.
When I rebooted, it presents me with the KDE login screen. I typed in my password and pressed enter. It did not log me in. The screen went black and after a second the login screen got displayed again. It was as if I entered a wrong password (the password was correct though).
I tried startkde in console. It gave me the following error message,

$DISPLAY is not set or cannot connect to the X server

I cannot use startx as it starts Xfce. I have also added kdm to daemons.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Inxsible · 2012-06-19 17:02:58

I see a lot of things wrong here.

matrix13 wrote:

Modified inittab as per Arch wiki for installing kde.

The recommended way I believe is to put kdm in your daemons and not mess with the inittab file. But if you still prefer to use inittab, have you changed your runlevel to 5? Show us your inittab.

matrix13 wrote:

I cannot use startx as it starts Xfce

So change it to KDE. That's because you told it to use XFCE at one point of time in your .xinitrc. This takes only one line to change and is probably the simplest method.

I think you are mixing a couple different methods which is screwing up the process.

matrix13 · 2012-06-20 01:53:18

Thank you Inxsible.

The recommended way I believe is to put kdm in your daemons and not mess with the inittab file

The recommended way described in ArchWiki for starting KDE is through /etc/inittab. That's why I followed it. Anyways I will try with kdm in daemons. Following is my inittab.

#
# /etc/inittab
#

#  Runlevels:
#    0    Halt
#    1(S)	Single-user
#    2    Not used
#    3    Multi-user
#    4    Not used
#    5    X11
#    6    Reboot

## Only one of the following two lines can be uncommented!
# Boot to console
#id:3:initdefault:
# Boot to X11
id:5:initdefault:

rc::sysinit:/etc/rc.sysinit
rs:S1:wait:/etc/rc.single
rm:2345:wait:/etc/rc.multi
rh:06:wait:/etc/rc.shutdown
su:S:wait:/sbin/sulogin -p

# -8 options fixes umlauts problem on login
c1:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty1 linux
c2:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty2 linux
c3:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty3 linux
c4:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty4 linux
c5:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty5 linux
c6:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 tty6 linux

# Serial Virtual Console for KVM and others VMs
#s0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 9600 ttyS0 linux

# Hypervisor Virtual Console for Xen and KVM
#h0:2345:respawn:/sbin/agetty -8 -s 38400 hvc0 linux

ca::ctrlaltdel:/sbin/shutdown -t3 -r now

# Example lines for starting a login manager
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/xdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/sbin/gdm -nodaemon
x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/kdm -nodaemon
#x:5:respawn:/usr/bin/slim >/dev/null 2>&1

# End of file

I will also change in .xinitrc and try it with startx.
But I have one doubt in this. If I use this method, do I have to disable other methods viz. starting KDM through /etc/inittab and starting KDM as a daemon?

matrix13 · 2012-06-20 14:10:03

I tried all the methods separately. Nothing lets me go beyond the login screen.
I am using nvidia graphics card. Does that matter for KDE? Because Xfce4 is running perfectly.

Trilby · 2012-06-20 14:16:04

Usually this issue is because not everything was installed. You say you installed "KDE4" - which packages exactly?

matrix13 · 2012-06-20 14:32:15

I did

 # pacman -S kdebase kde-l10n-en_gb phonon-vlc

Shark · 2012-06-20 15:40:45

When you install kdebase this options appears:

 1) kde-wallpapers  2) kdebase-dolphin  3) kdebase-kdepasswd  4) kdebase-kdialog  5) kdebase-keditbookmarks  6) kdebase-kfind  7) kdebase-konq-plugins  8) kdebase-konqueror
   9) kdebase-konsole  10) kdebase-kwrite  11) kdebase-plasma

Which of it have you chosen? You have to choose kdebase-plasma to have a working environment but i would recomend you to choose all.

matrix13 · 2012-06-20 16:53:03

I had chosen 'all' here.
I also reinstalled all the three main packages. That also did not solve the issue.

Shark · 2012-06-20 17:06:25

Post /var/log/xorg.0.log.

You could check this post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=142505

Last edited by Shark (2012-06-20 17:09:46)

cfr · 2012-06-21 00:12:02

Somebody will correct me if I'm wrong but I am not sure it is a good idea to try to use one method to start KDE and another to start XFCE. If you use the recommended method for starting KDE on boot (inittab), you should use the same method to start XFCE and comment out the exec line in ~/.xinitrc. If you want to be able to pick at boot time either use the inittab method or set something up for startx but don't try to use both (and don't use the daemon in this case unless you want to keep editing rc.conf). I imagine that using KDM and removing the exec line in ~/.xinitrc is easiest unless you want to be able to not start the GUI (but there are methods to allow this, too).

EDIT: When you have e.g. "exec xfce" or whatever in ~/.xinitrc, you are effectively trying to start both KDE and XFCE in the same session and that is obviously unlikely to turn out well... (Caveat: if you have customised config files, this might not apply.)

Last edited by cfr (2012-06-21 00:21:21)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-06-19 16:52:04

KDE4 won't let me login

#2 2012-06-19 17:02:58

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#3 2012-06-20 01:53:18

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#4 2012-06-20 14:10:03

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#5 2012-06-20 14:16:04

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#6 2012-06-20 14:32:15

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#7 2012-06-20 15:40:45

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#8 2012-06-20 16:53:03

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#9 2012-06-20 17:06:25

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

#10 2012-06-21 00:12:02

Re: KDE4 won't let me login

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