GDM / Gnome do not launch

onkehh · 2014-10-03 12:30:41

This is a "salvaged" install (was left unupdated for about 2 years and finally got it all up-to-date). Unfortunately, neither GDM or Gnome work. Launching GDM just freezes the tty and nothing happens. Launching Gnome directly (exec gnome-session in .xinitrc) launches Xorg but I just get the "oh no" of doom message and have to close it.

I'm currently posting from Xfce4 which works fine so it looks my hardware/Xorg is working fine. I had a look in /var/log/gdm but there's nothing in there so not even sure which logs I should be checking for this. I'm using Nvidia/Intel combo (optimus) laptop with regular Intel driver/Nouveau. Any pointers would be most appreciated. Thanks.

prakharsingh95 · 2014-10-03 13:37:53

onkehh wrote:

This is a "salvaged" install (was left unupdated for about 2 years and finally got it all up-to-date). Unfortunately, neither GDM or Gnome work. Launching GDM just freezes the tty and nothing happens. Launching Gnome directly (exec gnome-session in .xinitrc) launches Xorg but I just get the "oh no" of doom message and have to close it.
I'm currently posting from Xfce4 which works fine so it looks my hardware/Xorg is working fine. I had a look in /var/log/gdm but there's nothing in there so not even sure which logs I should be checking for this. I'm using Nvidia/Intel combo (optimus) laptop with regular Intel driver/Nouveau. Any pointers would be most appreciated. Thanks.

If you can get

startx

to run (from tty), then try reinstalling gnome or kde.

onkehh · 2014-10-03 14:58:35

Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned it does not work via startx either. I guess what I'm really looking for is the relevant log files I need to go through to find the cause of the problem.

prakharsingh95 · 2014-10-03 18:04:52

onkehh wrote:

Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned it does not work via startx either. I guess what I'm really looking for is the relevant log files I need to go through to find the cause of the problem.

Like I said, if you cannot get startx to run, go through the wiki, and try reinstalling drivers. This has excellent combinations for any hardware configuration you might have.

Last edited by prakharsingh95 (2014-10-03 18:05:45)

onkehh · 2014-10-03 23:41:45

prakharsingh95 wrote:

onkehh wrote:
Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned it does not work via startx either. I guess what I'm really looking for is the relevant log files I need to go through to find the cause of the problem.
Like I said, if you cannot get startx to run, go through the wiki, and try reinstalling drivers. This has excellent combinations for any hardware configuration you might have.

You said reinstall Gnome or KDE (?) not drivers. Anyway Xorg is working fine as Xfce runs without issue.

prakharsingh95 · 2014-10-04 00:01:59

onkehh wrote:

prakharsingh95 wrote:
onkehh wrote:
Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned it does not work via startx either. I guess what I'm really looking for is the relevant log files I need to go through to find the cause of the problem.
Like I said, if you cannot get startx to run, go through the wiki, and try reinstalling drivers. This has excellent combinations for any hardware configuration you might have.
You said reinstall Gnome or KDE (?) not drivers. Anyway Xorg is working fine as Xfce runs without issue.

If you have working graphics drivers startx should work, and consequently desktop environments (Apologies, I misread "not via startx" as "startx doesn't work"). You should definitely reinstall gnome (and graphics drivers) from wiki though, since your system is old.

brittyazel · 2014-10-04 07:21:28

The system is most likely now using systemd where it was not before. Try: sudo systemctl enable gdm , then: sudo systemctl start gdm

onkehh · 2014-10-04 09:07:23

brittyazel wrote:

The system is most likely now using systemd where it was not before. Try: sudo systemctl enable gdm , then: sudo systemctl start gdm

Thanks I just tried that but it I just get the cursor marker frozen in the top left and the whole tty is stuck like that.

brittyazel · 2014-10-04 10:33:12

Weird....there might just be too much incompatibility with your old arch install and the current software. The issue is just with Gnome/GDM? Are you using networkmanager for networking? I'm just trying to think of what systemd services you would need to enable to get a full working gnome desktop. Really just gdm/networkmanager/cups should do it...

Last edited by brittyazel (2014-10-04 10:35:20)

Thorsten Reinbold · 2014-10-04 11:32:46

onkehh wrote:

This is a "salvaged" install (was left unupdated for about 2 years and finally got it all up-to-date).

Seriously: save your data and make a fresh install from scratch. That will be much faster and easier than hunting the bugs down.

hokasch · 2014-10-04 12:03:04

I had a look in /var/log/gdm but there's nothing in there so not even sure which logs I should be checking for this.

Logs are in the systemd journal, see:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/systemd#Journal

Arch Linux

#1 2014-10-03 12:30:41

GDM / Gnome do not launch

#2 2014-10-03 13:37:53

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#3 2014-10-03 14:58:35

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#4 2014-10-03 18:04:52

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#5 2014-10-03 23:41:45

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#6 2014-10-04 00:01:59

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#7 2014-10-04 07:21:28

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#8 2014-10-04 09:07:23

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#9 2014-10-04 10:33:12

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#10 2014-10-04 11:32:46

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

#11 2014-10-04 12:03:04

Re: GDM / Gnome do not launch

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