[SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

pbt · 2018-03-23 19:33:56

Running LXDM from init on a tower workstation. Logon to Xfce4 session hangs, leaving only cursor visible.
Ctrl-Alt-F2 works, login as root and pkill x returns to LXDM logon screen. However, LXDE sessions work with no issues.

Tried following solutions:

Removed ~/.cache/session -> Xfce4 hangs.
LightDM instead of lxdm -> Xfce4 hangs.
Created a new user account -> Xfce4 session successful!
The new user account has bash shell. My original user account, which is unable to use Xfce4, had zsh.
Replaced /bin/zsh with /bin/bash (using chsh) -> Xfce4 hangs.

Attached part of journal displaying hanging Xfce4 logon:

...
Mar 23 19:06:14 hendrix lxdm-session[3833]: pam_unix(lxdm:session): session opened for user pbt by (uid=0)
Mar 23 19:06:14 hendrix systemd-logind[479]: New session c3 of user pbt.
Mar 23 19:06:14 hendrix systemd[1]: Started Session c3 of user pbt.
Mar 23 19:06:14 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Activating service name='org.xfce.Xfconf' requested by ':1.42' (uid=1000 pid=3858 comm="xfce4-session ")
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Successfully activated service 'org.xfce.Xfconf'
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix systemd[2509]: Started GnuPG cryptographic agent and passphrase cache.
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.2.5 starting in supervised mode.
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: using fd 3 for extra socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.extra)
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: using fd 4 for ssh socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.ssh)
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: using fd 5 for std socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent)
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: using fd 6 for browser socket (/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent.browser)
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix gpg-agent[3867]: listening on: std=5 extra=3 browser=6 ssh=4
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix polkitd[909]: Registered Authentication Agent for unix-session:c3 (system bus name :1.92 [/usr/lib/polkit-gnome/polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1], >
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1' requested by ':1.50' (uid=1000 pid=38>
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix tumblerd[3907]: Failed to load plugin "tumbler-ffmpeg-thumbnailer.so": libffmpegthumbnailer.so.4: cannot open shared object file: No such file or dire>
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Activating via systemd: service name='org.freedesktop.Notifications' unit='xfce4-notifyd.service' reque>
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix systemd[2509]: Starting XFCE notifications service...
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix tumblerd[3907]: Failed to load plugin "tumbler-raw-thumbnailer.so": libopenrawgnome.so.7: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[2533]: Registered thumbailer gsf-office-thumbnailer -i %i -o %o -s %s
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1[2533]: Registered thumbailer /usr/bin/gdk-pixbuf-thumbnailer -s %s %u %o
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.thumbnails.Thumbnailer1'
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix xfce4-notifyd[3910]: Couldn't connect to accessibility bus: Failed to connect to socket /tmp/dbus-yVDTqtH5v5: Connection refused
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix dbus-daemon[2533]: [session uid=1000 pid=2533] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.Notifications'
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix systemd[2509]: Started XFCE notifications service.
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix pkexec[3925]: pam_unix(polkit-1:session): session opened for user root by (uid=1000)
Mar 23 19:06:15 hendrix pkexec[3925]: pbt: Executing command [USER=root] [TTY=unknown] [CWD=/] [COMMAND=/usr/bin/xfpm-power-backlight-helper --set-brightness-switch 0]
Mar 23 19:06:48 hendrix systemd[1]: Started Getty on tty2.
...

Apparently some misconfigured setting makes Xfce4 hang. Where should I look next?

Last edited by pbt (2018-03-25 09:15:09)

R00KIE · 2018-03-23 20:48:47

See if you have anything in ~/.config/xfce4-session and either delete the contents or rename the directory and try again.

I remember when I started using Arch and Xfce that sometimes I would have a similar problem and it was because xfce was saving the session on logout, if you disable that it should keep working fine, this assuming some borked save state is what is causing the problem.

pbt · 2018-03-24 10:09:51

Thank you for the suggestion. No impact, however.

[pbt@hendrix .config]$ ls -la xfce4-session/
total 8
drwx------  2 pbt pbt 4096 Oct 26  2016 .
drwxr-xr-x 62 pbt pbt 4096 Mar 24 11:12 ..
[pbt@hendrix .config]$ mv xfce4-session/ old-xfce4-session/

-> Xfce4 hangs.

collector1871 · 2018-03-24 10:24:57

Clear cache/config files.
And try turn off feature "save session for future logins".
I am using xfce4 without saved sessions since few years and never had any problems.

pbt · 2018-03-25 08:24:27

Cleared cache -> Xfce4 still hangs.
Is it possible to turn off "save session for future logins" from any configuration file?
As Xfce4 hangs, I am unable to reach the "Settings" menu.

pbt · 2018-03-25 09:14:44

Workaround found:

rm .ICEauthority .Xauthority
touch .ICEauthority
touch .Xauthority

Seems like the .authority files have been corrupted. My bad I was too eager to get it work, now I do not know which one was the trouble origin.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-03-23 19:33:56

[SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

#2 2018-03-23 20:48:47

Re: [SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

#3 2018-03-24 10:09:51

Re: [SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

#4 2018-03-24 10:24:57

Re: [SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

#5 2018-03-25 08:24:27

Re: [SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

#6 2018-03-25 09:14:44

Re: [SOLVED] Xfce4 hangs at logon

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