Transition from Debian

[David A. Cobb]

Or, maybe it's a kernel 2.6.10 vs 2.6.12 issue.

I've installed Ubuntu, and at this point my system is 99+44/100 %
"Breezy."  I keep the "Hoary" kernel around just-in-case.

And it's a good thing I do!
I use Gnome on the desktop, when I boot into kernel 2.6.10 and log into
GDM the following happen:
1) Play a chord, display "army green" screen;  after a delay,
2) Play a second chord, display splash panel, start up Metacity, Panel,
Nautilus -- they display emplems as they start; then after further delay,
3) Display my desktop background and (eventually) my panels and I'm in
business.

BUT, when I boot into kernel 2.6.12 and _try_ to log into GDM, the
following happen:
1) Play a chord, display "army green" screen.

The disk goes into frantic activity.
I can go and make a sandwich, eat it, and the army green screen is still
the only display.
The system is so locked up I cannot interrupt it.

CTL+ALT+BKSP to kill the X-server, and I can get a console to log root onto.
However, the system is still so tightly locked up that Shutdown cannot
shut down.  Inevitably, I wind up pushing the panic (reset) button. 
When it re-boots the journal on the /home partition has to replay over
1000 transactions.  /tmp has to replay a couple.

This is much more likely to be a configuration problem than a kernel
problem.  So, unless someone can say "Oh, yeah, that happened to me and
it was . . . ."  let me start by asking how I can "instrument" my system
to get useful debugging information out for the GDM/Gnome startup functions.

Just in case it may be worth something, I CAN log root into a "Fail-safe
Terminal Session."  But nothing I do will let me get the GUI up on 2.6.12.

-- 
David A. Cobb, Software Engineer, Public Access Advocate
"By God's Grace, I am a Christian man; by my actions a great sinner." -- The Way of a Pilgrim: R.French, Tr.
Free at last!  Free at last!  Using Linux, I'm FREE at last!
Life is too short to tolerate crappy software!