login problem with Ubuntu 10.4

[Rashkae]

macbeth wrote:
> Afternoon folks,
> 
> I downloaded Ubuntu 10.4 the other night and installed it on a machine that
> had 8.04 on it.
> 
> Everything looked just fine.  Rebooted, got to the login screen, logged in
> and gnome came up.  After about a second, the screen flashed black and went
> back to the login screen.
> 
> Try as I might, I can't get in.  I went into safe Gnome just fine, but I
> have no idea what to look for.  Or, even what to google for.
> 
> Any thoughts, pointers, sites, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> thanks,
> Michael
> 
> 


Login the text console (or use the safe Gnome).

For text console, at the login prompt, prest Ctl-Alt-F1 on your 
keyboard.  Once logged in, rename your home folder.  Example

sudo mv /home/username /home/username.bak  (substitute username for your 
login username)

sudo mkdir /home/username
sudo chown username /home/username


Press Ctl-Alt-F7 (or maybe F8) to return to the GDM login prompt.  You 
should now be able to log in to a fresh Gnome desktop.    You will have 
to copy the files you want to keep from your old username.bak into your 
new home folder.

This method is a bit extreme, since it will wipe out all your 
preferences and create lots of work to restore some important folders. 
(you might, for example want to restore the .mozilla, .evolution and 
.gconf/apps/evolution folders from the .bak folder to restore your 
Firefox data and Evolution e-mail/schedule.

As an alternative, when you log in to safe gnome, you can start renaming 
hidden files/folders (they start with a .) by adding a .bak extension 
until you find the one that is causing gnome to crash.  Then, at least, 
if you want to get specific, you will know which program / config  file 
is causing the problem.