For some reason, when I startup SUSE 9.3, I can't get into KDE, GNOME, fluxbox, or any other WM or GUI. The startup screen takes me to the SUSE login screen. I type in my login name and password and the screen would flicker 2 or 3 times and it would take me back to the login screen. I am only able to use xfce by logging in as console. I noticed that this problem started after I left my computer on over night and i rebooted it. There's gotta be a problem with the X server or even the X font server, but I'm just a novice here. Can anyone help me out with this? I'd really appreciate it. I was so frustrated with the problem, I actually upgraded my system to openSUSE 10.0, thinking that upgrading it would solve the problem, TNA. Here are my specs:

PentiumIII @933Mhz
384MB RAM
ATI Radeon 7800 (not quite sure what the model is...)

Read the X logs to see what is the problem (/var/log/Xorg.0.log).

Thanks for responding to my post Nodsu. The log file is extremely long, but I think the last message is pretty important. I'll post the entire log if you need me to, but here is the last message:

Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID, removing from list!

The majority of the log actually consists of the XFree86 configuration which I actually re-configured a few times thinking that it would fix the main problem. Does any of this help? thanks again.

These lines are normal. The fact that you get the graphical login screen indicates that X is somewhat operational. You could try using another greeter program. If you have kdm, remove it and try with gdm or xdm.

I checked the log file and there are no EE messages, only WW messages. The bulk of the WW messages had this:

(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/PEX" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/misc" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/75dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/100dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin2/Type1" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/latin7/75dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/baekmuk" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/japanese" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/kwintv" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/misc" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/75dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/ucs/100dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/misc" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/75dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/100dpi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/hellas/Type1" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/sgi" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(WW) The directory "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/xtest" does not exist.
Entry deleted from font path.
(**) FontPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/URW,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/uni:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID,/opt/kde3/share/fonts"

Also:

(WW) RADEON(0): Failed to detect secondary monitor, MergedFB/Clone mode disabled
(==) RADEON(0): Using gamma correction (1.0, 1.0, 1.0)
(II) RADEON(0): Validating modes on Primary head ---------
(WW) RADEON(0): config file hsync range 28-70kHz not within DDC hsync ranges.
(WW) RADEON(0): config file vrefresh range 43-180Hz not within DDC vrefresh ranges.
(II) RADEON(0): Monitor[0]: Using hsync range of 28.00-70.00 kHz
(II) RADEON(0): Monitor[0]: Using vrefresh range of 43.00-180.00 Hz
(II) RADEON(0): Clock range: 12.00 to 350.00 MHz
(WW) (1152x864,Monitor[0]) mode clock 93.9MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (1152x864,Monitor[0]) mode clock 78.82MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (1024x768,Monitor[0]) mode clock 86.18MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (1024x768,Monitor[0]) mode clock 73.89MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (1024x768,Monitor[0]) mode clock 61.89MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 73.98MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 66.71MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 58.73MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 51.73MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 44.13MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (800x600,Monitor[0]) mode clock 36.88MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 67.79MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 61.21MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 53.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 47.41MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 40.41MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (768x576,Monitor[0]) mode clock 33.74MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 57.18MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 51.43MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 46.8MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 42.22MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 36.97MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 32.64MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 27.74MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x480,Monitor[0]) mode clock 23.06MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x350,Monitor[0]) mode clock 31.5MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x175,Monitor[0]) mode clock 15.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (640x400,Monitor[0]) mode clock 31.5MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x200,Monitor[0]) mode clock 15.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (720x400,Monitor[0]) mode clock 35.5MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (360x200,Monitor[0]) mode clock 17.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x240,Monitor[0]) mode clock 12.6MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x240,Monitor[0]) mode clock 15.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x240,Monitor[0]) mode clock 15.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (320x240,Monitor[0]) mode clock 18MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (400x300,Monitor[0]) mode clock 18MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (400x300,Monitor[0]) mode clock 20MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (400x300,Monitor[0]) mode clock 25MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (400x300,Monitor[0]) mode clock 24.75MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (400x300,Monitor[0]) mode clock 28.15MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz
(WW) (512x384,Monitor[0]) mode clock 22.45MHz exceeds DDC maximum 0MHz

I probably messed up my configurations when I used Xfree86config. Do I go to the xorg file to change kdm to xdm? Thanks again for everyone who is contributing.

Nothing wrong in the X log..

The easiest way to change greeters is to uninstall them. Uninstall kdm and it should switch to gdm. After uninstalling gdm you get xdm.

What happens if you run the window managers manually? From command line run X (a la "X :1"), then set your active display to that (export DISPLAY=:1) and run some window manager (gnome-session). You should see any error messages on the console.

I'd like to thank everyone again for all the responses. So I uninstalled kdm and now xdm is the window manager that starts up. I try to login with the name and password, but I run into the same problem of logging in and having the screen flicker a few times. The screen then goes back to the X graphical login screen. I want to get KDE to work again! What's going on here? My linux machine has been running fine until a few days ago. What gives?

Try running kde from command line to see what errors you get. startkde is the command..

This is what I got:

xset: unable to open display '' ''
xset: unable to open display '' ''
xsetroot: unable to open display ' '
startkde: Starting up...
kdeinit: Aborting. $DISPLAY is not set.
Warning: connect() failed: : No such file or directory
ksmserver: cannot connect to X server.
ERROR: Couldn't attach to DCOP server!
startkde: Shutting down...
Warning: connect() failed: : No such file or directory
ERROT: Can't contact kdeinit!
startkde: Running shutdown scripts
startkde: Done.

I hope this pinpoints the problem

Doesn't pinpoint anything yet.. You have to set the display to use. As I said before, start a new clean X server (run "X :1 &"), say that you want to use that one ("export DISPLAY=:1"), then start your desktop ("startkde").

It's been a while since I posted a message. I never fixed my problem, but I would like to thank everyone that contributed to the effort.

this should solve your problem

i had the same prob as you for 2 days but in the end i found a working solution for this tricky problem.

you should open yast (via console: # yast2) then go to "system" and open the editor for sysconfig files. on the left of the opening window turn to "desktop" an select "display manager". here you must choose "kdm" and set is as standard. then you must select "window manager" -> choose "kde", set as standard. after reboot the system it should work as is should.

i hope these hints fix your problem. if not email me (olibaybay@web.de)

greets webbug

New Guy with Same Problem

I just installed Linux a week ago on a new system (Suse 9.3) and have been setting things up (apache, samba etc) when I started having the same problem that wheninrome had, messaging is virtually identical....

I followed the suggestion of starting a new X server and exporting the display before starting KDE and....it worked!

I then went through yast2 to try the next suggestion for settings but all the settings suggestions were already in place on my system.

So I can make it work.. but of course, that's a little inconvenient..and I was wondering if anyone might have some further ideas on troubleshooting to resolve.

My system is new, I could easily and painlessly re-install but would like to understand what's going on...