Desktop logs out and goes away [Solved]

[Roc4fun]

Hi All,  I've got an issue I don't know how to troubleshoot...  Since the last KDE update my desktop goes away when I log out.  My power stays on, but my screen goes dark and I never get the login screen.

I've tried to check in .xsessionerrors, but when this happens I have to reisub and restart thus resetting the errors file.

Any ideas would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[jimwilk]

Roc4fun,

Dave,
I don't know if I have read your problem correctly. However, we have two machines here running upgraded KDE and when we log out, something strange happens. If we select Shutdown by pressing that button, additional questions are asked and it is difficult to get the machines to power off.

However, if we press the tiny downward arrow at the bottom of the Shutdown button, the machines power off successfully. I wonder if this is the same feature that you describe. We don't find it a serious problem and use the downward arrow as a workaround.

Jim

[pags]

Making some assumptions, here...

I presume, when you first boot-up, that the login screen displays fine?  Do you have auto-login enabled (I'm guessing not, but only you know).

After logout, and the "black screen", have you tried CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE (arrow)?  Try it a couple times.  This resets the entire X system (without rebooting the machine).  Maybe X isn't re-initializing after logout?

[kjpetrie]

Three other tips:

1. Can you get to a terminal with Ctrl+Alt +F2? If so, you can log in there and use less .xsession-errors to read the file.

2. You could create a second user. Then, next time it happens and you have to restart, login as the second user, open a terminal and su to your normal user in the terminal and then navigate to that user's .xsession-errors file which should be from the previous failed session as that user.

3. Or restart from a livecd and use that to read the .xsession-errors file on the installed system.

[Roc4fun]

Thanks All for the helpful ideas.  Further information and new developments...

I was able to look at the Xorg.0.log and it had an error   HID 0566:3108: failed to initialize for relative axis.  Other errors of this nature led me to recall I had changed the keyboard type from generic 104 key to a Microsoft office type to try and get some further functionality from my existing Enermax keyboard.  I changed back to the generic 104 key and now when I log out I go to a text login and startx. 

Typically, in the past I would get a graphic login.  Although, I have autologin enabled and that works when starting cold boot or restart.

It seems odd that these are related, but I've been surprised before.  Certainly, the text login isn't problematic.  I just hope it isn't indicative of something fundamentally wrong.

Would reinstalling KDM be a reasonable thing to try?

[kjpetrie]

Sounds more like a need to find the right interface for the keyboard.

[pags]

Thanks All for the helpful ideas.  Further information and new developments...

I was able to look at the Xorg.0.log and it had an error   HID 0566:3108: failed to initialize for relative axis.  Other errors of this nature led me to recall I had changed the keyboard type from generic 104 key to a Microsoft office type to try and get some further functionality from my existing Enermax keyboard.  I changed back to the generic 104 key and now when I log out I go to a text login and startx. 

Typically, in the past I would get a graphic login.  Although, I have autologin enabled and that works when starting cold boot or restart.

It seems odd that these are related, but I've been surprised before.  Certainly, the text login isn't problematic.  I just hope it isn't indicative of something fundamentally wrong.

Would reinstalling KDM be a reasonable thing to try?

A possible test (not sure if this could be "un-done" afterward...depends on the root cause) could be to disable auto-login and see if you get the KDM screen after a cold boot or reboot...

[Roc4fun]

Thanks for that, pags.  Great minds think alike!  I tried that and got the text login. 

Another perhaps related phenomonon... the leave portion of my Kmenu seems to be missing the shutdown and reboot options.  When I cold boot the choices are there, but subsequently disappear.  I've checked that those are enabled in systemsettings.  It's a mystery.

I've considered making a new user account and see if that develops the same issues.  If not, I could then migrate to the new account.

[pags]

You can try the new user approach...can't hurt anything.

I would suspect, however, that the loading of KDM is a system issue (since there are no users logged in, when it occurs).  Have you tried re-installing KDM?  Also, you might consider changing the KDM theme, to see if there is a problem there.

[Roc4fun]

I did reinstall KDM and that seems to have fixed my issues. 

Thanks as always. 

Dave