[PLUG] Slackware login pain

[King Beowulf]

On 1/5/19 2:34 PM, Dick Steffens wrote:
> Sometime yesterday (see thread Can't kill process) I lost the ability to
> log in to my Slackware machine, ENU-2, from its keyboard. I can log in
> via ssh from another machine. I have successfully mounted a USB stick
> and copied all the directories in my Downloads directory and copied them
> to this machine (the one I'm typing on).
> 
> Just a few minutes ago I thought I'd try logging in from ENU-2's
> keyboard. I had a look a the options and saw one of them is called
> Failsafe. So, I gave it a try. While it works, it provides only a small
> terminal window, which works for awhile, but then stops responding to
> anything other than <ctrl>d. I do that enough times and it logs me out.
> I can log back in to Failsafe, but not KDE, KDE (Failsafe), or XFCE.
> When I enter my password, the screen briefly shows the beginnings of the
> initial phases of logging in, but then goes blank, and returns to the
> login screen.
> 
> At this point I'm seriously considering starting over. I have all the
> stuff I downloaded for various add on programs, so reinstalling them
> will take a little less time than before.
> 
> I there any good reason I shouldn't go this route?
> 

Hello Dick,

The other replies have some good ideas, but lets go back to basics since
you can ssh in.  I do not think there is a need to reinstall from
scratch just yet.

When you leave the login manager, X tries to load all the other stuff
and can't, so exits and the login manager reloads. Thus .  If you select
the option to instead exit, a list gives you the option to exit to the
console (no X) instead of rebooting/shut down, as though you had set
inittab to runlevel 3 (console) and not runlevel 4 (GUI)

When X is running, you can access virtual terminals via:

ctrl-alt-F1     log messages for running X
ctrl-alt-F[2-6] text console login
ctrl-alt-F7     return to X screen

Since you had too new of a nvidia driver, lets return to stock and ty again.

Remove Nvidia and check operation
=================================
1. log in via ssh. edit /etc/inittab to remove GUI login:

# Default runlevel. (Do not set to 0 or 6)
id:3:initdefault:

2. reboot.  After, you should have a login prompt. Does your keyboard
work? Can you log in?  If No, post back any errors.

*IF YES*

log in as root.  remove nvidia drivers and reinstall xserver and mesa:

nvidia-switch --remove
slackpkg remove nvidia-driver
slackpkg remove nvidia-kernel

slackpkg reinstall mesa
slackpkg reinstall xorg-server

(make sure you pick the newest versions of both)

now, check for busted nvidia symlinks and delete them

ls -l /usr/lib64/libGL*
ls -l /usr/lib64/libGLES*
ls -l /usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx*

now comment out the nouveau blacklist in
/etc/modprobe.d/BLACKLIST-nouveau.conf:

# Do not load the kernel nouveau dri module, since it interferes with both
# the nv and binary nvidia drivers.

#blacklist nouveau

(once you re-install nvidia, you will need to blacklist the nouveau
module again)

reboot. Once the console comes back up, log in as regular user and

startx

note any errors on screen and in /var/log/Xorg.0.log

If the DE starts up, do the mouse, keyboard work work? Any startup errors?

depending on your use case, the nouveau driver may be plenty good
enough. If not, reinstall the nvidia-390 drivers from Slackbuilds.org if
nouveau works.

I recommend sticking with runlevel 3 until everything is configured to
your liking.  X is a weird beast. best not to jab it with a stick.

-Ed

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