FC2 Gnome/KDE went south on me

[Bruce Ecroyd]

After a week of running stable on a new install of FC2 (non SELinux),
something 'blipped' and now I can't log in via either KDE or Gnome
(hangs). Xfce is fine though. Most applications start up normally
under Xfce, but Evolution won't start up. All of the 'up2dates' had
been applied as of today.

I'd (ideally) like to get things back without reinstalling FC2.

Anyone have any thoughts on things I can try to see if I can isolate
what's happened?
(or a recovery mechanism).

Bruce

[Andre Costa]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 18:09:41 -0400
Bruce Ecroyd  wrote:
> After a week of running stable on a new install of FC2 (non SELinux),
> something 'blipped' and now I can't log in via either KDE or Gnome
> (hangs). Xfce is fine though. Most applications start up normally
> under Xfce, but Evolution won't start up. All of the 'up2dates' had
> been applied as of today.
>
> I'd (ideally) like to get things back without reinstalling FC2.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on things I can try to see if I can isolate
> what's happened?
> (or a recovery mechanism).
>
> Bruce

Anything weird on /var/log/messages or /var/log/XFree86.0.log ? I'm not
sure, but ~/.xsession-errors might have some useful stuff, too.

Best,

Andre

[Bruce Ecroyd]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 19:20:38 -0300, Andre Costa
 wrote:
> Anything weird on /var/log/messages or /var/log/XFree86.0.log ? I'm not
> sure, but ~/.xsession-errors might have some useful stuff, too.

Nothing unusual in the Xfree or xsession, but messages has this entry:

May 30 13:35:49 BorgCube rpc.statd[2338]: unable to register (statd, 1, udp).
May 30 13:48:49 BorgCube netfs: Mounting other filesystems:  succeeded

I have had recently some really odd startups -- a long lag after the
swap is mounted and the next stage on its way to getting to the fedora
login screen. Might be a red herring to this problem though.

Is there a good standalone disk checker -- I'll explore whether I
might have a disk problem (it's two weeks old). I'd like to cover that
off before I start reformatting it.

B.

[Andre Costa]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 18:37:01 -0400
Bruce Ecroyd  wrote:
> On Sun, 30 May 2004 19:20:38 -0300, Andre Costa
>  wrote:
> > Anything weird on /var/log/messages or /var/log/XFree86.0.log ? I'm
> > not sure, but ~/.xsession-errors might have some useful stuff, too.
>
> Nothing unusual in the Xfree or xsession, but messages has this entry:
>
> May 30 13:35:49 BorgCube rpc.statd[2338]: unable to register (statd,
> 1, udp). May 30 13:48:49 BorgCube netfs: Mounting other filesystems: 
> succeeded

Do you use NFS? If not, you could try disabling it completely:

chkconfig --level 5 nfs off
chkconfig --level 5 nfslock off
chkconfig --level 5 portmap off

('man chkconfig' is your friend ;))
> I have had recently some really odd startups -- a long lag after the
> swap is mounted and the next stage on its way to getting to the fedora
> login screen. Might be a red herring to this problem though.

Your problem could be X-related, but you said you were able to use your
box just fine for a week (also, something would come up on
XFree86.0.log). Any updates within this period?
> Is there a good standalone disk checker -- I'll explore whether I
> might have a disk problem (it's two weeks old). I'd like to cover that
> off before I start reformatting it.

Your HD should SMART-compliant, so you could try using smartctl. Run it
with --help to view all the options, but I suspect '-t' could be useful.
WARNING: your HD must be officially supported by smartctl or you might
get bogus reports. Try 'smartctl -a /dev/...' to see it something useful
comes out of it.

HTH

Andre

[Bruce Ecroyd]

Hi Andre,

This is helpful stuff.

I turned off the nfs stuff, since I'm not using on my home network.
Might as well eliminate variables, and stuff that will slow me down.

I did some updates this morning -- the updates I did this morning were
from the FC2 site. If I recall they were pretty minor.  (I've applied
all that FC2 had available so far).

The HD fortunately is SMART:

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     WDC WD400JB-00ETA0
Serial Number:    WD-WMAHM1427116
...
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining 
LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       225         -

I ran the short test, and it passed. I feel more confident that the
drive is good -- now on to figure what else happened :)

[Andre Costa]

Hi Bruce,

On Sun, 30 May 2004 19:32:36 -0400
Bruce Ecroyd  wrote:
> Hi Andre,
>
> This is helpful stuff.
>
> I turned off the nfs stuff, since I'm not using on my home network.

Exactly, I do the same here.
> Might as well eliminate variables, and stuff that will slow me down.

?... which variables? Anyway, turning useless services off is
definitely a good thing. Run 'chkconfig --list' and you will see which
services are turned on for each runlevel. If you wanna turn a specific
service off _completely_ (i.e. for all runlevels), run 'chkconfig
[service] off'.

(be careful not to disable something you need -- make sure you
understand what you're doing)
> I did some updates this morning -- the updates I did this morning were
> from the FC2 site. If I recall they were pretty minor.  (I've applied
> all that FC2 had available so far).

I suggest you review what packages have been upgraded, maybe they will
give you some clue.

I still think there's gotta be some clue somewhere on the logs... but I
know these things are hard to track =(

Since X is still a suspect, one thing you could do is leave graphical
login and start X by hand, so that you could monitor error msgs and
timings. Do this:

* CTRL+ALT+F1 (this will drop you into a text terminal)
* login as root
* run 'init 2' (this will change your runlevel to 2, which is
  non-graphical, NFS off -- take a look at /etc/inittab)
* run 'startx > /tmp/x.log 2>&1' (this will start X manually)

This should allow you to time X startup. Also, its output has been
redirected to /tmp/x.log, check this file out when you leave X (either
with logout or CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE)

In order to go back to runlevel 5 (X11), just type 'init 5; logout'.
> The HD fortunately is SMART:
>
> === START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
> Device Model:     WDC WD400JB-00ETA0
> Serial Number:    WD-WMAHM1427116
> ...
> SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
> SMART support is: Enabled
>
> === START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
> SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED
>
> SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
> Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining 
> LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
> # 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%       225  
> #       -
>
> I ran the short test, and it passed. I feel more confident that the
> drive is good -- now on to figure what else happened :)

Good news =) BTW: AFAIK you can start the long test while you're using
your computer, you will just need to check the results later on
(performance might be worse, though).

HTH

Andre

PS: Just noticed: you're the 1st person I know using gmail.com =)

[Christopher Stone]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:01:10 -0300, Andre Costa
 wrote:
> PS: Just noticed: you're the 1st person I know using gmail.com =)

hrm, I feel unoticed. =(

[Andre Costa]

=) Sorry for the oversight...

(but, FWIW, Bruce was indeed the 1st GMail person I knew ;))

This is OT, but how do you like it so far?

Best,

Andre

On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:00:24 -0700
Christopher Stone  wrote:
> On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:01:10 -0300, Andre Costa
>  wrote:
> > PS: Just noticed: you're the 1st person I know using gmail.com =)
>
> hrm, I feel unoticed. =(
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[Christopher Stone]

It's pretty good, still missing some features like a mark all messages
as read key, and a purge messages after certain date feature (crucial
for high volume mailing lists).  It would also be nice if there were a
better way to organize your mail folders into subgroups.  I've emailed
them and asked them for these features.  They are presently working on
a plain html layout (I guess for text based browsers), and the ability
to forward your emails to another account, and some other new feature
which I cant think of right now.  Overall I like it, it's really fast
and has a nice layout.  I'm slowing moving all my mail over to gmail.

On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:10:44 -0300, Andre Costa
 wrote:
> =) Sorry for the oversight...
>
> (but, FWIW, Bruce was indeed the 1st GMail person I knew ;))
>
> This is OT, but how do you like it so far?
>
> Best,
>
> Andre
>
> On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:00:24 -0700
> Christopher Stone  wrote:
> > On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:01:10 -0300, Andre Costa
> >  wrote:
> > > PS: Just noticed: you're the 1st person I know using gmail.com =)
> >
> > hrm, I feel unoticed. =(
> > --
> > fedora-list mailing list
> > [e-mail]
> > To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list
>
> --
> Andre Oliveira da Costa
>
> --
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list

[OT] GMail (WAS: FC2 Gnome/KDE went south on me)

[Andre Costa]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:16:33 -0700
Christopher Stone  wrote:
> It's pretty good, still missing some features like a mark all messages
> as read key, and a purge messages after certain date feature (crucial
> for high volume mailing lists).  It would also be nice if there were a
> better way to organize your mail folders into subgroups.  I've emailed
> them and asked them for these features.  They are presently working on
> a plain html layout (I guess for text based browsers), and the ability
> to forward your emails to another account, and some other new feature
> which I cant think of right now.  Overall I like it, it's really fast
> and has a nice layout.  I'm slowing moving all my mail over to gmail.

Cool! =) Looks like Google folks did it again... ;)

How does one subscribe? Their FAQ says "for now, it's not generally
available." =(

Best,

Andre
> On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:10:44 -0300, Andre Costa
>  wrote:
> > =) Sorry for the oversight...
> >
> > (but, FWIW, Bruce was indeed the 1st GMail person I knew ;))
> >
> > This is OT, but how do you like it so far?
> >
> > Best,
> >
> > Andre
> >
> > On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:00:24 -0700
> > Christopher Stone  wrote:
> > > On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:01:10 -0300, Andre Costa
> > >  wrote:
> > > > PS: Just noticed: you're the 1st person I know using gmail.com
> > > > =)
> > >
> > > hrm, I feel unoticed. =(

[OT] GMail (WAS: FC2 Gnome/KDE went south on me)

[Christopher Stone]

I have a friend that works for google. =)

On Sun, 30 May 2004 21:27:48 -0300, Andre Costa
 wrote:
> Cool! =) Looks like Google folks did it again... ;)
>
> How does one subscribe? Their FAQ says "for now, it's not generally
> available." =(

[OT] GMail (WAS: FC2 Gnome/KDE went south on me)

[Andre Costa]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:26:08 -0700
Christopher Stone  wrote:
> I have a friend that works for google. =)

Aha! =) I thought so ;) Guess I'll have to wait for a public release
among the millions of mere mortals out there. I can only imagine the
_huge_ load they'll experience when they make it available...

Best,

Andre

[OT] GMail (WAS: FC2 Gnome/KDE went south on me)

[Bass Freak]

I'm currently using spymac.com mail and it's already available to all 
and it has a 1 gig mailbox. So I suggest you try it too, if you don't 
want to wait for gmail.

Andre Costa wrote:
> On Sun, 30 May 2004 17:26:08 -0700
> Christopher Stone  wrote:
> > I have a friend that works for google. =)
>
> Aha! =) I thought so ;) Guess I'll have to wait for a public release
> among the millions of mere mortals out there. I can only imagine the
> _huge_ load they'll experience when they make it available...
>
> Best,
>
> Andre

[Bruce Ecroyd]

I'll try those things later on tonight when my machine is quieter --
it's sort of a 'production' machine. I'll post results tomorrow when I
have time. Thanks.

OT: And yes... gmail ....  it's really cool. I've stopped using my
yahoo mail account; this one leaves it in the dust)

Cheers,

Bruce

[Andre Costa]

On Sun, 30 May 2004 20:14:56 -0400
Bruce Ecroyd  wrote:
> I'll try those things later on tonight when my machine is quieter --
> it's sort of a 'production' machine. I'll post results tomorrow when I
> have time. Thanks.

Ok, take your time ;)
> OT: And yes... gmail ....  it's really cool. I've stopped using my
> yahoo mail account; this one leaves it in the dust)

Wow... looking forward to trying it out =}

Good luck with your investigation, make sure you post back here results.
I might not be able to look at it tomorrow, but other folks will
definitely be able to help.

Best,

Andre

[Bruce Ecroyd]

Hi Andre,

I tried the init 2 and manually sending to the log file as suggested.
The X startup showed the Fedora Core 2 splash screen, but didn't
proceed to the underlying symbols showing the startup progress. x.log
didn't have too much (no errors), since it didn't get too far.

That said.. I did manage to get KDE/GNOME back up with the following
'troubleshooting' (aka messing around):

a) I moved .kde to .kdesave (thinking that this would solve things --
duh..gnome likely doesn't use this) , and this had no effect on it
after restarting X.
b) I then figured that since both kde/gnome were fubar, I'd just clean
out the /tmp directory and restore .kdesave to .kde, and rebooted. 
That did the trick (Geoff Stitt had same idea). As far as what was
root cause, dunno for now. I'll poke around more if it reappears.

B.

[Geoff Stitt]

Try deleting /tmp/orbit-<your username> and other such files.

On Sun, May 30, 2004 at 06:09:41PM -0400, Bruce Ecroyd wrote:
> After a week of running stable on a new install of FC2 (non SELinux),
> something 'blipped' and now I can't log in via either KDE or Gnome
> (hangs). Xfce is fine though. Most applications start up normally
> under Xfce, but Evolution won't start up. All of the 'up2dates' had
> been applied as of today.
>
> I'd (ideally) like to get things back without reinstalling FC2.
>
> Anyone have any thoughts on things I can try to see if I can isolate
> what's happened?
> (or a recovery mechanism).
>
> Bruce
>
> -- 
> fedora-list mailing list
> [e-mail]
> To unsubscribe: http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list