One F7 machine not finding itself

[Beartooth]

Suddenly, on a machine which has been running F7 since F7 came out, I can 
no longer log in. 

Instead of the usual login screen, I get a gray window without the usual 
bar on top, which first says it is scanning the local network, and then 
that "No serving hosts were found."

If I type in 127.0.0.1, or localhost, or localdomain, or its 192.168.x.y, 
or  lo, or localhost.localdomain, or localhost@localdomain, and try to 
add it, I get a new box with a "do not enter" symbol and the title "Did 
not receive response from server," below which is a paragraph saying it 
didn't get it in 3 seconds, and adding "Perhaps the host is not turned 
on, or is not willing to support a login session right now. Please try 
again later." Or if not that box, one (particularly for lo) suggesting 
that I might have mistyped it.

If I ssh into it from another machine behind the same router, however, it 
accepts that; and /sbin/ifconfig confirms its own 192.168.x.y, its proper 
MACs (one for eth0 and one for eth1), and the 192.168.x.y for the machine 
I'm working from.

If I look at "cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf" I see nothing obviously strange 
except that there are an awful lot of modes (twelve of them) in Section 
"Screen" -- but the first one, 1280x1024, is correct for my monitor, 
which another section correctly identifies an an lcd.

If I become root and ssh into the problem machine, it lets me; but when I 
try telling it startx, it claims X is already running.

If, as it suggests, I remove /tmp/.X0-lock, and try startx again, I get 
several screenfuls of messages, which I can't even scroll back to -- and 
startx|less does the same!

What have I fouled up so royally this time, and what (if possible, short 
of reinstalling F7) can I do about it? (I know perfectly well how 
helpless I am without a GUI; it doesn't have to rub my nose in it.)

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert
Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about.

[Development discussions related to Fedora]

Beartooth wrote:
>  Suddenly, on a machine which has been running F7 since F7 came out, I
> can 
>  no longer log in. 
>  
>  Instead of the usual login screen, I get a gray window without the usual 
>  bar on top, which first says it is scanning the local network, and then 
>  that "No serving hosts were found."
>  
>  If I type in 127.0.0.1, or localhost, or localdomain, or its 192.168.x.y, 
>  or  lo, or localhost.localdomain, or localhost@localdomain, and try to 
>  add it, I get a new box with a "do not enter" symbol and the title "Did 
>  not receive response from server," below which is a paragraph saying it 
>  didn't get it in 3 seconds, and adding "Perhaps the host is not turned 
>  on, or is not willing to support a login session right now. Please try 
>  again later." Or if not that box, one (particularly for lo) suggesting 
>  that I might have mistyped it.
>  
>  If I ssh into it from another machine behind the same router, however, it 
>  accepts that; and /sbin/ifconfig confirms its own 192.168.x.y, its proper 
>  MACs (one for eth0 and one for eth1), and the 192.168.x.y for the machine 
>  I'm working from.
>  
>  If I look at "cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf" I see nothing obviously strange 
>  except that there are an awful lot of modes (twelve of them) in Section 
>  "Screen" -- but the first one, 1280x1024, is correct for my monitor, 
>  which another section correctly identifies an an lcd.
>  
>  If I become root and ssh into the problem machine, it lets me; but when I 
>  try telling it startx, it claims X is already running.
>  
>  If, as it suggests, I remove /tmp/.X0-lock, and try startx again, I get 
>  several screenfuls of messages, which I can't even scroll back to -- and 
>  startx|less does the same!
>  
>  What have I fouled up so royally this time, and what (if possible, short 
>  of reinstalling F7) can I do about it? (I know perfectly well how 
>  helpless I am without a GUI; it doesn't have to rub my nose in it.) 
Shrug.
mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf to backup.
setup
x window setup
perhaps that will get you a fresh as detected config.

What has changed since it last worked ?
different screen ?
screen plugged in a different video output ?
fedora updates ?

DaveT.

[Beartooth]

On Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:13:48 +1000, David Timms wrote:

>  Beartooth wrote:
> > Suddenly, on a machine which has been running F7 since F7 came out, I
> > can no longer log in. 
[...]
> > What have I fouled up so royally this time, and what (if
> possible,
> > short of reinstalling F7) can I do about it? (I know perfectly well how
> > helpless I am without a GUI; it doesn't have to rub my nose in it.) 
>  Shrug.
>  mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf to backup.
>  setup
>  x window setup
>  perhaps that will get you a fresh as detected config. 
Well, I tried all that, several different ways, over ssh; and never 
reached a stage where I could log directly into the machine itself.

So I finally took a deep breath, and hit it with the big hammer. Fresh 
install, this time with the DVD in an external drive -- but with K, V, & 
M connected directly, not through the KVM switch. (I've still had to re-
change the display a couple of times. It seems to want to believe it has 
either an 800x600 or a 1900x1200 screen -- or a CRT instead of an LCD.)

I'll get most of my configuration back, by scp-ing it in from another 
machine, as I've described here -- but first I have to make sure all the 
right apps are installed, including some such as Pine and Opera which yum 
doesn't handle. (Nor does even pirut.)
 
>  What has changed since it last worked ? different screen ?
>  screen plugged in a different video output ? fedora updates ? 
I wish I knew.

-- 
Beartooth Staffwright, PhD, Neo-Redneck Linux Convert
Remember I know precious little of what I am talking about.

[Adalbert Prokop]

Beartooth wrote on Sunday 01 July 2007:

>  Instead of the usual login screen, I get a gray window without the
>  usual bar on top, which first says it is scanning the local network,
>  and then that "No serving hosts were found." 
I make a guess: maybe you set your graphical login manager to make a 
remote login? I know similar windows from KDM. Search for a option to 
make a local login.

>  If I type in 127.0.0.1, or localhost, or localdomain, or its
>  192.168.x.y, or  lo, or localhost.localdomain, or
>  localhost@localdomain, and try to add it, I get a new box with a "do
>  not enter" symbol and the title "Did not receive response from server,"
>  below which is a paragraph saying it didn't get it in 3 seconds, and
>  adding "Perhaps the host is not turned on, or is not willing to support
>  a login session right now. Please try again later." 
Is does not seem right for me to enter a server name in order to login 
locally.

Another question: can you login on local console? This ugly ;-) textual 
thing you can reach with Ctrl-Alt-F1 (usually Ctrl-Alt-F7 brings you back 
to the graphical console). If you can, there is nothing wrong with your 
account.

-- 
bye,
Adalbert

modem, adj.: Up-to-date, new-fangled, as in "Thoroughly Modem Millie." An 
unfortunate byproduct of kerning. [That's sic!]