MDM is not starting

[Raymundo Vásquez Ruiz]

I've restarted my laptop after several days running and it's not possible to login anymore since MDM is not starting. Only ttys are available so I have to log in and type 'startx' to use my desktop.
Version: Olivia x64
Kernel: Linux guapachosa 3.8.0-23-generic #34-Ubuntu SMP Wed May 29 20:22:58 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

[Martensson (g-inbo-u)]

Any suggestions on analyzing / resolving this problem? The related log files (boot.log / mdm.log / syslog) do not show any errors, so I am a bit lost on analyzing the problem.

[Raymundo Vásquez Ruiz (zoet13)]

I also couldn't find any information. If i tried 'start mdm' it always said that it was running already.
I've replaced it with Debian Jessy so I can not give any more details.

[Ryan Ong (ryanong)]

I have this same bug. mdm works when I execute "sudo mdm" after logging in but nothing else does.

I think there is something wrong with the upstart script? When I do "sudo service upstart start" it says starting, then the mdm process shuts down.

[Dave Ritchie (dave-ritchie)]

Yes, I have experienced exactly the same problem - upstart does not start mdm as expected.

Solution (for me at least) is to revert to the old "init" script mechanism of mint-14. Execute the following commands:

sudo su

cd /etc
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc0.d/K01mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc1.d/K01mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc2.d/S30mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc3.d/S30mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc4.d/S30mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc5.d/S30mdm
ln -s ../init.d/mdm rc6.d/K01mdm

reboot