booting crashed with "init: Unable to connect to the system bus"

[Vratislav Podzimek]

1) Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic
2) I can't find out what version I am using.
3+4) Booting crashed with "init: Unable to connect to the system bus: Failed to connec to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory" and text form of login dialog appeared.

[hasi (whynot-nurfuerspam)]

I have the same SEVERE problem as of today. My system freezes at the kdm login screen. In the logs I find messages that say "init: Unable to connect to the system bus: Failed to connec to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory".
Please help. I cannot start my system any more. Is there any way to avoid a complete reinstall of karmic?
I have been using karmic (32bit) since alpha4. As of today, I am unable to log in.

[Lordek (ldkstyle)]

same problem here with karmic for netbooks after apt-get upgrade : (

[Enrico Lorenzoni (reiser4)]

i installed karmik on samsung nc10 yesterday then i did apt-get update then upgrade; when i rebooted i have got completely black screen so i used the bootable usb to edit grub configuration. i removed "splash" options and now i can see the problem: unable to connect [...] and if i login then i launch gdm i get "couldn't connect to system bus: Failed to connec to socket /var/run/dbus/system_bus_socket: No such file or directory"

[Enrico Lorenzoni (reiser4)]

nice! solved with

dhclient
apt-get update
apt-get install upstart

on a text terminal of course

[ka (kaanchan-biz)]

Enrico, you're a lifesaver. Thanks! That fixed it for me. Able to boot into GDM now. Was seconds away from a reinstall...

[Jonathan Lumb (jonolumb)]

I think this bug is caused by an update to Blueman - and more exactly the "bluez" package which seems to be dependant on Upstart.

Blueman (1.10-3ubuntu1) ...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8) utility, e.g. service dbus reload

This bug needs to be fixed urgently as it stops people from being able to log into GDM and unless people find this bug report, I would imagine that many would simply opt for a clean install - which is both a pity and a great waste of time.

[Arnold Nijboer (email-arnoldnijboer)]

okey update:

just updated to Ubuntu 11.10 from 11.04.
and i get similar error('s).

the solution mentioned here doesn't work for me.
it starts with modem-manager saying it cannot connect to system bus.
than waiting for network. and after that a blank screen.

in safe mode i can get all the way to login and beyond.
but when trying to start gdm it gives the same system_bus_socket error.

even the service dbus reload says failed to connect to socket.

[Rushabh Doshi (rushabhddoshi)]

@Arnold.

I get the same error too. Can someone help.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.