startx works only as root

[bricofoy]

Binary package hint: xinit

after last update of the system this morning (sat 26 /09 ) with synaptic-->select all updates,
system boots-up on a text console, as KDM does not start.

trying "sudo service kdm restart" results in :
restart : unknown instance

launching directly /etc/init.d/kdm restart does the same

launching startx directly works only as root user. I mean "real" root user, logged-in as root on terminal.

startx when logged in as normal user, or sudo startx does not work.

after some investigation, I found there is a permission problem with ~/.Xauthority
Solved it, now lauching sudo kdm after console login works.

But service kdm start/restart still not work, and so kdm still does not start automatically at boot.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sat Sep 26 15:56:12 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/startx
InterpreterPath: /bin/bash
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: ACTEBIS SAM#451B
Package: xinit 1.1.1-1
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-11-generic root=UUID=1a5e792a-a1d1-427d-8a0e-8895ed533d70 ro quiet splash
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu5
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0~git20090817.7c422387-0ubuntu5
 libdrm2 2.4.13-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.8.1-1ubuntu2
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090825.fc74e119-0ubuntu2
SourcePackage: xinit
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686
XorgConf: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'
Xrandr: Error: command ['xrandr', '--verbose'] failed with exit code 1: Can't open display
dmi.bios.date: 04/14/2004
dmi.bios.vendor: Phoenix
dmi.bios.version: 0F06.P00
dmi.board.name: SAM#451B
dmi.board.vendor: ACTEBIS
dmi.board.version: KBC Revision: 3308
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: ACTEBIS
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnPhoenix:bvr0F06.P00:bd04/14/2004:svnACTEBIS:pnSAM#451B:pvrVT8385/VT8235:rvnACTEBIS:rnSAM#451B:rvrKBCRevision3308:cvnACTEBIS:ct1:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: SAM#451B
dmi.product.version: VT8385/VT8235
dmi.sys.vendor: ACTEBIS
fglrx: Not loaded
glxinfo: Error: command ['glxinfo'] failed with exit code 255: Error: unable to open display
setxkbmap: Error: command ['setxkbmap', '-print'] failed with exit code 255: Cannot open display "default display"
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-11-generic
xdpyinfo: Error: command ['xdpyinfo'] failed with exit code 1: xdpyinfo: unable to open display "".

[lspci]
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc RV350 [Mobility Radeon 9600 M10] [1002:4e50]
     Subsystem: Rioworks Device [161f:2032]

[bricofoy (bricofoy)]

Seem to be solved by last KDE updates this morning

boot sequence still ends on console login after a first attempt to launch X (screen blinks a few times, but finally give up and go back to console login), but after a few seconds X restart and this time kdm launch normally.

[Timo Aaltonen (tjaalton)]

closing as fixed.