X fails to load, irrelevant error message displayed

[Darren Peets]

Problem occurs about half the time on boot (race condition?) in Kubuntu 10.04 (something similar may have happened to me a couple times in 9.10, but with no error message). After splash screen, instead of starting kdm, boot drops to a blank screen with an irrelevant error message:

(Process:301):GLib-WARNING **: getpwuid_r(): failed due to unknown user id (0)

Ctrl-Alt-Del and the power button can be used to restart or shutdown the computer, no other combinations I've tried do anything (e.g. Ctrl-Alt-F1, Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, any combination of Ctrl, Alt, Shift and PrtSc or Pause).

Every ~38th boot, a full disk scan is performed before starting kdm, and this issue has never occurred following such a disk scan. Note: small sample size.

Known to exist with
vmlinuz-2.6.32-22-generic
vmlinuz-2.6.32-23-generic
vmlinuz-2.6.35-020635rc1-generic (mainline kernel)
The mainline kernel worked happily for quite some time, but has now failed several times. I'm not convinced this is a bug in the kernel.

Workaround: Boot in recovery mode, resume normal boot, sudo kdm.

I have only one monitor, but it's a laptop so there is the potential for a second screen, if that's relevant.

This looks like a duplicate of Bug 572279

Because it's impossible to create a bug report when the bug appears, I'll be attaching a variety of log files going back a bit further. Hopefully this report is helpful. If there's more you'd like, please ask.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.32-23-generic 2.6.32-23.37
Regression: No
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-23.37-generic 2.6.32.15+drm33.5
Uname: Linux 2.6.32-23-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.21.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/dsp', '/dev/snd/by-path', '/dev/snd/controlC0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D0', '/dev/snd/hwC0D1', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0c', '/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer', '/dev/sequencer2', '/dev/sequencer'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xd6400000 irq 22'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC268'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0268,1179ff64,00100003 HDA:11c11040,11790001,00100200'
   Controls : 14
   Simple ctrls : 9
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 31.344706] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
 [ 39.776376] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
Date: Thu Jul 8 09:53:29 2010
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=271391c4-ac65-40fd-9cca-aaaa706d2724
MachineType: TOSHIBA Satellite L300
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=5a4b4fd4-3e46-480f-8f4d-0a19c55bfabe ro single
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
RelatedPackageVersions: linux-firmware 1.34.1
RfKill:
 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: yes
SourcePackage: linux
WpaSupplicantLog:

dmi.bios.date: 05/28/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: INSYDE
dmi.bios.version: 1.40
dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: Base Board Product Name
dmi.board.vendor: Intel Corp.
dmi.board.version: Base Board Version
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 1
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacturer
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnINSYDE:bvr1.40:bd05/28/2008:svnTOSHIBA:pnSatelliteL300:pvrPSLB0C-07P08C:rvnIntelCorp.:rnBaseBoardProductName:rvrBaseBoardVersion:cvnChassisManufacturer:ct1:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: Satellite L300
dmi.product.version: PSLB0C-07P08C
dmi.sys.vendor: TOSHIBA

[Darren Peets (dpeets)]

Syslog. Failed boot is Jul 8, 09:51:50 to 09:52:07.

[Darren Peets (dpeets)]

Today it occurred after a full disk scan, so my earlier comment on that not happening can be disregarded.

It bothers me somewhat that this (along with several other seemingly identical bugs) is currently marked as a duplicate of something considered invalid. I'm fairly confident that this report is of a valid bug and is a duplicate of something.