Comment 18 for bug 430494

Hi there,

For anyone with this gdm problem, does "start gdm" work when you eventually reach the command prompt? If so, the upstart is ok and your gdm start point may be out of sequence compared to the pre-upstart configuration.

I have had this problem on my eepc and have been following these messages with interest. I have just identified a solution to my problem that may help. I mount my /var/log.. etc as tmpfs to protect the solid state drive and gdm refuses to start until certain directories are recreated. I had a set of mkdir commands in rc.local that were correctly sequenced before gdm moved to upstart.

However, gdm has now moved to upstart, it has probably altered the sequence that my rc.local is called in to create the directories, hence the gdm never actually appeared because the script ran before my directories were created. When I reached the command prompt, start gdm worked identifying that the sequence was wrong, not the upstart script. I have created a new file /etc/init/rc_local.conf and filled it with those mkdir commands and copied start tests from the /etc/init/gdm.conf. In order to satisfy the correct sequencing, I also added a test "start on started rc_local" to the gdm.conf and this cured the problem - boots straight to gdm again.

My problem is probably a transient due to the dev state of karmic, because the initscripts are half managed by two separate programs. I am not a developer, but perhaps reading this might help you find the cause of your own issue. No problems on my other machines with basic init configurations.
Cheers
GR