8 replies to this topic

[cybormoron]

hi all
I sat down to these messages

home directory does not appear to exist. do youwant to log in with / (root) as your home dir? it is unlikely anything will work unless you use failsafe session.

then this one

Users $HOME/.dmrc file is being ignored

then this

could not update ICEauthority file /.ICEauthority

then this

there is a problem with the configuration server. (/usr/lib/gcong-sanity-check-2 exited with status 256)

so I tried rebooting in safe mode. I am able to get a root prompt but it will not startx.

D-Bus not accessable

I can ls all data on other partitions except /home/user but am unable to access any files. I get the DBus error trying to open anything.

of course everything is backed up except the critical stuff I want that happens to be in my home dir.

I haven't tried accessing anything with a live cd yet to verify that it is actually usable. am going to attempt that forthwith.

please tell there's a simple command I can run such as cp home or something to fix this.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Steve,

What flavor of Linux? And what did you do just prior to this happening? Updates? New software added?

The gconf sanity error is because the OS can't find the Gnome configuration file in the /home/user directory. Ice Authority is also in that directory. Did you hose a partition on your drive?

I think you should definitely boot a rescue CD or thumb drive Linux and see what's in that partition where your /home/user should be, assuming it's a dedicated partition.

[cybormoron]

sorry, forgot to say. mandriva 2010 gnome I can think of nothing I did. It was running fine when I left for work this AM. Nothing in the house indicates a power interruption. The first thing I did was unplug the ethernet.

I have a live cd running on the machine so hardware seems ok. I am able to access the data.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

You can access the data in the /home/steve partition?

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I think the error that we need to be focusing on here is the dbus error. That will definitely cause some issues if it isn't running, or is being locked by another app.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Bus

[cybormoron]

crisis averted for now. I just reinstalled without formatting home and other partitions. no valuable user files were harmed in the process.
lost my nvidia twinview kernel module but I knew that would happen. that's why I've been avoiding upgrading. the only cd I had on hand is a cooker beta. I couldn't find the original install dvd. I don't think I'm gonna get nvidia to run properly. maybe I'll find some time and energy and upgrade properly and get it working when I get done being angry. for now I'll just limp along with this broke down, obsolete, Mandriva 2010.1 cooker.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Hmm... I hate not knowing what caused the issue. Sometimes though, you just gotta' get your system back up.

[cybormoron]

I have no idea what might have caused it.  i don't remember doing anything out of my normal routine. I couldn't find any useful info about it, either. It's strange how this always happens when I'm thinking of updating. I had the thought the other day so I guess it was an omen.
This version is no longer supported so I'm currently installing Mandriva 2011. I've been reading good things about it so why not get off my lazy duff and do it. Gonna try KDE4. I wonder how long it'll take before it annoys me to no end. Bruce Byfield just wrote an article that seemed to ease my anxieties and hostilities towards KDE4 so maybe I'll like it.
http://www.datamation.com/open-source/the-...tivities-1.html

Edited by cybormoron, 21 January 2012 - 12:13 AM.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Hey... KDE4 ain't for everyone, but you might like it.

Good luck with the installs. Hope everything goes smoothly!