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Ubuntu 10.04

Hi guys. I'm not sure why but quite recently, my ubuntu desktop started bringing up the command prompt login screen after booting. I want GDM to start up by default.

I can manually bring up GDM by typing: 

sudo service gdm start

or 

sudo /usr/sbin/gdm

but I want something more permanent.

The contents of /etc/X11/default-display-manager point to /usr/sbin/gdm

The chkconfig status for GDM shows that it's off on all run levels... could that be it? I tried running: 

sudo chkconfig --add gdm

and just got errors...

Any ideas? How can I get GDM to automatically come up again? Any/all help is appreciated!

-M

Update 1: I've tried running dpkg-reconfigure gdm but nothing seems to happen and it just returns me to the prompt (no errors).

Update 2: If I press CTRL-ALT-F7 at the command login prompt, I see what appears to be the linux boot-up console output. I noticed the following lines at the bottom:

** (gdm-binary:1256): WARNING *: Failed to acquire org.gnome.DisplayManager * (gdm-binary:1256): WARNING **: Could not acquire name; bailing out.

I think this is the cause of the problem but I'm not sure what it means. I'm going to try uninstalling and reinstalling GDM.

Update 3: I uninstalled gdm (apt-get remove gdm) and reinstalled it (apt-get install gdm). That seemed to address the errors in update #2 but it still won't start automatically on it's own. As a temporary workaround, I also added /usr/sbin/gdm & to /etc/rc.local and that seemed to start it... but I dunno... seems a bit "unclean".

I don't know if its helpful or not, but I have a tri-monitor system (one nVidia 9400 and one integrated nvidia mobo video) -- all monitors are on a separate xscreen. There are no issues with displays when I manually start GDM.

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What errors does sudo chkconfig --add gdm give? – Jawa May 18 '10 at 5:01
@Jawa it goes by to fast but the bottom part says "The script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an Upstart job, but lsb-header is not supported for Upstart jobs" – Mike B May 18 '10 at 5:08
@Mikey Even my system (Ubuntu 10.04) doesn't have gdm enabled for any of the runlevels, but it still comes up automatically... – kartikmohta May 18 '10 at 5:10
Thanks @kartikmohta I guess I'm looking in the wrong place then... where else should I check for why it's not automatically starting? – Mike B May 18 '10 at 5:12
Ok, what does "quite recently" mean, then? Did the symptoms appear after an update? Was the system updated to 10.04 from 9.10 or full (re)install? – Jawa May 18 '10 at 5:42
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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

Trying to fix broken package depedencies by running apt-get -f install gdm might fix the situation, if the system is updated from a previous version (<= 9.10).

As Ubuntu 10.04 uses Upstart (/etc/init) in place of InitV's scripts (/etc/init.d), you should check the contents of /etc/init/gdm.conf. It should list the appropriate runlevels when to start GDM e.g. start on runlevel 5.

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This is a fresh install. In the gdm.conf file I see "start on (filesystem and started dbus and (graphics-device-added fb0 PRIMARY_DEVICE_DISPLAY=1 or drm-device-added card0 PRIMARY_DEVICE_FOR_DISPLAY=1)" Does that mean that it's not finding the rights conditions for starting? – Mike B May 18 '10 at 6:22
1  
Right, it wasn't so simple, forgot about the other conditions... Yes, it seems to me that not all conditions are met, but I don't know how to see which. Maybe logs in /var/log/gdm/ say something? – Jawa May 18 '10 at 6:38
On my Intel integrated graphics touchscreen with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, after an apt-get upgrade, gdm won't start anymore. sudo less /var/log/gdm/:0-slave.log shows 3 lines, the first being gdm-session-worker[1040]: GLIB-GObject-CRITICAL: g_value_get_boolean: assertion 'G_VALUE_HOLDS_BOOLEAN (value)' failed. – Cees Timmerman May 8 at 13:31
I rebooted and still ended up at a blank black screen with an undecorated terminal window in the upper left corner. Alt+F1 to login at a text console and sudo ps x |grep gdm show gdm-binary, gdm-simple-slave, and X auth gdm aotaIM or something, and gdm-session-worker running, so i have a different question. – Cees Timmerman May 8 at 13:46
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