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[LUG] no login with ubuntu 10.04

 

Hello

My friend who went over to Ubuntu has lost his login screen. He gets a
terminal window. Apparently he deleted some files - he mentioned
nautilus.

I suggested sudo aptitude install -f. This downloaded a rather large
number of files such as gstreamer but I took it that it would replace
any deleted file needed by the system.

Alas, this did not work. He can open nautilus but does not have full
access as it is missing the top menus and he cannot open programmes such
as evolution which is urgent.

Perhaps an essential file exists but has been corrupted. There is no on
screen error message.

I also suggested
sudo dpkg-reconfigure Xorg
sudo Xorg -configure
and a few other things I got from various forums and searches. My last
suggestion, before reinstalling over everything was to install into a
new partition (he used all the disc) copy over his .evolution and see if
he can access his emails as this is urgent for him. The emails are
password protected and we may also have to copy over the password file
(whose location I'd need to know). I don't know if Grub2 will find the
original install and offer it as an option.

Otherwise, if we can back up the key files is it safe to reinstall over
the old install if we make sure it does not reformat the disc.
Previously I have seen safe installs which do seem to not only
leave /home/user/ alone but may also leave already installed files
intact so it might not replace a corrupted file - perhaps someone could
let me know about this.

He is coming over this afternoon and I wondered if there would be anyone
available to assist if I gave more details and posted them. I have
suggested opening log files and we'll start with Xorg.0.log.

Thanks in advance

James
-- 
james kilty
http://www.kilty.demon.co.uk


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