Tell me more ×
Ask Ubuntu is a question and answer site for Ubuntu users and developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 2 down vote favorite
1

Ubuntu no longer lets me login. I type my password into the login screen and hit enter and the screen goes black then brings me directly back to the login screen. It gives me no messages either. I know for a fact I am typing the correct password. Anybody know whats going on? My home folder is also encrypted and I am running 11.10

Thanks

share|improve this question
If you press Control+Alt+F1 you should see a text-mode login screen. Can you test that to make sure it's accepting your username and password. – Oli♦ Oct 20 '11 at 0:50
Logging in through the console appears to work perfectly fine. I'm totally lost as to what is going on. – matthew Oct 20 '11 at 0:54
Sounds to me like X (the graphical server) is crashing at some point and it's just reloading (that's why you're being pushed back to the login screen). If you have a network connection please run sudo apt-get install pastebinit, then pastebinit /var/log/Xorg.0.log and then post the URL it generates back here so we can see what X did last time it loaded. – Oli♦ Oct 20 '11 at 1:04
Ok i seem to have solved the problem. I was unable to access my home directory when I was using the console so i changed the permissions of it to 777. When i restarted my computer i was able to login. Very weird. – matthew Oct 20 '11 at 1:12
Very odd indeed. Glad you fixed it. – Oli♦ Oct 20 '11 at 1:16
show 1 more comment

2 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

(Comment from OP fixed issue)

Sounds to me like X (the graphical server) is crashing at some point and it's just reloading (that's why you're being pushed back to the login screen). If you have a network connection please run sudo apt-get install pastebinit, then pastebinit /var/log/Xorg.0.log and then post the URL it generates back here so we can see what X did last time it loaded. – Oli♦ Oct 20 '11 at 1:0

Ok i seem to have solved the problem. I was unable to access my home directory when I was using the console so i changed the permissions of it to 777. When i restarted my computer i was able to login. Very weird. – matthew Oct 20 '11 at 1:12

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

I’ve had the same graphical login problem (on Ubuntu Precise 12.04). The cause was also permission-related but slightly different from the OP’s cause: the .Xauthority file in my home directory was owned by root. Removing that file from a text-mode login screen (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+F1, log in, then sudo rm .Xauthority) solved the graphical login problem for me.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.