Path: csiph.com!news.swapon.de!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Borax Man Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc Subject: Re: Not a request for help, but an explanation? Date: Sat, 11 May 2024 08:54:54 -0000 (UTC) Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 134 Message-ID: References: <20240511145555.799d5093@Nostromo> Injection-Date: Sat, 11 May 2024 10:54:54 +0200 (CEST) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="d204a97e487bccb483c8bdd8ca734d37"; logging-data="2056245"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18sqZhE3MVCHzuovqFcvKSyKyhbjKlbMT0=" User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (Linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:GIqMN4U6xMXIEKB7AIvk++wHQVs= sha1:O+hCV37XRXoT+LkCSZfdnIu5r1k= Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:56359 On 2024-05-11, The Natural Philosopher wrote: > On 11/05/2024 05:55, Borax Man wrote: >> On Thu, 9 May 2024 12:59:57 +0100 >> The Natural Philosopher wrote: >> >>> On 09/05/2024 11:40, Borax Man wrote: >>>> On 2024-05-08, The Natural Philosopher wrote: >>>>> Yesterday, I installed the latest kernel in my mint MATE 20.3 desktop >>>>> here. It advised me to reboot, so I selected the reboot option after >>>>> closing all programs, and away we went. It rebooted fine and I got a >>>>> login prompt, that looked oddly different. I think it had my full name >>>>> instead of nothing above the login prompt. >>>>> >>>>> And no matter what I typed in as password, it wouldn't accept it. >>>>> >>>>> Thinking I might have to repair something from a live installation disk, >>>>> I decided that at least a hard reboot might be worth trying, and with a >>>>> proper power off it rebooted as normal. >>>>> >>>>> Anyone have a clue as to what that might have been? >>>>> >>>>> I am the only user on the system. It's mine, all mine, and one else ever >>>>> uses it. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> We should first establish whether the problem is authentication, or >>>> something else. >>>> >>>> Are we talking about a graphical login prompt, or the console, text >>>> mode login prompt? Do you get an error message? What does it say? >>>> How does it fail? >>>> >>> It was a normal GUI login screen except that instead of a normal input >>> box, it had my full name over it, possibly as if I was not the default user. >>> >>> But I am the ONLY user! >>> >> >> I think Mint uses Light DM, which is the one I use. I see that >> behaviour myself, where it displays the username. If you press up and >> down, you can choose between the users. I'm not sure how that would >> act if there is only the one user, but maybe try the up and down >> cursor keys to see if it selects or unselects something. >> >>>> Try switching to a text based virtual console, pressing CTRL-ALT-F2 >>>> should do it. Then try logging in with your username then password. >>>> If that logs in, then at least your credentials still work. Type >>>> 'logout' then enter to logout of the text prompt and press CTRL-ALT-F7 >>>> to go back to the graphical prompt. >>>> >>> Cant reproduce it. As I said it only happened when I rebooted rather >>> than shut down the system >>> >>>> At the graphical prompt, is it asking specifically for your password, >>>> or for a username? Is there a way to change the username, or type it >>>> in? >>>> >>> As I said, it only prompted for the password. And failed to accept it. >>> >>> This is a mint login screen: >>> >>> https://fostips.com/login-background-linux-mint-21/ >>> >>> As you can see normally it has the default login name above the password >>> entry on the left. >>> >>> In the odd case it had my FULL name ABOVE the whole box on the RIGHT. >>> I am wondering if it had defaulted to an unknown user on soft restart >>> >>> >>>> Let us know how you go. >>> >>> As I said, hard reset restored normal behaviour. It was only a curiosity >>> as to why a soft restart might have been different.... >>> >> >> I'm guessing by what you mean by "can't reproduce it", is that the >> text based login worked. >> > > No. Powering the machine off, worked > > That is the curiousity. > > What information was retained across a soft reboot that was not retained > in a power off situation > > I have on many occasions had a machine hang after a soft reboot, and yet > behave perfectly normally once powered down and restarted. Fine, the > hardware would always be in a different state on soft restart, but this > is more like some software values neing preserved across a restart. > > > > I think the difference is minor. A hard reboot runs through POST again but a soft reboot doesn't. Soft reboots call a BIOS interrupt, hard reboots cut power and restore it. I've been using PC's quite a while, but I think I may have at least once experienced something which required a hard reboot instead of a soft reboot. I may be wrong, but I know I haven't experienced Linux oddities. There could be something in RAM, in the config which was retained, but I can't say what. >> My initial thought was some temporary file, which saved state, but >> that should have been cleared on reboot, regardless of whether soft or >> hard. >> > That's one I hadn't thought of. Mmm. > >> LightDM keeps logs, these can be helpful. They should be located at >> /var/log/lightdm >> >> lightdm.log will list the results of authentication, and whether it >> was successfull or not. During failure, check this log (log in at >> text console if necessary) and see what it says about the >> authentication failure. >> > I might try that if I have time. > > TBH I am only vaguely interested in what *might* have caused it, rather > than pinning it down exactly. Life is too short > > > Yeah, it could be hardware. I'd look at the logs, they may make it obvious WHAT failed, but why may not be quite as easy to determine.