ubuntu fails to start gnome

ubuntu fails to start gnome I ran into a strange problem today, when i started my computer running Ubuntu 9, i got the loading screen and after that i got a black screen with the mouse and hourglass loading. and it stays there, and doesn't load the gnome desktop.
Asked by: Guest \| Views: 347

Total answers/comments: 2

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Guest [Entry]

"My guess would be corrupted ~/.gnome* files or other ~/.?* (""dot files"").

Try logging in as a different user (create a new user account for the purpose if necessary).

Then try the following from recovery mode or a text console:

mkdir ~/BAD && mv ~/.?* ~/BAD

... this will create a directory and, if that was successful, it will move all of the ""dot files"" thereto (and thus out of your home directory).

Do NOT use ~/.* ... this might cause issues (not with GNU mv but with other systems) if it attempts to move .. (the parent of your home directory). Technically ./.?* would fail to match files named things like .a and .b --- any dot followed by a single character. As a practical matter I've never seen such a file used for any sort of configuration settings, so it's merely a theoretical issue for you to understand. Depending on your shell you could use mv ~/.[^.] ~/.?* ~/BAD/ to be pedantically comprehensive."

Guest [Entry]

"What kind of graphics driver are you running? Recent update on the kernel or driver? I use Fedora 11 + proprietary NVIDIA drivers on my desktop, and with every kernel update I get to reconfig the binary driver over and over.

Please post more HW configuration information."