After login, loops back to login - Xubuntu LTS 24.04.1

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1

Xubuntu 24.04.1 new install on multiboot system - the other two are Debian 12,7 Bookworm and BunsenLabs Boron (Debian 12.7). Both debians boot without issue.
One can select any one of the three in Grub to boot, plus three three advanced options.

This is about the Xubuntu 24.04.1 installation after selecting it from grub menu.
At Xubuntu login, system accepts user/password, goes to initial screen momentarily then returns to login screen. It is in an endless loop (well, at least three times.)

$ lsblk
NAME            MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda               8:0    0 447.1G  0 disk 
├─sda1            8:1    0     1G  0 part /boot/efi
├─sda2            8:2    0     2G  0 part 
├─sda3            8:3    0 110.3G  0 part /media/hugh/bc3dea66-a02c-44f2-be60-4dc2ed9fdd2a
├─sda4            8:4    0 110.4G  0 part /media/hugh/7d74710a-485a-4f2f-bae4-326dca44a48a
└─sda5            8:5    0 110.4G  0 part /media/hugh/4cba83d0-eb54-42e3-b43a-15635197f960
sdb               8:16   0 119.2G  0 disk 
├─sdb1            8:17   0   512M  0 part 
├─sdb2            8:18   0   488M  0 part /boot
└─sdb3            8:19   0 118.3G  0 part 
  ├─debian--vg-root
  │             254:0    0  27.9G  0 lvm  /
  ├─debian--vg-swap_1
  │             254:1    0   976M  0 lvm  [SWAP]
  └─debian--vg-home
                254:2    0  89.4G  0 lvm  /home

sda3 contains bunsenlabs boron (debian 12.7) - boots nominally
sda4 contains LTS 24.04.1 - boots, but unable to continue past login
sda5 has no OS installed on it
sdb3 contains debian bookworm 12.7 - boots nominally

System specs

hugh@debian:~$ inxi -b
System:
  Host: debian Kernel: 6.1.0-26-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Xfce
    v: 4.18.1 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
  Type: Mini-pc System: ATOPNUC product: ATOPNUC MA90 v: V1.0
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: ATOPNUC model: ATOPNUC MA90 v: Version 1.0
    serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: ASB20008
    date: 07/19/2022
CPU:
  Info: dual core AMD A9-9400 RADEON R5 5 COMPUTE CORES 2C+3G [MCP]
    speed (MHz): avg: 1398 min/max: 1400/2400
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Stoney [Radeon R2/R3/R4/R5 Graphics] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa dri: swrast gpu: amdgpu
    resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 15.0.6 256 bits)
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Ethernet I225-V driver: igc
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8822CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    driver: rtw_8822ce
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 566.38 GiB used: 39.66 GiB (7.0%)
Info:
  Processes: 169 Uptime: 1h 44m Memory: 15.07 GiB used: 1011.6 MiB (6.6%)
  Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.26
2

In the Xubuntu 24.04.1 OS with the issue:

  • Are you able to login at a TTY?
  • Does journalctl -b show any related messages from at the time a “login loop” occurs?
1 Like
3

Out of curiosity, which install currently controls GRUB?

It is in an endless loop (well, at least three times.)

What happens after this?

If you can login at a TTY, check this too:

cat ~/.xsession-errors
journalctl -xe | grep lightdm
1 Like
4

And if you can login to a TTY in command line it would be worth running command
ls -la
Look for anything listed with an owner other than your own username which could be the cause of your difficulty.
You could also run command
sudo chown $USER:$USER $HOME
to ensure everything is owned by you.

1 Like
5

Thanks for suggestion. Could not login at TTY, and there seem to be no way to run journalctl.

6

Actually, what happened next was no boot at all. It reported the partition was corrupted and suggested I run fdisk which I did and completely wiped out the partition which had Xubuntu 24.04.1 on it. I can still boot successfully into debian bookwarm 12.7 and BunsenLabs boron (debian 12.7)
I still have plenty of space on the system which I was using as a test bed for different debian-based distributions.
In conclusion, the isssue was not corrected, it was eliminated.
Thanks to @halogen2, @rubi1200, and @ajgreeny for the suggestions.