Hello, this morning I tried to login into my computer; but it accept my passwords, shows a grey blank screen and then puts me right back to login screen, so I can’t get into the Gnome Desktop.
So I had to reboot, go into recovery mode in GRUB; then eventually had to drop to ROOT and create a new user and I changed the passwords.
I did manage to login into Gnome Desktop with the new user but with my old account it doesn’t allow me.
Previous that day, I was using google chrome and tried to use gmail online and it locked up and the cpu got higher temps usually 30C but went to 55-60C; and then when I power off it
took a long time before it could shut off. Then when I tried to reenter it wouldn’t allow me into Gnome Desktop.
My SSD seems ok and had to copy my old home directory and chown to the new user.
This is a temp fix; but I was wondering if anyone else experienced this and how to fix this?
Thank you majorly to anyone who can solve this. I know Ubuntu 24.10 can possibly be unstable. I also wonder if Gnome Extensions caused problem too, so I have a lot less enabled now.
ps: Scared me a lot, thought it might be worse of a problem.
After this login problem I had, I am hesitant to use too many Gnome extensions on Ubuntu 24.10 because of stability. I would like to know what caused my problem, in case in happens in the future.
Readdressing my problem; did I get LOCKED OUT of GNOME for that account. Cause I have this other annoying glitch/bug with Ubuntu 24.04 or 24.10; when I first restart, the Login Screen displays on my 4k monitor (secondary) and not on my 1440p@165Hz (primary) screen so I get a grey screen.
So I have my 4k turned off and then I have to enter my password without turning on, hit enter and type my password to login. So by mistake I maybe have entered too many times and it locked me out.
How to unlock that account for Gnome? I can login in the TTY with it.
Well I did that and didn’t see anything in the logs. Looks like my password is okay and it tried to login. The Gnome login goes to a grey screen then usually opens the wallpaper, etc. It returns back to the login menu to choose a user. My 2nd account works, was a rough morning, scared me. I had to copy my old home directory and chown and grant sudo access, etc. I figure it is a bug with Gnome or a Gnome extension that corrupted some important config file, I am not sure.
You do not seem to be describing a “failed login”
Your description (grey screen) more closely seems to resemble common symptoms of a Gnome Shell crash.
Review your logs for that.
Also review any .crash files in /var/crash that match an attempted login.
Search your memory for any recent config changes or Gnome Shell extension changes.
There are many possibilities that might lead to a Gnome Shell crash.
I’ve seen a few threads like this now, @alextopic will you try the account that won’t work , and at the login window try a TTY3 session and run sudo apt purge gdm3
And then reinstall it sudo apt install gdm3
The /var/crash and on Nov 25th I had that google chrome crash when all I did is open online gmail and it went frozen. So I did see a several MB google crash file and not much else but on later dates.
If I can login with a tty for my old account, then it rules that out. After all it is Ubuntu 24.10 and I am taking my chances but couldn’t wait for the new kernel and MESA versions.
purge gdm3 and re-installing gdm3, well that might solve it, but sort of scared to do this. I do have the other new account working and it works fine. Just now I run very few gnome extensions and learnt a lesson.
I hope this helps figure out what is going on here; I guess Ubuntu team have my crash data since I agreed to allow them to analyze to improve the OS.
Screen shots are very hard to read, Please use terminal commands and copy that back here.
If it is a large file attach it to pastebin, and return the link it .gives back in your post
Which directory do I do this ls -lah .X* ? I am running wayland Gnome 47 not X11. That would show hidden X11 files right? In my home directory nothing comes up.
apt -s purge lightdm
NOTE: This is only a simulation!
apt needs root privileges for real execution.
Keep also in mind that locking is deactivated,
so don't depend on the relevance to the real current situation!
REMOVING:
lightdm* xubuntu-desktop-minimal*
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 2, Not Upgrading: 0
Purg xubuntu-desktop-minimal [2.265]
Purg lightdm [1.30.0-0ubuntu14]
I ran the purge I suggested, result
sudo apt purge lightdm
[sudo] password for me:
REMOVING:
lightdm* xubuntu-desktop-minimal*
Summary:
Upgrading: 0, Installing: 0, Removing: 2, Not Upgrading: 0
Freed space: 823 kB
Continue? [Y/n]
(Reading database ... 210642 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing xubuntu-desktop-minimal (2.265) ...
Removing lightdm (1.30.0-0ubuntu14) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.13.0-1) ...
(Reading database ... 210514 files and directories currently installed.)
Purging configuration files for lightdm (1.30.0-0ubuntu14) ...
dpkg: warning: while removing lightdm, directory '/var/lib/lightdm-data' not empty so not removed
Processing triggers for dbus (1.14.10-4ubuntu5) ...
Then I re-installed, just lightdm
sudo apt install lightdm
and after a reboot it’s just like it was before the purge. (YMMV please have a good back-up first for safety)
