Unable to log on as a normal user

[dmartin at LanCity.COM (Derek Martin)]

On Mon, 19 Jul 1999, Phil wrote:

> It lets me log in as root, but when I log in as a normal user, it
> accepts my name and password, then blinks the screen and returns me to
> the login screen.

Sounds to me like you're running an X session.  If this is not the case,
you can stop reading now.

Most likely you've done something funky to your .xinitrc, .Xclients, or
similar file.  X will log you out when the last client started in one of
those files completes.  Ordinarily, when you start X clients in one of
those files you will start them all in the background, EXCEPT for the last
one started, and that last one becomes the process that "controls" your X
session.  

When that last program quits, your X session does too.  So the problem is
most likely one of:

1) You modified the last entry to be run in the background, so the script
that started it exits and takes your X session down.

2) There is an error running the last program started, causing your
x session start script to exit, ending your X session.

There are two places you can look for errors (that I can think of).  You
may have an .xsession-errors or similar file in your home directory,
and/or there may be one in /var/log.

Hope this helps! 
 

Derek D. Martin           |  UNIX System Administrator
d_martin at worldnet.att.net |  dmartin at lancity.com

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