New to linux and i have two (basic) problems..

[acb460acb]

after i run those first two command lines.. do i do the whole sequence in your later post again? (the one with the echo and everyhting) or just passwd root?

[Dolda2000]

No, you should not do the echo command ever again, unless you delete your root account again. You should, however, redo the other commands. The echo command is what adds the root user info, the others are mainly for cleaning up.

[acb460acb]

ok so i should do..

sort /etc/passwd | uniq >/etc/passwd.new
mv -f /etc/passwd.new /etc/passwd
passwd root

i will try that.. if its more important i think i did the echo about 3 or 4 times before. and by the way merry christmas its beginning to snow here (ny)

[acb460acb]

nope.. no sucsess... here is what that log file you said to do before says....

==> /var/log/messages <==
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; mice&#58; PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0&#40;3,5&#41;, internal journal
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; Adding Swap&#58; 1044184k swap-space &#40;priority -1&#41;
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; EXT3 FS 2.4-0.9.19, 19 August 2002 on ide0&#40;3,2&#41;, internal journal
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; EXT3-fs&#58; mounted filesystem with ordered data mode.
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; ohci1394&#58; $Rev&#58; 693 $ Ben Collins <bcollins@debian.org>
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; ohci1394_0&#58; OHCI-1394 1.0 &#40;PCI&#41;&#58; IRQ=&#91;10&#93;  MMIO=&#91;dc800000-dc8007ff&#93;  Max Packet=&#91;2048&#93;
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; ieee1394&#58; SelfID completion called outside of bus reset!
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; SCSI subsystem driver Revision&#58; 1.00
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; scsi0 &#58; SCSI host adapter emulation for IDE ATAPI devices
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58;   Vendor&#58; ARTEC     Model&#58; WSM-52X           Rev&#58; 1.10
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58;   Type&#58;   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision&#58; 02
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;38 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 59
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;50 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 59
Dec 24 22&#58;48&#58;58 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 01
Dec 24 22&#58;49&#58;02 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 59
Dec 24 22&#58;49&#58;48 localhost last message repeated 4 times
Dec 24 22&#58;49&#58;57 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 01
Dec 24 22&#58;50&#58;02 localhost kernel&#58; keyboard&#58; unknown scancode e0 59

==> /var/log/secure <==
Dec 24 18&#58;45&#58;49 localhost pam_console&#91;2986&#93;&#58; getpwnam failed for root
Dec 24 18&#58;45&#58;50 localhost sshd&#91;2779&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 20&#58;03&#58;07 localhost sshd&#91;2785&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 20&#58;44&#58;22 localhost pam_console&#91;2992&#93;&#58; getpwnam failed for root
Dec 24 20&#58;44&#58;24 localhost sshd&#91;2785&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 20&#58;52&#58;45 localhost sshd&#91;2783&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 21&#58;06&#58;07 localhost pam_console&#91;2990&#93;&#58; getpwnam failed for root
Dec 24 21&#58;06&#58;09 localhost sshd&#91;2783&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 21&#58;09&#58;22 localhost sshd&#91;2794&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 21&#58;15&#58;04 localhost pam_console&#91;3001&#93;&#58; getpwnam failed for root
Dec 24 21&#58;15&#58;06 localhost sshd&#91;2794&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 21&#58;22&#58;34 localhost sshd&#91;2793&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 21&#58;23&#58;00 localhost xinetd&#91;2807&#93;&#58; START&#58; sgi_fam pid=3065 from=<no address>
Dec 24 21&#58;47&#58;19 localhost sshd&#91;2793&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 21&#58;54&#58;27 localhost sshd&#91;2797&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 21&#58;54&#58;59 localhost xinetd&#91;2811&#93;&#58; START&#58; sgi_fam pid=3065 from=<no address>
Dec 24 22&#58;35&#58;55 localhost sshd&#91;2797&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.
Dec 24 22&#58;43&#58;38 localhost sshd&#91;2808&#93;&#58; Server listening on 0.0.0.0 port 22.
Dec 24 22&#58;44&#58;05 localhost xinetd&#91;2822&#93;&#58; START&#58; sgi_fam pid=3076 from=<no address>
Dec 24 22&#58;47&#58;10 localhost sshd&#91;2808&#93;&#58; Received signal 15; terminating.

[Dolda2000]

I have a terrible feeling. Check if the "root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash" line still is in /etc/passwd.
If it isn't, then it's either because the addition for any reason failed the last time (with the echo command), or because you have some worm or virus re-removing it.

[acb460acb]

i don't think it is a virus or a worm because i have only had linux for a few hours but i will check..

[acb460acb]

yes, that line is present.. here is the file in whole...
-------
adm:3:4:adm:/var/adm:/sbin/nologin
bin:1:1:bin:/bin:/sbin/nologin
daemon:2:2:daemon:/sbin:/sbin/nologin
ftp:14:50:FTP User:/var/ftp:/sbin/nologin
games:12:100:games:/usr/games:/sbin/nologin
gdm:42:42::/var/gdm:/sbin/nologin
gopher:13:30:gopher:/var/gopher:/sbin/nologin
halt:7:0:halt:/sbin:/sbin/halt
lp:4:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/sbin/nologin
mail:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/sbin/nologin
mailnull:47:47::/var/spool/mqueue:/sbin/nologin
news:9:13:news:/etc/news:
nfsnobody:65534:65534:Anonymous NFS User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
nobody:99:99:Nobody:/:/sbin/nologin
nscd:28:28:NSCD Daemon:/:/sbin/nologin
ntp:38:38::/etc/ntp:/sbin/nologin
operator:11:0:operator:/root:/sbin/nologin
pcap:77:77::/var/arpwatch:/sbin/nologin
root:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
rpc:32:32:Portmapper RPC user:/:/sbin/nologin
rpcuser:29:29:RPC Service User:/var/lib/nfs:/sbin/nologin
rpm:37:37::/var/lib/rpm:/bin/bash
shutdown:6:0:shutdown:/sbin:/sbin/shutdown
smmsp:51:51::/var/spool/mqueue:/sbin/nologin
sshd:74:74:Privilege-separated SSH:/var/empty/sshd:/sbin/nologin
sync:5:0:sync:/sbin:/bin/sync
tom:500:0:Tom Consolazio:/home/tom:/bin/bash
uucp:10:14:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/sbin/nologin
vcsa:69:69:virtual console memory owner:/dev:/sbin/nologin
xfs:43:43:X Font Server:/etc/X11/fs:/sbin/nologin
--------------

[Dolda2000]

I see. That's a relief, at lesat. Then just remains to find out what the problem actually is. Can you check if there is a line for root in /etc/shadow as well?

[acb460acb]

how can i read tha file? when i try to open it it says..

-----
Nautilus has no installed viewer capable of displaying "/etc/shadow".
-----


When i try opening it through browsing in mozilla i get this..


-----
The file /etc/shadow cannot be found. Please check the location and try again.
-----

I think i originaly screwed it up by taking a regular user and naming it "root" than deleting that user. Than i think i did that command you told me too many times lol.