Cannot Boot 11.0 from user menu it loops back to menu?

[Headcase]

Hello,

I just updated some Suze 11.0 security updates the other day and now when I reboot to the main user prompt I type my password and it starts to boot to KDE3 and then goes back to the user menu again. This happens to all the users on the sytem (only 2).

I tried to repair the system and it found a couple errors but still does the same thing.

I did boot to a shell then ran KDE and that is how I am able to ask here for help. Any suggestions at all besides a entire reinstall? I would them loose all my settings,data,etc.. and would prefer not a new install.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

[gogalthorp]

You can do a new install with out losing your settings and personal data. If you did a default install Suse puts /home on its own partition. So when you reinstall when you come to the partition scheme take manual control and
1) make sure that the root partition is pointing to the old partition and is set to reformat.

2) make sure to set the old home partition is set to NOT reformat and it is mounted as /home

Now only the root partition will be redone and your home data is safe.

[mikesd]

hit ctrl+alt+F1 or F2 and see if you can log in as user on console.

then see if you can login as root and do a

df -h

I had a problem like this before and my /home partition was full

if that's not the problem, log in as root and then

tail -f /var/log/messages

and then try logging in again as you then see what pops up in that log

also look in your

~/.xsession-errors

see if anything is in there that may shed some light.

[Headcase]

Hello,

I tried the first option a reinstall and it seems to have worked as my Old home was left intact then I copied my files to the new home and deleted the old home. This was the first problem I have had with Suze that required a reinstall but maybe could of been worked around with myself having more knowledge of the OS, but that's why this forum is Great for learning and sharing.

Thanks again people.

[mikesd]

Yeah, doing a complete re-install should be the last ditch effort. I wish you would have stuck it through a few more hours and tried to post some of the error logs.

Re-installing every time something hiccups will not teach you anything. Might as well run Windows.

[Headcase]

Hi mikesd,

Yes I know, I needed my email back up. I think it indeed was a full home issue. I was aware that the home was getting full and I did delete/move alot of files to another partition but still have the near full home??? Any idea as to why or how to fix that issue in the future? It is fixed now because I reformatted the home partition when I reinstalled.

Thanks for the help/assistance.

[gogalthorp]

OK it would help to know what hardware we are dealing with, how much space do you have to work with?? Generally speaking unless your storing huge multimedia files in home space is not a problem. How are the partitions allocated?

output of

fdisk -l

would help

[mikesd]

Hi mikesd,
It is fixed now because I reformatted the home partition when I reinstalled.

Thanks for the help/assistance.

/home should be on it's own partition. Does any other user on your machine have a rather full /home?