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I just updated Ubuntu about 15 minutes ago on my desktop which is running 12.04. Within the set of updates, there were some kernel upgrades. It didn't say I needed to reboot after the update was finished, but I thought I would anyway.

The computer successfully rebooted up to the login screen. However, after entering my password, the screen goes black for a moment, then it comes back to the login screen.

I tried the suggestions in this question, but unfortunately they didn't help. In the accepted answer, the questioner vaguely says it was a "Unity problem". I'm using Gnome-classic with full Compiz effects. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Compiz, but that didn't fix anything.

So... I can't use my desktop computer until this is fixed. I hope there is some help soon.

I've uploaded the output of cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log to Pastebin.

A temporary solution of changing to gdm instead of lightdm was found with help in the chat room.

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Questioner
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5 Answers5

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Somebody asked me that same question the other day :

since yesterday my ubuntu 12.04 locks me out, i can only access the guest account.
if i enter the correct password for the admin account,
the screen turns black and then goes back to the log in screen.
if i enter an incorrect password, it says incorrect password.
if i create a new admin account via the guest account, i get the same problem.
resetting the password won't help :(
any ideas anyone?

It seem's a few people have had this problem, and using gdm instead of lightdm is the recommended workaround, and it worked for the person that asked me - after a couple of reboots. Have a look at these links for instructions & let me know if it helps.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/130387/stuck-at-login-screen

Can't log in to ubuntu 12.04

https://askubuntu.com/questions/130721/12-04-lightdm-cannot-login

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Fernhill Linux Project
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Is it possible that your graphics card is not supported or isn't updated anymore, or something is not supported/became corrupt in the update? Use alt+F2 to drop back to a console in the login screen, log in as root, see if you can: sudo apt-get upgrade + sudo apt-get update to see if that will correct something that needed correcting. It's not very likely, but it's worth a try.

Maybe try to re-install your graphics driver this way as well. Additionally, maybe you should try a package update or repair with GNOME in case the issue lies in the desktop-environment itself.

Lastly, maybe this link will help you out: How To Fix Broken Packages In Ubuntu Or Debian

Hope you get this sorted out.

Enigmatic
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The description alone is not enough for me to decide of the exact cause, but I can offer some help in diagnosing and fixing the problem.

First, you should be able to login into a text terminal without having to start your window manager.

Click CTRL-ALT-F1 to get access to one of your virtual terminals (to go back to graphical: usually CTRL-ALT-F7 should get you back into the graphical login screen gdm, kdm, or whatever you are using). Once in a virtual terminal, you should be able to login and get a shell.

Once in, look at the logs, in particular your window-manager logs and the X11 logs under /var/logs/... to figure out the cause of the failure of your window manager. HTH.

arielf
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Even though this is an old thread, if anyone is having this problem and looking for a answer, see the link below where the same question was answered well with an easy fix.

Ubuntu gets stuck in a login loop

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user151976
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After you get a login screen, press Alt+Ctrl+F1 and log on. Then log on as root (you'll be asked for you password):

sudo su

Then try these commands one after another:

gdm stop

less /var/log/gdm/\:0-greeter.log

cd /var/lib/gdm/

mv .config/ .config-bkup

ls -ltr

service gdm stop

apt-get install gnome-session

apt-get indicator-applet-session

apt-get install indicator-applet-session

service gdm status

cd ~

mv .ICEauthority ICEauthority-bkup

{don't remove these file just backup}

mv .Xauthority Xauthority-bkup

service gdm start

Reboot is not necessary, if it asks for reboot:

init 5 / reboot
mightyteja
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