Ubuntu 11.04 Server Login Problems

natski

Hi all,

I bought my first server recently preinstalled with Ubuntu 11.04 Server. To my surprise, there was no GUI so I installed a GUI using sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop

After startup, I get a login screen with options 'default user', 'other user' and 'guest'. When I click default user and type in a random (i.e. wrong) password a message flashes up that the password is invalid as expected. When I type in the correct password for the only user registered on the system the monitor turns off for a second then turns back on with the same screen as before on. i.e. there is no 'invalid password' message or anything. The same thing happens when I click 'other user' and type in my username and password.

As a result, I can't login! The only way I can get in is a guest but then I can't sudo anything or really do anything on the system, so it's useless.

What's going on here?

natski

CompuChip

Can you check the log files and see if there is anything relevant?
I'm thinking in particular ~/.xsession-errors or - if that doesn't help - /var/log/syslog.

It might be something like a missing or incorrectly installed window manager (something with X11, LDM or Gnome)

jhae2.718

Ubuntu server is headless.

Can you log in using your username/password on another TTY? (e.g. CTRL + ALT + F1) Or use SSH?

Also, maybe look at dmesg.