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I had to do a hard reset on my machine because my Ubuntu VM in VMWare Player was completely frozen and causing some strange behavior. Waited about 5 minutes, then hit the reset switch. Now when I try to login I see some sort of error screen but it is maybe on screen for 50ms. The only text I can make out is something about dispatcher. I even tried using screen capture software but even at 32 frames per second (the max) I can't see the error message. I can login using the low-graphics mode (Ctrl Alt F2).

How can I figure out what the problem is?

I did manage to capture the only feedback I'm getting (below). It isn't much help. I also did an apt-get update/upgrade, no change.

login message

jcollum
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2 Answers2

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You can view logs :

 tail -f /var/log/syslog

After you login just view this file and see what is the error .

nux
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  • I can't launch gedit, since I'm only able to access low graphics mode. I can cat it but what am I looking for? – jcollum Mar 03 '14 at 20:03
  • i edit my question , you are looking about the error man :) – nux Mar 03 '14 at 20:04
  • I added the screen feedback I'm getting (don't think there's any help in there). I don't see any login errors in the syslog yet. – jcollum Mar 03 '14 at 20:36
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It appears that this was a failure of the xwindow service to start or connect. This thread was helpful:

My account can't start GUI, but Guest account can

But in my case neither account could start the GUI. Either way, installing an alternate xwindow service solved it.

Community
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jcollum
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    you answered your question saying how you solved the underlying problem (you installed a new display manager? could you please expand your answer a little?) but the question seems to be how to read an error message that appeared during the boot process - the answer to that might be to read dmesg, change boot parameters, grep through the syslog etc. So it would be good if you could edit your question to reflect your real problem, so that your answer makes more sense to people looking for help with similar issues in the future. – Zanna Oct 09 '16 at 10:27
  • This happened so long ago that I don't remember the problem, much less the solution. Sorry. – jcollum Oct 28 '16 at 17:27