xioerrors

["Chiu, PCM (Peter) " <P C M Chiu rl ac uk>]

Hi, 

The console window manager on our RH 9.0 box fails to start up with 
repeated messages recording in /var/log/messages: 

gdm[nnnn]: gdm_slave_xioerror_handler: Fatal X error - Restarting 0 

Following a suggestion obtained through the web, we commented out 
the following line in /etc/X11/XF86Config: 

    FontPath  "unix/:7100" 

the display manager can then come up. 

However, we can only log on using the root account. 

When we tried to log in using any of our normal user accounts, 
a small window pops up saying there are problems detected. 
It then reverts back to the normal logon screen. 

The system is part of a NIS client, but we can log on 
remotely using ssh (ie. non window) with the normal user accounts. 

In the system log /var/log/messages, it reports: 

gdm(pam_unix)[nnnn]: bad username [pcmc] 
gdm-binary[nnnn]: Couldn't authenticate user 
gdm(pam_unix}[nnnn]: session closed for user pcmc 
gdm is 2.4.1.3 

The system has been working fine (without a reboot) for quite sometime. 

In the up2date log (/var/log/up2date.2), it was recorded
on Nov 18, a number updates were applied on XFree86-4.3.0-2.90.43 
and relating XFree86 products. 

Not sure if that is relevant to the problems now experience. 

Peter