Bad update - X11 corrupted - dependency hell

[Dick Brown]

Martin,
    OK, I can get into the graphical environment now, but I get several 
errors as I log in to any account.  First, though, here's the result of 
"rpm -qa | grep '^XF' | sort".

XFree86-Mesa-libGL-4.3.0-42
XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42
XFree86-libs-4.3.0-42
XFree86-libs-data-4.3.0-42
XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42

The errors I get now are the following:
    Panel encountered a problem while loading <applet>.
    Details:  child process did not give an error message, unknown 
failure occurred.  Delete file? (I chose no)
       The applets were: 
            OAFIID:  Gnome_PagerApplet
            OAFIID:  Gnome_TasklistApplet
            OAFIID:   Gnome_SystemTrayApplet
and (the following gives different details)
            OAFIID:  Gnome_ClockApplet
                Details:  g_module_open of '/usr/lib/libclock-applet-2' 
failed with 'libpanel-applet-2.so.0:  cannot open shared objectfile:  no 
such file or directory

Dick

Martin Stone wrote:

> Dick,
>
> /usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir is a program that belongs to the package 
> XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42 - so it sounds like you're missing more 
> than one package.  So go and get
>
> http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/1/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm 
>
>
> and put it in the same directory and try:
>
> rpm -ivh XFree86-font-utils-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm 
> XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm
>
> if that works, go ahead and do the chkconfig and the "service xfs 
> start" - if not, next time you post include the output of:
>
> rpm -qa | grep '^XF' | sort
>
> and we will see what all else you're missing...
>
> Cheers,
> Martin
>
>
> Dick Brown wrote:
>
>> Martin,
>>    You were right, and the XFree86-xfs wasn't there.  I got the rpm 
>> that you mentioned, but when I tried to install it, I got the message 
>> that:
>> /usr/X11R6/bin/mkfontdir was missing.  Is this just a directory that 
>> I can create, so that everything will be OK, or do you think that 
>> there's another package that I need to install first?
>>
>> Thanks for your help,
>> Dick
>>
>> Martin Stone wrote:
>>
>>> Dick,
>>>
>>> That's a good start.  One item of concern:  You say that when you 
>>> ran X -probeonly, your screen blanked.  Do you mean it blanked and 
>>> stayed blank?  That would be bad.  It's supposed to blank your 
>>> screen for a few seconds, then you get back your text console with 
>>> the latest error messages displayed on it.
>>>
>>> So... we've determined that X doesn't think it has the fonts it 
>>> needs... this could be because xfs just is not running, but I think 
>>> it's more likely that xfs was the package that failed installation.  
>>> Can you do the following:
>>>
>>> rpm -qa | grep '^XF' | sort
>>>
>>> and post the output to us?  You should see XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42 in 
>>> the list towards the bottom.  If you don't, that could be your 
>>> trouble.  You might try something like:
>>>
>>> wget 
>>> http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/fedora/linux/core/1/i386/os/Fedora/RPMS/XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm 
>>>
>>>
>>> (or download the RPM to your system in your favorite way)
>>>
>>> and then:
>>>
>>> rpm -ivh XFree86-xfs-4.3.0-42.i386.rpm
>>> chkconfig --level 2345 xfs on
>>> service xfs start
>>>
>>> Then try starting X and logging all messages on your own with 
>>> something like:
>>>
>>> X > /tmp/myXlog.txt 2>&1
>>>
>>> And let us know how that works out for you...
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Martin
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dick Brown wrote:
>>>
>>>> OK, there was no 'rhgb' in my boot loader, so I got in and manually 
>>>> changed /etc/inittab.
>>>>
>>>> The command 'X -probeonly' didn't seem to do anything helpful.  I 
>>>> saw some text flash on the screen, but then the screen blanked.  I 
>>>> checked the log file, but no help there.  I went ahead and just ran 
>>>> 'X' and again checked the log file.  I saw the following messages 
>>>> near the bottom:
>>>>
>>>>  could not init font path element unix/:7100, removing from list
>>>>  fatal server error:  could not open default font 'fixed'
>>>>
>>>> Dick
>>>>
>>>> Martin Stone wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Dick,
>>>>>
>>>>> Here's a way to boot from the hard disk and skip the graphical stuff:
>>>>>
>>>>> When the GRUB bootloader screen comes up, hit the 'a' key - this 
>>>>> allows you to modify the kernel parameters that are being used to 
>>>>> boot your system.  Backspace over 'rhgb' to remove it, then type 
>>>>> '3' (without the quotes) and hit Enter. This tells the Linux 
>>>>> kernel to boot to runlevel 3 instead of what is specified in 
>>>>> /etc/inittab (that would be '5' in your case.)  Runlevel 3 is the 
>>>>> normal runlevel with all normal services running except for X.  
>>>>> Much easier to troubleshoot your system from this point than from 
>>>>> a rescue disk.
>>>>>
>>>>> After you've booted to runlevel 3, you can log in normally and try 
>>>>> to diagnose your X problem.  I recommend starting by trying:
>>>>>
>>>>> X -probeonly
>>>>>
>>>>> and seeing (and telling us!) what error messages are reported.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good luck!
>>>>> Martin
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Dick Brown wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks to those who have replied so far.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I did make a boot disk, and can get to a system prompt with 
>>>>>> "linux single".  The problem I'm having is that I can't get a 
>>>>>> graphical login.  When the login prompt comes up, the system 
>>>>>> automatically tries to go to the graphical login.  Unfortunately, 
>>>>>> it can't get there, so keeps cycling from text login to graphical 
>>>>>> login and back, so I can't do anything.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> There was one other thing I tried, and maybe this was bad.  When 
>>>>>> I couldn't log in normally after the failed update, I tried 
>>>>>> reinstalling Fedora over itself.  It seemed to go fine installing 
>>>>>> over RH8, so I figured it would be okay to install over itself, 
>>>>>> too.  Would this have messed it up?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>> Dick
>>>>>>
>>>>>> jludwig wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>>    I recently decided to upgrade from RH8 to Fedora.  I downloaded
>>>>>>>> the .iso files, burned them and installed without a hitch 
>>>>>>>> (checked the md5sum and the finished CDs first).
>>>>>>>>    Unfortunately, when I performed the system update, the X11 
>>>>>>>> package
>>>>>>>> was corrupted.  Now I can't boot into Fedora normally.  I can 
>>>>>>>> get in through the "Linux rescue" from the install disk, but 
>>>>>>>> I'm afraid I
>>>>>>>> don't know what to do from there.  I'm at that dangerous stage 
>>>>>>>> where I know enough to get myself into trouble, but not enough 
>>>>>>>> to get myself out,
>>>>>>>> so I don't really want to touch anything without some advice 
>>>>>>>> first.  Is there an easy fix to this?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>>>> Dick
>>>>>>>>   
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> What were the error messages, if any, while booting?
>>>>>>> This will give me/us an idea how to help you fix this problem.
>>>>>>> jludwig <wralphie at comcast.net>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>  
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>