Bad update - X11 corrupted - dependency hell

[Dick Brown]

I think I've got it fixed now.  I checked out the list of installed 
packages, and there was a LOT of stuff missing.  I installed it from the 
disks and now Fedora boots up normally.
I will wait until I get the mirror set up before running up2date again.

Thanks for all your help.
Dick

Dick Brown wrote:

> 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>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>  
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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