title: No X after upgrade/install of Red Hat/CentOS 5 link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2007/05/14/no-x-after-upgradeinstall-of-red-hatcentos-5/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 713 created: 2007/05/14 13:07:00 created_gmt: 2007/05/14 13:07:00 comment_status: open post_name: no-x-after-upgradeinstall-of-red-hatcentos-5 status: publish post_type: post

No X after upgrade/install of Red Hat/CentOS 5

Since I’ve had this problem on a couple of machines, and wasted alot of time searching for an answer, I thought I’d “share the wealth” here.

Problem: After upgrading or doing a fresh install of Red Hat or CentOS 5, on the first reboot after configuration you’re facing a back screen instead of the expected graphical login. You can log in OK, but try and do a “startx” to fire up the GUI and you’ll be told a session is already running.

In this case believe it. There is an X session there, the one owned by gdm, the graphical login. If you log out and then do an Alt-F7 you can switch to it and use the graphical login as before.

Why is this happening? I actually have no idea. Part of why I have no idea is that neither the Red Hat nor CentOS teams have to date acknowledged there is a problem. You’ll search in vain for any kind of official word on this condition.

Solution: Who knows? Probably a mistake in either an init script or the ordering of the startup sequence. I’m just a mechanic, not an architect. Someone way smarter than me will need to figure that out. For now, see below for the workaround I found on a couple of the lists.

Workaround: Edit /etc/grub.conf (that’s not the real location, just the symlink, but don’t worry about that now) and remove the argument “rhgb quiet” from the bootloader line. As a result rhgb won’t load and you’ll get the graphical login on reboot.

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