CDE doesn't start

[Arnau Bria]

Hello everybody,

I have installed HP-UX 11i on a C3000 workstation, nothing speciall to remark (default installation)...
all worked fine, at first reboot no error was showed, and the CDE is supposed to start.
Well, the X server starts but the CDE login not... The screen is black with the funny "sand clock" ...

I started at level 2 (init 2) and checked that network and hostname worked fine,(192.168.0.11 255.0.0.0 no default gw)...

so where is the problem? why it doen's show the cde login?

Thanks in advance.

[Nick Wickens]

Does it work at init level 3 ?

[Arnau Bria]

mmmmm... when I go to init 3, it starts cde directly (the black screen ;-) ) , so I can't do anything...

do I answered your question?

Ta

[Bill Hassell]

Startup problems with CDE are almost always due to networking since CDE depends on a 'normal' network to run. If you don't have a LAN cable connected to anything, you'll have to make some changes to fool CDE. The subnet mask you are using is very unusual (normal would be something like 255.255.255.0) and without a default gateway, I am assuming that this box is not connected to anything.

[Arnau Bria]

Hi,

Well, I know what happens if network is not working, so I checked it at init 2. As I said, it's fine, I can ping to anywhere in the lan...
I have set NO gw, and the netmask was in 255.255.255.0 at the begginig, but I read somewhere taht HP needs this strange netmask...so I changed it (I don't remeber where I found that..)

So, I'm sure networks works, the hostname is correct and /etc/hosts is well configured...

Could the problem come from an other thing?

Ta

[Arnau Bria]

I could try to add the gw, but it gave me more problems (something like the gw should be configured after lan0 is configured) ¿?¿?

I could go to level 2, add the route, check network and try CDE, but what do I have to see to confirm that the network works fine? AIS I can ping to everywhere in the lan...

[Bill Hassell]

Make sure you don't have an /etc/resolv.conf file and that /etc/hosts has your IP address and hostname as well as the:

127.0.0.1 localhost loopback

entry. Use nslookup to see that it can find your hostname correctly. Use the /usr/contrib/bin/X11/dr_dt command to see what CDE thinks is happening. Look at the end of syslog:

tail /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log

Look in your .dt directory for the error logs.

[john kingsley]

Netmask is determined by your local network. 255.0.0.0 is normal for a Class A network. This implies that your site is not doing any subnetting.

How are you doing name resolution? files? DNS? NIS? Check /etc/nsswitch.conf. CDE needs to be able to do a forward and reverse lookup for your machine. Do get an answer back when you run:

nslookup "host_name"
nslookup "host_IP_Address"

[Victor Fridyev]

There is a utility called
/usr/contrib/bin/X11/dr_dt,
which makes a set of tests. Sometimes it helps to locate problems of CDE.
But this all smells like name resolution problem.
Could you check /etc/nsswitch.conf, and nslookup hostname and nslookup WS-IP-address

HTH

[Arnau Bria]

Uou.. thanks for all the replies... on Monday I'll updtae the issue..

thanks to all!

[Mark Ellzey]

I'm with Victor. All problems I've experienced with CDE not starting have had to do with name resolution. As Victor noted, check that nslookup can resolve the hostname. Check your /etc/resolv.conf to be sure that it's looking in the proper places to begin with.

Regards,
Mark

[Arnau Bria]

Hello everybody,

as I said on Friday, thanks for all the
replies to my problem.
Well, I've done some test:

-The /etc/resolv.conf doesn't exists (I have no DNS server set)
-The /etc/nsswitch.conf is set to files (all the parameters)
-The etc/hosts exists and conatins:
127.0.0.1 localhost loopback
192.168.0.11 HEIDI
-and the nslookup HEIDI and nsloopuk 192.168.0.11 works fine, it can resolve.
-The syslog is not ahowing anything interesting, no errors... just syasy it's initializing services.

-The .dt directory doesn't exist yet cause I have never started CDE.

And finally, I ran the dr_dt script and it's showing something interesting:

WARNING: The / directory is not properly configured. The current configuration is:
permissions = drwxr-xr-x
owner = root
group = root
For HP CDE to function correctly, it should be a directory with the following configuration:
permissions = dr-xr-xr-x
owner = root
group = sys

But, if I change the permision, I wont be able to write on the directory!! ¿?¿?

INFO: HP CDE sets the DISPLAY environment variable to :0(HEIDI:0 in your case). Yours is currently set to "", which is a potential problem, unless you are on
an X terminal, querying another server, or remotely logged into this system. Users typically set the DISPLAY variable in
.dtprofile, .profile, .login, .kshrc or .cshrc (depending on the shell). Unless you really need to, make sure you are not
setting it.

Ok, in wich file of the ones listend above do I have to set the VARIABLE value?

And next warning are the worst ones...
WARNING: /usr/dt/bin/xmbind does not exist. It needs to be on the system in order for HP CDE to run properly. There may have been a problem at installation. You can either reinstall HP CDE or get a copy of the file
from another compatible system.

WARNING: /usr/dt/bin/suid_exec does not exist. It needs to be on the system in order for HP CDE to run properly. There may have been a problem at installation. You can either reinstall HP CDE or get a copy of the file from another compatible system.

mmmmm.. Do I really have to reintall the OS?
In first installation I found 0 errors..?¿?
Where could I get theese files?

If I have to reisntall from the beggining, what do I have to do in oreder to correct this problem?

Well, other WARNINGS come from CDE"Language"..but I'll take a look after correcting this ones firs

[Arnau Bria]

Well,

I found some information about the error (just one web talking about patches) tahnks what it says and what I've done:

1.dr_dt is checking for /usr/dt/bin/suid_exec
and xmbind which do not load.
Resolution:
The dr_dt utility has been fixed so that the search for suid_exec will not be done as it is not delivered. Also search for xmbind would be done at the correct location.

So, I did a link to xmbind in /usr/dt/bin and a touch of suid_exec in same directory...

I also set DISPLAY env variable to HEIDI:0 , but it still hangs on black screen ....

I'm really lost, could someone bring me back to the corect way?

Ta

[john kingsley]

So, CDE is hanging before you even get a login screen? If this is the case, then, I don't think it is a name resolution issue. You usually don't hit this issue until you log in.

Check to make sure dtlogin started OK (/etc/rc.log), and is running on your system. Check your Xserver logs (/var/X11/Xserver/logs)

Also, check to make sure you have the latest patches for your graphics adapter. Take a look at the latest Xserver patch, I seem to remember some special intructions related to the the graphics adapter.

[Bill Hassell]

dr_dt says:

> WARNING: The / directory is not properly configured. The current configuration is:
permissions = drwxr-xr-x
> owner = root
> group = root
> For HP CDE to function correctly, it should be a directory with the following configuration:
> permissions = dr-xr-xr-x
> owner = root
> group = sys

> But, if I change the permision, I wont be able to write on the directory!! à ¿?à ¿?

Not true at all! Whether / is 755 or 555, the root user can *always* write and/or read any file in any directory. Ordinary users must never be allowed to write to /. The warning from dr_dt can be ignored though since 555 has no effect on root. The group could be changed to sys but I doubt it will have any effect at all. CDE should not be writing into /. NOTE: change root's $HOME directory to /root if you haven't already. There should be *no* files in /, just directories. By moving root's $HOME directory, you'll improve the reliability of the system.

> Ok, in wich file of the ones listend above do I have to set the VARIABLE value?

This should have been set for you automatically. You can put the DISPLAY value into .dtprofile and possibly into .profile.

Since the other errors are showing up, you may need to reinstall. Always use the interactive screen and check on the first tab where it shows the version of HP-UX being installed. There may be several choices. NOTE: If you aren't using the CDROM technical Workstations (aka, TCO release), that is likely the problem. For 11i, there is a server CDROM set and a workstation CD

[Arnau Bria]

mmmmm....
I don't want to reinstall!!! snif snif...

This CD's were sent by HP directly...
I'll go back to 10.20 again...

But, last chance:
dtlogin is running:
#ps -ef | grep dtlogin
root 4079 3968 0 04:14:06 ? 0:00 /usr/dt/bin/dtlogin
root 4132 4079 0 04:14:13 ? 0:00 /usr/dt/bin/dtlogin

Logs show next:
Xserver Configuration from command line arguments:
/usr/bin/X11/X :0 -auth /var/dt/HEIDIAAAa04079

Xserver Configuration from X0screens:
GlxIsSlsSmart
GlxSlsFastCursor

Dynamically Loaded Library List;
Library Creation Times: Library Names:
Fri Jul 9 06:10:30 2004: /usr/bin/X11/X
.
.
.
Fri Jul 9 05:56:52 2004: /usr/lib/libnss_dns.1
Fri Jul 9 05:56:52 2004: /usr/lib/libnss_nis.1
Fri Jul 9 05:56:29 2004: /usr/lib/libnss_files.1
Fri Jul 9 06:10:31 2004: /usr/lib/X11/extensions/hp7lc2k.1
Fri Jul 9 06:10:31 2004: /usr/lib/X11/extensions/hid.1


That's all... no errors..nothing!!!

Ah! the .profile file has NO DISPLAY value!!
just DISPLAY=HEIDI:0 ¿?

[Bill Hassell]

.profile has no DISPLAY...

Well, CDE bypasses the 'normal' login with /etc/profile and .profile. CDE will source .dtprofile for settings as well as a global settings file when it starts. However, DISPLAY=HEIDI:0.0 has me concerned. What do you see when you type:

hostname

If you see HEIDI, that is likely the problem. UPPERCASE is not always translated to lowercase like it is in a PC. In looking at /etc/hosts, I see that it is also shown as UPPERCASE. However, there are some areas of networking that may treat UPPERCASE as lowercase, thus causing the CDE problem. I would run /sbin/set_parms and change the hostname from HEIDI to heidi and reboot. set_parms should take care of all the config files and this may get you going.