1st login attempt always fails; disappearing 'help'

R

Rumpelvast

Hi!

After I start the system (8.1-RELEASE) there is no way to log in successfully right the first time, unless I wait for about half a minute for another 'login:' prompt to show underneath the initial 'login:' prompt, then I know I can log in - all from command line. But if I take no action and let GDM or KDM to appear, then it's no longer possible to log in at all. The less-than-perfect solution is to quickly enter any user credentials and have them rejected before GDM or KDM starts. Has anybody experienced this and/or knows the solution?
Another problem I have is disapearing help in gnome. Any 'help' menu shows up for a fraction of a second and then disappears, thus leaving me 'helpless'. Any suggestions please?
 
Can you boot into single mode and fix GDM/KDM setup or restore previous setup for text-mode terminal login? I suspect that there's something wrong in your GDM/KDM setup?
 
Yes, turn off GDM for the time being. There really shouldn't be a second login prompt.
 
Hi. Thanks for your responses. Actually it has nothing to do with GDM, because this problem is there right after I install FreeBSD, even before I install xorg and gnome. But while at command prompt only 1st login attempt fails and all others behave just as normal, in GDM/KDM all attempts fail (they don't if I squeeze in a failed login attempt while still at console login prompt, before GDM/KDM kicks in). That's a tricky one. Any more ideas?
BTW I can't find any reference to similar behaviour. Maybe there's something wrong with my laptop? But no errors are reported at boot and I don't have this problem with OpenSUSE.
 
Yes, (again) turn off GDM/KDM/XDM or whatever you use to start Xorg.
At least for the time being until we figure out what's going on.
 
Yes, I couldn't log into FreeBSD itself.
Ok, the GDM login problem is gone, just like that. Must be something to do with keyboard layouts. The default was US, but when I changed it to UK I still couldn't log in. But after rebooting several times UK layout became default and it's been accepting passwords since. But the console login behaviour hasn't changed. Haven't tried using US layout on 1st login yet.
 
Try typing your username AND password on the Login: prompt to see how they actually show up.
 
What exactly happens after your first login attempt? Does the machine just hang there? Did you try switching VTs (Alt-Fn) after having entered the credentials but before the second prompt shows up? What about pressing Enter a few times to see if the screen scrolls up? If -- having logged in -- you go to single-user mode ([cmd=]shutdown now[/cmd] (no flags)) and then back to multi-user, does the new login prompt exhibit the same behaviour? Does this also happen with a completely pristine FreeBSD installation? That is, no configuration changes at all (save for the absolutely necessary ones, if any).
 
@DutchDaemon: I tried that and it shows up as it should, so it's rather not layout.
@Oxyd: After first login attempt the behaviour is identical to simply mistyping password. It happens with pristine installation. It doesn't happen after coming back from single user mode. It happens in virtual consoles, too.
 
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