[CentOS] GNOME issue. Seeking Guidance.

Mon Apr 14 21:47:17 UTC 2008

If there is anyone who has experianced this, can you please give me further
guidance.  I have tried everything below, and still can not get anything to
come up with GNOME.  Strangest thing.  Somehow, it worked prior to
installing the centos updates and Zenoss's Network Monitoring utility.  Now
I can't get it to work to save my life.......Not quite sure were to start
looking......

Please Advise.

Very Respectfully,
Christy

Below is what has been documented on this issue, and I am needing further
guidance.  Essetially, I am running in GNOME, but it isn't working
properly.  Can some one help.
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|I am new to the Centos ISO and was looking for a forum, when I came across
this. If it isn't something you can help,  |
|can you help point me in the right direction? Here are the answers you
requested from me:                             |
|
|
|I go to the applications menu at the top left and click to pull down
|
|I click on Add/Remove Software but nothing happens.
|
|
|
|I am using GNOME
|
|
|
|I go to the system menu at the top left and click to pull down, and then
click admin and then click network. Nothing  |
|happens.
|
|
|
|It is like the GNOME is not working properly. It did work until I pulled
down the software updates after the initial  |
|intstallation.
|
|
|
|Again, thank you.
|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|There are several ways to get help with CentOS:
|
|
|
|The CentOS web forums are at http://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/ [^]
|
|The CentOS email lists are at
http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos [^]
|
|Realtime forums (IRC) can be found via
http://www.centos.org/modules/tinycontent/index.php?id=8 [^]
|
|
|
|In your case, I am expecting that the pirut or system-helper command are
not working correctly. Please try the        |
|following.
|
|
|
|Right click on the desktop and choose "Open Terminal". In the terminal
type pirut. A popup window should occur asking |
|for the root password. If it doesnt, then there is a permission problem
that might have 'broken' during an update.    |
|
|
|In the terminal type "ls -l /usr/bin/pirut". And you should get output
like the following:                            |
|
|
|[smooge at canopus ~]$ ls -l /usr/bin/pirut
|
|lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 12 2007 /usr/bin/pirut -> consolehelper*
|
|
|
|[smooge at canopus ~]$ ls -l /usr/bin/consolehelper
|
|-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5920 Mar 14 2007 /usr/bin/consolehelper*
|
|
|
|
|
|If it is a permission problem, we can try the following:
|
|
|
|1) Login as root (in the terminal window you can do a "su - root"
|
|2) Type the following:
|
|/sbin/restorecon -R -v /etc /usr /sbin /bin /var
|
|
|
|This will take a long time, but it should restore selinux permissions to
some items that either zenoss or an update   |
|accidently "broke"
|
|
|
|After this command finishes try the following:
|
|Top Menu -> Applications -> Add/Remove Software
|
|
|
|If it pops up now.. then it was an selinux item. If it does not then there
is a problem with consolehelper talking    |
|getting root which might have occured with the zenoss install. I would
first check with them to see if it is a known  |
|issue on their part, and then with the forums.
|
|
|
|/usr/bin/consolehelper is a program that allows a normal user to get
super-user/administrator rights. So there are 2  |
|pirut programs. /usr/bin/pirut calls consolehelper which calls some
programs to make sure you can become 'root' If you|
|know the root password then it will call /usr/sbin/pirut which is the real
program, but only runs as 'root' not a     |
|normal user.
|
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|Yes and no luck yet. I have contacted Zenoss, however they seem to think
it is with Centos. Since it is a free     |
|utility, they are very reluctant to offer support. If I were to pay, then
they would graciously put for the effort |
|to help. So I am on my own. I don't mind the CLI, actually I prefer it,
but my co-workers are were I am concerned. |
|I want them to be able to use it, and be comfortable with it. But with out
being able to use the GNOME (GUI). They |
|are reluctant to do so. That is my fear. They know nothing about Linux or
UNIX, and only know router's and switches|
|CLI. If you can offer any guidance, I graciously welcome it all
|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|When I open a terminal, there was no issue. When I typed int ls -l
/usr/bin/pirut, I got just as smooge said I     |
|would, lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 13 Apr 12 2007 /usr/bin/pirut ->
consolehelper*. Then I typed in ls -l               |
|/usr/bin/consolehelper, I got -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 5920 Mar 14 2007
/usr/bin/consolehelper*, again just as smooge|
|said I would. He then asked that I log in as root, which I was already at.
When I typed,/sbin/restorecon -R -v /etc|
|/usr /sbin /bin /var. There was something different, than what Smooge said
it would do. It was either instance, or |
|it appeared like nothing happen. He had mention that it would take it a
while, and it appeared to do nothing. So   |
|once I did all he asked, I stillcould not open the add/remove, or the
networking information up. I also tried to   |
|reboot the server, to see if maybe the changes would take effect then, and
no success. Thanks for the help.        |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|When I run pirut from root it tells me: "Unable to import modules. Maybe
you're not running under X?". When I log  |
|under another user, and run the command "pirut", it prompts me for the
root password, and then tells me the same   |
|thing.
|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|Are you running under some sort of GUI? GNOME, KDE, XFCE, whatever -
meaning are you running under a graphical |
|environment?
|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

|-----|
|Yes  |
|-----|

Please Advise.

Christy

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