[ubuntu-uk] 12.04 has locked me out of my account

[Alan Pope]

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On 03/05/12 13:07, Gareth France wrote:
> A few minutes ago my system started accessing the hard drive
> frantically for about 5 minutes, then logged out while I was hald
> way through writing an email. Now every time try to log back in it
> says:

Check logs in /var/log such as /var/log/syslog and /var/log/messages
for errors around the time the problem started.

You may need to switch user to your 'real' account and then use sudo
so see those files:-

su - gareth
sudo more /var/log/syslog

You can also use tools like "dh -f" to check disk space, and tools
like "smartctl" to detect if the disk is failing/failed.

You can also test a brand new user to see if it's just something in
your account that's mashed up.

sudo adduser testy

Also take a look in your /home/gareth folder for the most recently
written files/folders, they may give clues. Also have a look at
/home/gareth/.xsession-errors

All is not lost, if you can boot up and logon as guest then the system
isn't irreversibly broken IMO.

Cheers,
- -- 
Alan Pope
Engineering Manager

Canonical - Product Strategy
+44 (0) 7973 620 164
alan.pope at canonical.com
http://ubuntu.com/
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