SPAM: Something quite weird going on here
Suddenly when I start Thunderbird and it tries to connect to my ISP's mail server I get the error message that my password is not accepted even though it is 'remembered' by TB and has been sent all day long without problems. The file containing the stored password is present in the correct place in /.thunderbird. (There is also another side-effect with the password but this is intermittent.) But what really now worries me is that I did CTRL-ALT-F3 to do something as root and when I type in the password for root I get an error message, "Error in service module." and I cannot login as root. (However, from the Desktop and in a terminal window I can login as root and the password *is* accepted.) Same thing also happens when I try and login as a User- error message about the service module :-( . Can anyone please throw some light on what may be going on? I note that earlier tonight 2 files got upgraded via smart (I don't recall what they were) and the problem started afterwards but this can be just a coincidence of course. Cheers. -- "I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'" George W. Bush 27 August 2004
On 2006-11-03 07:26, Basil Chupin wrote:
But what really now worries me is that I did CTRL-ALT-F3 to do something as root and when I type in the password for root I get an error message, "Error in service module." and I cannot login as root. (However, from the Desktop and in a terminal window I can login as root and the password *is* accepted.) Same thing also happens when I try and login as a User- error message about the service module :-( . Are there no errors in /var/log/messages?
On 2006-11-03 14:19, Darryl Gregorash wrote:
On 2006-11-03 07:26, Basil Chupin wrote:
error message, "Error in service module." and I cannot login as root. (However, from the Desktop and in a terminal window I can login as root and the password *is* accepted.) Same thing also happens when I try and login as a User- error message about the service module :-( .
Are there no errors in /var/log/messages?
OK, google first, reply second: http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/63144-error-service-module.... (summary: this is a PAM error. Comment out the last 3 lines of /etc/pam.d/login.) Googling for the exact phrase "error in service module" yields nearly 500 results, but so far I've only checked the first few. The above URL is the only one so far with anything that approaches useful and explanatory information (eg. does the law of unintended consequences apply?).
Darryl Gregorash wrote:
On 2006-11-03 14:19, Darryl Gregorash wrote:
On 2006-11-03 07:26, Basil Chupin wrote:
error message, "Error in service module." and I cannot login as root. (However, from the Desktop and in a terminal window I can login as root and the password *is* accepted.) Same thing also happens when I try and login as a User- error message about the service module :-( .
Are there no errors in /var/log/messages?
OK, google first, reply second:
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/suse-linux-help/63144-error-service-module....
(summary: this is a PAM error. Comment out the last 3 lines of /etc/pam.d/login.)
Googling for the exact phrase "error in service module" yields nearly 500 results, but so far I've only checked the first few. The above URL is the only one so far with anything that approaches useful and explanatory information (eg. does the law of unintended consequences apply?).
Thanks for this. I tried searching for the phrase but gave up trying to find sense in what I found so what you wrote above is what I acted on and I thank you for finding the above. I uncommented the last 3 lines and the problem disappeared. However, a problem like this just doesn't occur for no reason- in all the years that I have been running SuSE I've never struck this. A problem coming out of the blue may indicate that something else is wrong and yet to be uncovered. Have to say that the problem is rather odd because I can login as root and user inside a terminal window (and at boot time) but not as either when in, say, CTRL-ALT-F3; surely the OS follows the same set of procedures when logging in in either situation. Don't know enough about how LInux works to be able to answer this. Anyway, thanks for the above as it fixed the problem - whether for good or for bad time only time will tell :-) . Cheers. -- "I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'" George W. Bush 27 August 2004
On 2006-11-04 20:05, Basil Chupin wrote:
Thanks for this. I tried searching for the phrase but gave up trying to find sense in what I found so what you wrote above is what I acted on and I thank you for finding the above. I uncommented the last 3 lines and the problem disappeared.
Good for that, at least.
However, a problem like this just doesn't occur for no reason- in all the years that I have been running SuSE I've never struck this....
I never got that far in searching the google results. All I can say for sure is that it is a PAM bug of some sort, and it seems to have been around for quite some time.
Darryl Gregorash wrote:
On 2006-11-03 07:26, Basil Chupin wrote:
But what really now worries me is that I did CTRL-ALT-F3 to do something as root and when I type in the password for root I get an error message, "Error in service module." and I cannot login as root. (However, from the Desktop and in a terminal window I can login as root and the password *is* accepted.) Same thing also happens when I try and login as a User- error message about the service module :-( .
Are there no errors in /var/log/messages?
To detect errors one must first know what they look like :-) . A futile exercise in wading thru 1.7MB of stuff without knowing what to look for :-) . But see next message.. Cheers. -- "I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'" George W. Bush 27 August 2004
participants (2)
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Basil Chupin
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Darryl Gregorash