Ubuntu 9.04 onwards - Authentication Failure.

Ash-Lee

Ash-Lee

Ash-Lee

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26 Jul 2008
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143
Had this annoying problem since v9.04 onwards, it's still with me on v10.04. v8.04 worked fine.

Ubuntu refuses to accept my password, i have it set as auto-logon so i can use the desktop but for any system changes it plays up. Just gives me 'Authentication Failure'

The password is correct i'm 100% sure of that, changing the password doesn't work, i've tryed that endless times over the years.

Strange thing is, if i continually enter the password (sometimes it take 2 trys sometimes 20+) it will finally accept it.

I've asked this question on the Ubuntu forums with no luck, i'm wondering if anyone on here can point me in the right direction?
 
hmmm strange!

Is there any errors relating to PAM or login failures in /var/log/syslog or /var/log/messages or /var/log/auth.log

EDIT: And I assume you're logging in through the gnome GDM login manager? Can you try in a virtual terminal instead, try pressing ctrl+alt+f1 and login (cant remember if that works on ubuntu or not)
 
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He is a snippet from my auth.log. It's pretty much full of this kind of jargon.

May 19 21:36:40 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): authentication failure; logname=ash uid=0 euid=0 tty=/dev/pts/0 ruser= rhost= user=ash
May 19 21:36:42 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:36:42 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:36:42 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:36:42 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:36:42 ash-desktop sudo: ash : 3 incorrect password attempts ; TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/gedit /etc/default/grub
May 19 21:36:56 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): authentication failure; logname=ash uid=0 euid=0 tty=/dev/pts/0 ruser= rhost= user=ash
May 19 21:36:58 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:36:58 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:36:58 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:36:58 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:36:58 ash-desktop sudo: ash : 3 incorrect password attempts ; TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/gedit /etc/default/grub
May 19 21:37:11 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): authentication failure; logname=ash uid=0 euid=0 tty=/dev/pts/0 ruser= rhost= user=ash
May 19 21:37:13 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:37:13 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:37:13 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:37:13 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:37:13 ash-desktop sudo: ash : 3 incorrect password attempts ; TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/gedit /etc/default/grub
May 19 21:37:22 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): authentication failure; logname=ash uid=0 euid=0 tty=/dev/pts/0 ruser= rhost= user=ash
May 19 21:37:25 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:37:25 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:37:25 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): conversation failed
May 19 21:37:25 ash-desktop sudo: pam_unix(sudo:auth): auth could not identify password for [ash]
May 19 21:37:25 ash-desktop sudo: ash : 3 incorrect password attempts ; TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/gedit /etc/default/grub
May 19 21:37:48 ash-desktop sudo: ash : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/bin/gedit /etc/default/grub
May 19 21:39:44 ash-desktop sudo: ash : TTY=pts/0 ; PWD=/home/ash ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/usr/sbin/update-grub
May 19 21:41:04 ash-desktop gdm-session-worker[1056]: pam_unix(gdm-autologin:session): session opened for user ash by (uid=0)
May 19 21:41:04 ash-desktop gdm-session-worker[1056]: pam_ck_connector(gdm-autologin:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0
Click to expand...

That was trying to open gedit in the terminal and the password wasn't working until it finally let me in.
 
hmm, if I had to guess I would say it maybe due to out of date packages, maybe: libpam-modules, libpam0g, or sudo (or any other ubuntu related PAM packages). Or if they are up to date, possibly the result of corrupted or incorrect config files for those packages. Maybe give the files in /etc/pam.d/ a check over.

You could try removing all the configs and everything relevant to those packages & reinstalling the latest versions from scratch.

Failing that, maybe time for a clean install? :(
 
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It is a clean install.

This has happened with every version from 8.04 onwards. I'm no Linux expert but it seems to have the Ubuntu forum members stumped as well as i haven't found a solution.

EDIT - You see the trouble is, it's going to take some time just to try and get into the package manager!
 
Getting somewhere now.

It isn't a fix but it certainly helps.

libpam-alreadyloggedin
PAM module to skip password authentication for logged users
Click to expand...

Just installed that package, so now i have use of my system without all the password requests.

I still find it strange how i can set it to auto-login and the password works but when i have to type it in it just doesn't register first time around.

And no i haven't got 'caps-lock' on! :D
 
The keys are fine.

It's not a common problem at all, there is hardly anyone with a similar problem that i could find on the Ubuntu forums.

I'm using a USB wireless keyboard, maybe it doesn't like that? In the BIOS there is an option to choose support from BIOS or OS, whether this has anything to do with it i'm not sure.

I've since moved on to Fedora and these problems no longer exist.
 
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