Ubuntu 9.04 onwards - Authentication Failure.

Ash-Lee · 19 May 2010 at 22:48

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?

Ash-Lee · 19 May 2010 at 23:37

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

That was trying to open gedit in the terminal and the password wasn't working until it finally let me in.

Ash-Lee · 19 May 2010 at 23:56

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!

Ash-Lee · 20 May 2010 at 00:07

Getting somewhere now.

It isn't a fix but it certainly helps.

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

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!

Ash-Lee · 21 May 2010 at 19:11

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.