error when logging in flashes by too fast for me to read it

Question

I had to do a hard reset on my machine because my Ubuntu VM in VMWare Player was completely frozen and causing some strange behavior. Waited about 5 minutes, then hit the reset switch. Now when I try to login I see some sort of error screen but it is maybe on screen for 50ms. The only text I can make out is something about dispatcher. I even tried using screen capture software but even at 32 frames per second (the max) I can't see the error message. I can login using the low-graphics mode (Ctrl Alt F2).

How can I figure out what the problem is?

I did manage to capture the only feedback I'm getting (below). It isn't much help. I also did an apt-get update/upgrade, no change.

Answer 1

You can view logs :

 tail -f /var/log/syslog 

After you login just view this file and see what is the error .

Answer 2

It appears that this was a failure of the xwindow service to start or connect. This thread was helpful:

My account can't start GUI, but Guest account can

But in my case neither account could start the GUI. Either way, installing an alternate xwindow service solved it.