Question : No GNOME session just blank screen with large X cursor

Hi there folks

I have a minor problem that I can't seem to find an answer for that makes any sense. I've virtualised one of my Linux servers and everything appears to be working just fine. However, when I log into the box using VNC, I just get a blank screen with the X cursor. Log file says:

Mon Nov  9 23:20:19 2009
 vncext:      VNC extension running!
 vncext:      Listening for VNC connections on port 5901
 vncext:      Listening for HTTP connections on port 5801
 vncext:      created VNC server for screen 0
error opening security policy file /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/xserver/SecurityPolicy
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/, removing from list!
Could not init font path element /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/, removing from list!
gnome-session: you're already running a session manager

Mon Nov  9 23:20:29 2009
 Connections: accepted: 187.192.213.184::53984
 SConnection: Client needs protocol version 3.8
 SConnection: Client requests security type VncAuth(2)

Mon Nov  9 23:20:32 2009
 VNCSConnST:  Server default pixel format depth 16 (16bpp) little-endian rgb565
 VNCSConnST:  Client pixel format depth 16 (16bpp) little-endian rgb565

Mon Nov  9 23:20:38 2009
 Connections: closed: 187.192.213.184::53984 (Clean disconnection)

Any ideas? I've deleted the files from /etc/X11/tmp but hasn't helped. I do have VM-Tools running on the machine but I have now virtualised several of my CentOS servers without this problem occurring.

Hoping for a solution
Chris

Answer : No GNOME session just blank screen with large X cursor

Hi,

Since it says:

gnome-session: you're already running a session manager

it looks like you have a running X manager or at least some parts of it still in the memory. Will you please post the outputs from these commands?

echo $SESSION_MANAGER

and

ps -aef

You've told you've deleted files from the /etc/X11/tmp but the files are generally under /tmp

Cheers,
K.