Quick Start Guide

9 Common Problems and Their
Solutions
This chapter describes a range of potential problems and their solutions. Even if your
situation is not precisely listed here, there may be one similar enough to oer hints
to the solution of your problem.
9.1 Finding and Gathering Information
Linux reports things in a very detailed way. There are several places to look when
you encounter problems with your system, most of which are standard to Linux sys-
tems in general, and some of which are relevant to openSUSE systems. The two most
important system logs are /var/log/boot.msg and /var/log/messages.
A list of the most frequently checked log les follows with the description of their
typical purpose. Paths containing ~ refer to the current user's home directory.
Table 9.1 Log Files
DescriptionLog File
Messages from the desktop applications currently
running.
~/.xsession-errors
Log les from AppArmor, see Part “Conning Privi-
leges with Novell AppArmor” (↑Security Guide) for
detailed information.
/var/log/apparmor/
Messages from the kernel reported during the boot
process.
/var/log/boot.msg
Messages from the mail system.
/var/log/mail.*
Ongoing messages from the kernel and system log
daemon (when running).
/var/log/messages
Log le from NetworkManager to collect problems
with network connectivity
/var/log/NetworkManager
Common Problems and Their Solutions 129