Locale problem (cannot log into shell)

Question

hi,
I can't log into my archlinux system.
when I am trying to log into from the shell the shell resets when I enter my correct credentials (if I enter wrong ones it displays expected errors). I never had this error before. I don't even know what's wrong or how I could fix this. why is the shell behaving like that?
So I am kinda stuck now. last thing I did before the error was playing around with locales, like enabling de_DE.UTF8 in locale.gen, then locale-gen and export de_DE.UTF8.
first I had an error like the one below and my system wouldn't even display a login prompt:
[ 7.013519] agetty[537] trap divide error ip:7f28... sp:7fff... error:0 in libc-2.15.so[7f28...+196000]
I 'fixed' that error by changing LOCALE in rc.conf to de_DE (without UTF8).
then I had a gdm trap divide error.
I 'fixed' that by disabling gdm.
I can access my system only via my archlinux install usb stick.
regards
edit: I've checked auth.log, it says:
session opened for user dynamo by LOGIN(uid=0)
file /var/log/lastlog created
session closed for user dynamo
and when I open lastlog I can see only gibberish:
^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
is lastlog how it is supposed to be? or could this be part of the error?
Last edited by dynamo (2012-02-01 18:37:02)

Answer 1

Thanks for the reply...
A standard (non admin user) will get the spinning timer and not login.
If I remove the role which gives them access to see all 'Categories' they get a bit further with the following error message:
If I put that role back on, I get the same error.
For admin users, they get the same spinning circle.  However, if a single role is removed from their username, it lets them in.
This role is the administrator role (ZBPC_VVM000001)...
Standard users do not have the administrator user role but stil experience the same problem.
I'm still investigating but if anyone has had anything similar then please let me know.
We also just tired restarting the CUA connection with BWP
Ian