KDEInit could not launch '/usr/bin/kate'

[Xplorer4x4]

Every time I start Kubuntu I get that message. I have to shift to TTY6, pkill kate, then shift back to TTY7 for the desktop or else I can not launch any programs. This has been covered on these forums a number of times, but I never managed to find a working solution. I have Kubuntu set to start with an empty session each time, so it is not a session problem. I am stumped, any ideas?

[SteveRiley]

I wonder if installing Boot Chart might help. It does record everything that happens during boot; perhaps you can find where or how that spurious kdeinit4 /usr/bin/kate (if that's what it is) comes from?

[Xplorer4x4]

http://i.imgur.com/bGNULwq.png
Here is a bootchart if it helps.

[SteveRiley]

VMware modules compiled while you were booting? Now that's weird.

The chart isn't too helpful for diagnosing this problem. Instead, I think you will need to go crawl through the logs and look at what kdeinit4 (and related processes) are doing. Perhaps there's a better way to capture this information; Boot Chart was just my initial thought.

[Xplorer4x4]

VMware modules compiled while you were booting? Now that's weird.

The chart isn't too helpful for diagnosing this problem. Instead, I think you will need to go crawl through the logs and look at what kdeinit4 (and related processes) are doing. Perhaps there's a better way to capture this information; Boot Chart was just my initial thought.

RE Vmware: fwiw, the modules do not seem to shut down properly when rebooting if memory serves me right. :shrugs:

Any tips on which logs to look through?

[SteveRiley]

RE Vmware: fwiw, the modules do not seem to shut down properly when rebooting if memory serves me right. :shrugs:

This sounds like something you should investigate. Borked modules normally recompile only when you try to start the player. An unsuccessful shutdown (which itself seems odd) should never trigger a recompile during the next boot. That's very, very wrong, and makes me wonder whether you might have other boot-sequence problems.

Any tips on which logs to look through?

I think Boot Chart writes its own log files. Possibly someplace under /var, I can't recall right now. There may be better tools for logging and diagnosing boot problems, you may need to enlist Google for this one.