Hi All,

I just got 2 new fast servers to replace some old slow ones. I use these servers for my students to login each day so they can edit and compile *.java files for my AP Computer Science classes. My students use ssh and fish:// to access all their work remotely on campus and from home.

I set both these servers up the exact same way and the server hardware is identical (Pentium IV, 40GB hdd, etc) except one has 1GB and the other has 2GB of RAM. I used the KNOPPIX 5.0.1 CD to install as Debian on the hdd.

I setup
netcardconfig to initailize the ip address on eth0 by DHCP and
update-rc.d ssh default
for a ssh server (sshd) and I added all my users with adduser.

Now, on the 1GB server, the first time a new user logs in, Xauthority is called and all is well. However, the first time a user logs into the 2GB server, an error comes up like

Could not chdir to home directory /home/userid: Permission denied
/usr/bin/X11/xauth: timeout in locking authority file /home/userid/.Xauthority

instead of Xauthority running. The user then gets dumped outside of the /home dir and cannot cd into it or into /home/userid!

Have any of you stalwart linux gurus dealt with anything like this before? If so, please let me know what your solution was! I've never had a problem like this before and I've been setting up servers like this using KNOPPIX for years....

TIA,
AJG