Comment 3 for bug 227838

I also get the error message("Failed to initialze HAL!) from a fresh install of Hardy 8.04. cat I moved /etc/rc2.d/24hal to /etc/rc2.d/26.d after reading the many trouble reports. I am now able to start hal manually with "$ sudo /etc/init.d/dbus start" All of the functionality, (network, etc) returns to the PC. But after DBus and HALD report "OK", System->Admininstration->Services shows but all the services are grayed out and the unlock button is grayed out. If I attempt to start it using " ~$ sudo services-admin", the Services Settings window appears but again all the services entries are grayed out and the unlock button is grayed out.

Note that this is a new install of Hardy 8.04. I didn't follow the upgrade path noted in many of these reports. This is with "Linux lian 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:23:42 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux" and "Gnome 2.22.1 5/7/2008" the log file /var/log/gdm/:0.log contains an line entry: "[config/hal] couldn't initialise context: (null) ((null))" /var/log/messages has several entries related to error messages apparently generated when invoking dhcdbd.