if u are running shadowed passwords it might be theres no entry for this user. make a backup of /etc/shadow, delete /etc/shadow and convert /etc/passwd using pwconvert.same goes for /etc/groups.

via Authentication Token Manipulation Error.

I got this error when logging in as root into a system that I think was badly installed (by me).  Anyway, this fixed that problem.  I found it interesting that this came up #1 on the google search and it’s an entry dated May 2001.

Note: The linux command pwconv replaced pwconvert sometime during these last ten years.

Note2:  Here’s a more modern (3 years old) explanation tmhat I found useful.

Note3: I still had to do a complete reinstall since a lot of things went haywire.  I probably shouldn’t have been playing with hot swapping while the install was in progress.

Update:I don’t think the kernel likes this motherboard.  Second install failed.  Have to resort to compiling a kernel by hand.  What started out as a simple hour long task will now take all night.