Im using centos. I had a problem, Magento frontend and admin login doesn’t work and loops back to login with no message.
This happens because of session cookie problem. 
I solved this problem by installing ntp
In your shell type the below command to install ntp
    # yum install ntp
Turn on ntp service
    # chkconfig ntpd on
Synchronize system clock with 0.pool.ntp.org server:
    # ntpdate pool.ntp.org
Start the NTP service:
    # /etc/init.d/ntpd start
Now check whether this has solved the cookie problem. If not try the following. comment the below lines in "/app/code/core/Mage/Core/Model/Session/Abstract/Varien.php".
if (!$cookieParams['httponly']) {
 unset($cookieParams['httponly']);
 if (!$cookieParams['secure']) {
  unset($cookieParams['secure']);
  if (!$cookieParams['domain']) {
   unset($cookieParams['domain']);
  }
 }
}
if (isset($cookieParams['domain'])) {
 $cookieParams['domain'] = $cookie->getDomain();
}
