Ubuntu login loop 14.04.2

I just recently started using Ubuntu and have run into the first problem that I have not been able to solve with a few hours of web browsing so I thought I would ask here.

I'm currently experiencing the 14.04 login loop that other users have been reporting on these forums. To summarize the problem: After getting to the Ubuntu login screen and typing in my password, my PC briefly (for less than a second or two) looks like it's going to log in, but then just takes me back to the login screen. The guest account works fine though and lets me log in without a problem.
Additionally, I am using an AMD R9 270x which may be the cause of the loop (looking into that).

Now I know that this has been reported by several other users, and I have tried a few of the solutions presented, but it was while trying another solution today that I ran into something interesting.

Using Ctrl + Alt + F2 to get to the terminal I was hoping to follow the instructions provided here.
I made it to the section where I was supposed to enter

ls -ld ~/.*authority

and was met with the following error:

ls: cannot access /home/username/.*authority: no such file or directory

My question is twofold:
Can I fix this and if so where should I look on how to fix this?

On a possibly related note, whenever I access the terminal via the method above I always notice the following lines:

[ 84.456557] Mount of device (uid: 1090) not owned by requested user (uid: 1000)

[ 84.456611] Reading sb failed; rc = [-1]

mount: Operation not permitted

I am not sure if this is contributing to the error message above, or if this is a separate issue (or a non-issue).

It should be noted that a complete reinstall of Ubuntu is an option for me, but I'd rather learn to fix this problem.

P.S. apologies for any poor formatting, writing this on a tablet sucks (I miss Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V).

EDIT: Found a solution here: 14.04: login loops back on itself - ecryptfs

May be a problem with the graphics hardware...

Try the solutions described in the following link:

14.04 Freeze on Splash after Installing NVIDIA Drivers

Hope this help.