Linux won't start after downloading updates.

Kristopherus

Hi, Folks.

I have a lappy with Linux Mint 9 as the OS. Had'nt used it for a few weeks and when I started it up tonight and looked for updates. It downloaded 47 updates and installed them. I closed it down for a couple of hours. Now when I start it , it gets as far as the Linux Mint logo screen and the welcome bell rings. But no cursor appears and no menu button appears. I tried starting it in recovery, to no avail. If I hit the Power -Off button I get the Closedown menu. Cannot figure out whats gone wrong.

Mycroft H

Kristopherus wrote: »

Hi, Folks.

I have a lappy with Linux Mint 9 as the OS. Had'nt used it for a few weeks and when I started it up tonight and looked for updates. It downloaded 47 updates and installed them. I closed it down for a couple of hours. Now when I start it , it gets as far as the Linux Mint logo screen and the welcome bell rings. But no cursor appears and no menu button appears. I tried starting it in recovery, to no avail. If I hit the Power -Off button I get the Closedown menu. Cannot figure out whats gone wrong.

What did you update??

Kernel, gdm ect ect....

Try one of the older kernels if you haven't already

Kristopherus

I only glanced at it now & then while it was downloading. I have the original iso on a dvd. Should I reinstall or download the latest iso?

pickarooney

When you get beyond the logo can you reach a prompt by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F1?

If so, your gfx drivers have probably become corrupt and you might need to run jockey-gtk from the command line. Otherwise it's probably a messed up kernel or grub issue and it could take a bit of messing about with a liveCD to fix.

To be honest, if it takes over an hour to fix you might be as well to reinstall unless you're in no real hurry to use the machine and welcome the chance to learn a bit.

Kristopherus

Thanks for that, Pickarooney. When I run that command I get the following: "This program needs a running X session. Please use Jockey-text for a comman line version of Jockey"
Then I get a prompt "c@c-laptop ~$"
What command do I give at that prompt?

pickarooney

try this first
startx

One of two things should happen - your X windows should start and you'll get to your desktop or you'll get a list of errors related to your X settings.

Try running jockey-text and follow the instructions to (re)install the drivers for your graphics card.

If you're not getting anywhere after that and you have an nvidia card the command is I think nvidia-xconfig to create a config file called xorg.conf in /etc/X11 *

Restart again and if there is still no GUI, you might try this:

sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you're not used to vi this is a bit tricky but scroll down to the video driver section and if it says nvidia, replace this by nv and if it says fglx replace it by radeon or vesa (I'm not well up on ATI cards). Save and restart.

To replace a word in vi, use the keys dw to delete the word, then i to insert text and type what you need to replace it with. To save and exit, hit :wq and Enter.

*this file is not necessary in recent ubuntu/mint configs but this is a method I've used to fix a broken driver recently.

If it fails at this stage and you haven't received better advice, consider reinstalling.

Kristopherus

There's bloody Vista Home Basic also on the hard disk. What I have done is downloaded Linux Mint 10. But I cannot see everything on the hard disk when in Vista, so as to delete Mint 9. Whats the best way of getting into the hard disk via Vista?

niallb

Back to the Original Post:

Kristopherus wrote: »

... If I hit the Power -Off button I get the Closedown menu...

If this is happening, X is working - so no need for kernel recompiles or jockeying.
The welcome bell that rings is being rung by gnome.

Had you the machine set up for Automatic login?
Can you login as a different user?
As pickarooney suggested, press CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to a console
and login as you have already done.

Then type in:

sudo su - and give your password to become the root user.
Try typing startx now and see if you get a desktop (not your normal users one yet).

Kristopherus

Tried that. Got "Fatal server error:
Server is already active fordisplay 0.
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.x0-lock and start again"

Miles above my rapidly greying head, I'm afraid.

Jonathan

Try setting your graphics mode to VESA.

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace

Section "Device"
    Driver         "nvidia"

with

Section "Device"
    Driver         "vesa"

and reboot.

That should bring up a graphical boot, where you can fix your binary blob drivers.

dessierb

Throw it out the window:)

Kristopherus

Think I'll wait till you call:D:D:D

Kristopherus

Jonathan wrote: »

Try setting your graphics mode to VESA.

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and replace

Section "Device"
    Driver         "nvidia"

with

Section "Device"
    Driver         "vesa"

and reboot.

That should bring up a graphical boot, where you can fix your binary blob drivers.

Gives an error message "No such file or directory"

PrzemoF

Kristopherus wrote: »

Tried that. Got "Fatal server error:
Server is already active fordisplay 0.
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.x0-lock and start again"

Miles above my rapidly greying head, I'm afraid.

type:

DISPLAY=:0 gnome-session

from console. If X server is running you might try to switch to it using Ctrl+Alt+F1 (F2,F3,F4 and so on until you find the right one)
"DISPLAY=:0" - run command on local display No. 0
"gnome-session" - let's say it's a session manager

You may also type:
"ps -e | grep X" to check if X server is actually running:

[przemo@pldmachine ~/sf/wacom-kernel]$ ps -e | grep X
 2690 tty10    00:01:42 Xorg

"ps -e" - show all processes
"|" - send result to next command,
"grep X" - show only lines containing letter "X"

next step is to check what is in X server log:

sudo tail /var/log/Xorg.0.log

"sudo" run command as root,
"tail" show end of file,
"/var/log/Xorg.0.log" - the most recent X server log
If there is something wrong with X server - you should see some info about it in the log.

PrzemoF

Kristopherus wrote: »

Gives an error message "No such file or directory"

I think that a recent X servers doesn't need any config - I don't have any on my linux box.

niallb

PrzemoF wrote: »

type:

DISPLAY=:0 gnome-session

from console. If X server is running you might try to switch to it using Ctrl+Alt+F1 (F2,F3,F4 and so on until you find the right one)

This is a really good suggestion, however I think your gnome session is already running but damaged.

If you roll back a few posts, and follow pickarooney's instructions again to login with
CTRL-ALT-F1 and then use sudo su - to become root, you can stop gnome,
and change your settings.

You can now stop the display manager by typing /etc/init.d/gdm stop
Change to your home directory - /home/kristopherus - or wherever.

Make a backup directory: mkdir MyGnomeBackup
move your current gnome configuration out of the way:
mv .gnome* .gconf* .gtk* .config MyGnomeBackup/

Npw try restarting gdm with
/etc/init.d/gdm start

If the problem is indeed with the settings, this should give you a default desktop.

A second approach is to try apt-get install lxde as root.
This will replace the display manager, and in so doing turn off the automatic startup and also give you an alternative desktop to get in and fix things. You could go for kde too,
as kdm will replace gdm also - lxde is just a much smaller download!

Kristopherus

UPDATE:

Guys, A million thanks for all your help. I have tried all your suggestions to no avail. As mentioned before, there is also Vista Home Basic on this machine. Even that started to crash, and, after several consecutive BSODs, I mentioned to the OH that I thought there was a Vista recovery disk around. She pulled out a box of dvds, and lo & behold there was a recovery disk there,and, in addition, the original linux dvd:) So I did a full reinstall and the result is that I'm typing this reply on it.:D:D
Again, Thanks to all for your help.