[SOLVED] No desktop after routine LinuxMint 17.3 update

CollieJim · 05-16-2016, 10:27 PM

After a normal 'apt-get update, apt-get upgrade' yesterday my 17.3 system continued to work with no problems.

This morning I have no KDE desktop. I get a brief flash of the LinuxMint logo followed by a black screen with a solid underline cursor in the top left corner. No response to most keystrokes.

Alt-F1 is ignored. Ctrl-Alt-F1 gives me a VT and I can login to the command line. If I run startx I immediately get the black screen. Otherwise working from the command line is OK.

I tried updating again, but the only result after reboot was the logo was visible for a bit longer before the black screen.

TxLonghorn · 05-16-2016, 11:33 PM

"apt-get upgrade" in Mint opens the door to potential problems. The recommended update procedure is via the Update Manager.

Post the result of

Code:

inxi -Fxz

Do you recall what graphics driver you were using prior to the "upgrade"?

CollieJim · 05-17-2016, 01:14 AM

I have done nothing to change the video driver so it would be the default for the Nvidia card in the computer.

Code:

 / $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: HP-MINT Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2) Console: tty 1
           Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC v: 078F100000205720000620100
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 181B v: 52.24 Bios: Insyde v: F.22 date: 11/02/2012
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-3610QM (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 18357
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1743 MHz 2: 1231 MHz 3: 1265 MHz 4: 1227 MHz 5: 1703 MHz 6: 1232 MHz
           7: 1294 MHz 8: 1443 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 630M] bus-ID: 01:00.0
           Display Server: X.org 1.17.1 driver: fbdev tty size: 0x0 Advanced Data: N/A out of X
Audio:     Card Intel 7 Series/C210 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter driver: bcma-pci-bridge bus-ID: 0a:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
           driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 2000 bus-ID: 0b:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (58.6% used) ID-1: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD5000LPCX size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 40G used: 6.6G (18%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda4
           ID-2: /home size: 30G used: 21G (73%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda9
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.19GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0C mobo: 56.0C gpu: 49.0
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 212 Uptime: 1 min Memory: 305.8/7879.6MB Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28

TxLonghorn · 05-17-2016, 09:26 AM

Go to the Ctrl-Alt-F1 command line. Enter

Code:

ubuntu-drivers devices

It takes a little while to complete that command, so be patient.

That will display the available drivers.
Try installing the Recommended one.

Check this guide, also

For your NVIDIA GF108M [GeForce GT 630M] you can force a fallback to the 331.113 driver with these instructions.

CollieJim · 05-17-2016, 10:39 AM

I tried the instructions but got errors - the versions specified were not available.

Code:

ubuntu-drivers devices

gave a list of drivers, but (auto)installing the recommended one did not fix the problem.

I finally did what I should have done first, and looked at the log file /var/log/xorg.0.log.
In it I saw a reference to 'itdb28', which is the display I'm trying to get working on my Raspberry Pi. Somehow I had stored the file for it on the Mint system instead of the Pi, and xorg was trying to use a non-existent itdb28.

I deleted the file and got my desktop back.

Thanks for your help. I've learned a bit more. Whether I remember or not...