[SOLVED] Ubuntu stuck at desktop w/ frozen mouse after apt-upgrade

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 10:16 AM

Hello everyone,

I don't know what went wrong but i'm now able to do almost nothing.. The mouse remain stucked at desktop and nothing works, no keyboard shortcuts even..

The only thing I was doing before it happened was apt-get upgrade which returned some error code (1) and executed the following commands in a hope of removing the screen flickering

Code:

$ cvt 1366 768
# 1368x768 59.88 Hz (CVT) hsync: 47.79 kHz; pclk: 85.25 MHz
Modeline "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync

Code:

xrandr --newmode "1366x768_60.00"   85.25  1366 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync

Code:

xrandr --addmode LVDS "1366x768_60.00"

Code:

xrandr --output LVDS --mode "1366x768_60.00"

Reference of above commands-- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1622639

Then i saw 'restart to finish installing updates' at the indicator applet.. I thought ok, let it install the ones which it can and restarted.. But now i cant do anything... it goes to desktop just to hang... nothing works..

Tried recovery mode but it too gets hung-up in somewhere middle..

Here's the boot.log file:fsck from util-linux-ng 2.17.2

Code:

/dev/sda7: clean, 152379/2629632 files, 3134860/10498469 blocks
init: udevtrigger main process (340) terminated with status 1

init: udevtrigger post-stop process (356) terminated with status 1

init: udevmonitor main process (339) killed by TERM signal

Currently, im in the live desktop environment.. (that try before install option)

Also, at the grub bootloader screen, the timeout for automatic boot-up of selected os too isn't displayed.. Yes, i'n on dual-boot with Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7.

Please help me folks. I have to get it up again, don't want to do a re-install again...

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 11:30 AM

This may be a little earlier, but i really need to get it sorted.. Anyone please?
Update- after some unsuccessful messing around to solve the problem, i ended up in destroying grub and now the menu list even doesn't appear..
It boots to the grub-rescue> screen and i'm all lost here.

Update- Solved the corrupt grub problem but main problem still persists..

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 02:09 PM

99 views still no reply.. No one?

davec51 · 04-03-2011, 06:02 PM

I had the same experience with an Ubuntu upgrade yesterday. I just used Wubi to reinstall the os, so I'm sorry that I can't help you. When the car breaks down, maybe it's best to trade it in.

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 08:30 PM

Yeah.. It seems so..
But I'll try atleast once to chroot to the actual installation and run apt-get upgrade --fix-missing, maybe this could help..
Linux can be rock stable at times, but can also be head itching pain at times.. But i still love it. :P
And, thanks for the reply though..

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 08:53 PM

Apart from the home directory, which other directories should i backup? And is there any way to backup applications even or atleast the list of packages installed by me?
And can i somehow use the debs in the apt-cache install or update my programs quickly?
You see, i'm on a dialup connection.. Its a pain to do all these things again and again..

clayb226 · 04-03-2011, 09:29 PM

Did you try to boot up in text mode only? If I remember right, you just hit e when grub list comes up, and type text to the end of the boot command, or possibly single user mode.

EzioAuditore · 04-03-2011, 09:52 PM

Can you be a little bit more detailed? I'm quite new to linux. And what i'm supposed to do after booting to text only mode?

theKbStockpiler · 04-03-2011, 11:08 PM

After your computer boots and you log on ,press Control- Alt- and then any f key at the top from f2 through F6. These keys have to be pressed at the same time. You should get a "console" screen which is an interface that does not include (X Windows System) so you will have no graphics capabilties. The mouse is included in X so no mouse also. Then you can use BASH to run commands which is usually pretty easy. You may have problems that effect this as well. There should be other ways to do this at your login prompt as well. A search I did which returned some results are http://www.google.com/search?q=Back+up+to+previous+version+of+Ubuntu&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US

fficial&client=firefox-a#sclient=psy&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=Brb&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&source=hp&q=Back+up+Revert+to+previous+version+of+Ubuntu&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&fp=a8ab2fa 917eac9a2 Hope this helps!

EzioAuditore · 04-04-2011, 12:15 AM

Thank you all guys for your time.. Really appreciate it.

But I've a good news and a bad news, good news is that chrooting from a liveCD and reinstalling grub did the job, ubuntu is up and running flawlessly again. Yay!

Here comes the bad news, i'm not getting the grub boot menu, it directly boots to Ubuntu.. :S

kc4mts · 04-04-2011, 04:02 AM

Ubuntu stuck at desktop w/ frozen mouse after apt-upgrade

I am not sure if you have a similar problem to mine but......
If you have an Intel video chip (945 and others)and have upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 to some where above 9.01, chances are good that the mouse pointer disapears when x windows starts and your x window (desktop) may dissapear also. The cursor is there but not visible. To my limited knowledge there is no fix in the works for this yet.
I spent about 2 weeks, determined to find a solution to this issue with no luck. Unless you are willing to put in the time to wait for a fix, I would recommend reverting back to your previous version.
If you insist on trying to fix the system, one way to get the cursor to work is a work around, which is to hit the control button which "locates" the mouse and once located, move the locater to select and open gnome terminal. Typing a couple of Chars. and mouse movement brings up the "I" bar cursor image, and then the mouse image will operate properly until re boot, where the mouse problem will return.

There is some information under "mouse cursor disappears after login on ubuntu version 10.04 " or search for user kc4mts for the thread but there is no solution that has worked yet.

EzioAuditore · 04-04-2011, 04:09 AM

Actually, i kinda have got it solved.. Only exception is that it boots directly to Ubuntu.. I don't get the grub menu list where you select options like which os to boot etc.. I tried hitting shift while booting but it too didn't bring that up..

EzioAuditore · 04-04-2011, 06:04 AM

Here's the boot info script's result.

Code:

                Boot Info Script 0.55    dated February 15th, 2010                    

============================= Boot Info Summary: ==============================

 => Grub 2 is installed in the MBR of /dev/sda and looks on the same drive in 
    partition #7 for (,msdos7)/boot/grub.

sda1: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7
    Boot sector info:  No errors found in the Boot Parameter Block.
    Operating System:  Windows 7
    Boot files/dirs:   /bootmgr /Boot/BCD /Windows/System32/winload.exe 
                       /boot/grub/core.img

sda2: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       Extended Partition
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  

sda5: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda5 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda6: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows XP
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda6 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

sda7: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ext4
    Boot sector type:  -
    Boot sector info:  
    Operating System:  Ubuntu 10.10
    Boot files/dirs:   /boot/grub/grub.cfg /etc/fstab /boot/grub/core.img

sda8: _________________________________________________________________________

    File system:       ntfs
    Boot sector type:  Windows Vista/7
    Boot sector info:  According to the info in the boot sector, sda8 starts 
                       at sector 63.
    Operating System:  
    Boot files/dirs:   

=========================== Drive/Partition Info: =============================

Drive: sda ___________________ _____________________________________________________

Disk /dev/sda: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Partition  Boot         Start           End          Size  Id System

/dev/sda1    *             63    81,905,039    81,904,977   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda2          81,915,496   625,137,344   543,221,849   f W95 Ext d (LBA)
/dev/sda5          81,915,498   245,762,369   163,846,872   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda6         245,762,433   393,721,019   147,958,587   7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sda7         393,721,083   477,708,839    83,987,757  83 Linux
/dev/sda8         477,708,903   625,137,344   147,428,442   7 HPFS/NTFS


blkid -c /dev/null: ____________________________________________________________

Device           UUID                                   TYPE       LABEL                         

/dev/sda1        6CF4FF44F4FF0F58                       ntfs                                     
/dev/sda2: PTTYPE="dos" 
/dev/sda5        32D6F054D6F01A35                       ntfs                                     
/dev/sda6        01CBE6A8C2F63280                       ntfs                                     
/dev/sda7        219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17   ext4                                     
/dev/sda8        01CBE6B762BABD00                       ntfs                                     
/dev/sda: PTTYPE="dos" 
error: /dev/sdb: No medium found
error: /dev/sdc: No medium found
error: /dev/sdd: No medium found
error: /dev/sde: No medium found

============================ "mount | grep ^/dev  output: ===========================

Device           Mount_Point              Type       Options

/dev/sda7        /                        ext4       (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
/dev/sr0         /media/Ubuntu 10.10 i386 iso9660    (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks,uid=1000,gid=1000,iocharset=utf8,mode=0400,dmode=0500)


=================== sda1: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


    ??GB: boot/grub/core.img

=========================== sda7/boot/grub/grub.cfg: ===========================

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  set have_grubenv=true
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function recordfail {
  set recordfail=1
  if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
set locale_dir=($root)/boot/grub/locale
set lang=en
insmod gettext
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ]; then
  set timeout=-1
else
  set timeout=10
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17 ro   quiet splash
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-22-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	recordfail
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.35-22-generic ...'
	linux	/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic root=UUID=219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin
}
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(hd0,msdos7)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17
	linux16	/boot/memtest86+.bin console=ttyS0,115200n8
}
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
if [ "x${timeout}" != "x-1" ]; then
  if keystatus; then
    if keystatus --shift; then
      set timeout=-1
    else
      set timeout=0
    fi
  else
    if sleep --interruptible 3 ; then
      set timeout=0
    fi
  fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

=============================== sda7/etc/fstab: ===============================

# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid -o value -s UUID' to print the universally unique identifier
# for a device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name
# devices that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    nodev,noexec,nosuid 0       0
# / was on /dev/sda7 during installation
UUID=219f6080-7483-4507-9d41-3d2b766a0f17 /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1
tmpfs     /dev/shm     tmpfs     defaults,noexec,nosuid     0     0

=================== sda7: Location of files loaded by Grub: ===================


 212.4GB: boot/grub/core.img
 203.9GB: boot/grub/grub.cfg
 212.9GB: boot/initrd.img-2.6.35-22-generic
 210.2GB: boot/vmlinuz-2.6.35-22-generic
 212.9GB: initrd.img
 210.2GB: vmlinuz
=======Devices which don't seem to have a corresponding hard drive==============

sdb sdc sdd sde

hgsolari · 04-04-2011, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EzioAuditore

Here's the boot info script's result.

Make a new config file for grub.
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /tmp/grub.cfg
and check the differences with the one you have. All the "set timeout= ..." in your config are inside "if" statments and it is hard to see whether you should get 10sec o nothing.
grub-mkconfig should find your windows as well, unless the windows partition is not mounted.
If you like your new grub.cfg move it to /boot/grub/ and give it a try....
This is Debian's way of going.

As for the lost mouse pointer, it used to be an X problem that can be solved in most cases with an option in xorg.conf file, I do not longer remember the option but it was something like
Option "HWCursor" "boolean" Enable or disable the HW cursor. Default: on.
The option goes next to your video card definition (old style xorg). Automatation of X has made user's control a lot more obscure, but it is a matter of reverse engineering Ubuntu's smartness.

Hernan

The price to pay for easy-use is your freedom (and your dollars)

EzioAuditore · 04-04-2011, 08:56 AM

Everything's working fine now except that there's no entry for windows 7 in the grub menu screen..
I tried sudo grub-mkconfig but it returns an error at last

Code:

ls: cannot access /media/6CF4FF44F4FF0F58/boot

the uuid here is of windows's installation drive and its mounted, yet it displays 'it cannot access...' everytime