[SOLVED] Get Ubuntu working on my old laptop again

Pedroski · 06-20-2022, 06:35 PM

I really only use my old laptop as a glorified usb stick, once a week or so I back up stuff to it using rsync. I don't have anything really important.

After a recent update, something has gone wrong with the Ubuntu 18.04 system. That is the only system on that drive.

I can't login. Not able to type my password in the textbox.

Using ctrl+alt+f4 I can login. I ran an update which finished successfully, installed a new kernel even.

But I still can't login. The old laptop has a 512 GB ssd, never caused problems before.

I wanted to run fsck from the command line, but was told "the system is mounted, you will cause severe damage", so I thought, "better not"

What can I do to get the Samsung working normally again?

frankbell · 06-20-2022, 08:07 PM

I'd try booting from a Live CD of something, preferably something light like MX.

You could then run fsck and also mount the HDD and look at the log files to see if they provide some hints as to what's going on. I'd start with Xorg.0.log (in case the issue has something to do with X) and syslog.

ondoho · 06-21-2022, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pedroski

Using ctrl+alt+f4 I can login.

You mean TUI instead of GUI?
Then you can troubleshoot from within the running system, possibly even upload relevant files with something like pastebinit.

Pedroski · 06-21-2022, 02:19 AM

Oh yes, I can login in, I believe it's called a tty. That's how I did a complete update, which I hoped would fix the problem. There were no error messages during the update.

I'll try a live usb image, see how that works!

Later on: The old Samsung boots fine from a Ubuntu 20.04 usb boot stick.

This is the bottom of Xorg.0.log

Quote:

[ 208.496] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:67
[ 208.584] (II) UnloadModule: "libinput"
[ 208.584] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:68
[ 208.707] (II) UnloadModule: "libinput"
[ 208.707] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:66
[ 208.712] (II) UnloadModule: "libinput"
[ 208.712] (II) systemd-logind: releasing fd for 13:65
[ 208.715] (WW) xf86CloseConsole: KDSETMODE failed: Input/output error
[ 208.715] (WW) xf86CloseConsole: VT_GETMODE failed: Input/output error
[ 208.715] (WW) xf86CloseConsole: VT_ACTIVATE failed: Input/output error
[ 208.725] (II) Server terminated successfully (0). Closing log file.

The 3 "failed" at the end look worrying.

This is the entire gpu-manager.log from /var/log/ the 500GB ssd drive of the old Samsung, which boots fine using a usb boot stick.

Seems to me, the Ubuntu 18.04 nvidia driver is somehow crook. What is the best thing to do? Install Ubu 20.04??

Quote:

log_file: /var/log/gpu-manager.log
last_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
new_boot_file: /var/lib/ubuntu-drivers-common/last_gfx_boot
can't access /run/u-d-c-nvidia-was-loaded file
can't access /opt/amdgpu-pro/bin/amdgpu-pro-px
Looking for nvidia modules in /lib/modules/4.15.0-187-generic/updates/dkms
Looking for amdgpu modules in /lib/modules/4.15.0-187-generic/updates/dkms
Is nvidia loaded? no
Was nvidia unloaded? no
Is nvidia blacklisted? no
Is intel loaded? no
Is radeon loaded? no
Is radeon blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu loaded? no
Is amdgpu blacklisted? no
Is amdgpu versioned? no
Is amdgpu pro stack? no
Is nouveau loaded? no
Is nouveau blacklisted? no
Is nvidia kernel module available? no
Is amdgpu kernel module available? no
Vendor/Device Id: 8086:1916
BusID "PCI:0@0:2:0"
Is boot vga? yes
Error: can't access /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/driver
The device is not bound to any driver.
Vendor/Device Id: 10de:134f
BusID "PCI:1@0:0:0"
can't open /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/boot_vga
Is boot vga? no
Error: can't access /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/driver
The device is not bound to any driver.
can't open /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:01:00.0/boot_vga
can't access /etc/u-d-c-nvidia-runtimepm-override file
can't open /sys/module/nvidia/version
Warning: cannot check the NVIDIA driver major version
Support for runtimepm not detected.
You can override this check at your own risk by creating the /etc/u-d-c-nvidia-runtimepm-override file.
Is nvidia runtime pm supported for "0x134f"? no
Checking power status in /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power
Error while opening /proc/driver/nvidia/gpus/0000:01:00.0/power
Is nvidia runtime pm enabled for "0x134f"? no
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Error : Failed to open /dev/dri
Does it require offloading? no
last cards number = 2
Has amd? no
Has intel? yes
Has nvidia? yes
How many cards? 2
Has the system changed? No
Intel IGP detected
Desktop system detected
or laptop with open drivers
Nothing to do

yancek · 06-21-2022, 04:22 AM

Your output shows both intel and nvidia, were you using nvidia graphics card? If so, it needs to be update after a kernel upgrade, see the link below.

https://transang.me/how-to-reinstall...ernel-upgrade/

Pedroski · 06-21-2022, 07:19 PM

Thank you for your help and advice, I seem to have got the old Samsung working again, not sure quite how.

I tried yancek's Method 2, it seemed the easiest:

Quote:

1. I got to the login.
2. ctl+alt+f4
3. sudo systemctl restart gdm3

After that, I could login, but for some reason, the wifi was not working. I tried another update, then after a restart, things went back to normal.

I have never used the nvidia drivers for Linux. I never play computer games, so I just stick with the nouveau Xorg driver.