Black Screen after Log-In on Linux mint 17 qiana cinnamon

moisesrntr · 09-08-2014, 09:18 AM

Hello Everyone!
I have a Toshiba Sattalite M55 and sometimes get a black screen or freezing screen. I get the black screen after I log-in. When i get the black screen after log-in all I see is my mouse pointer. All I can do is restart the computer and then after 20sec the desktop is up again. This happens randomly. Then, if I don't get a black screen then my screen freezes for some reason. I checked for driver updates and nothing. Any ideas?

Spatior · 09-08-2014, 10:39 AM

Hi Moisesrntr,

I've found a similar behavior on login and unlocking the screen and it was due a faulty HDD, but the symptom is kind of ambigous so I'll suggest the follwing:

1. Nex time you boot the Mint Box press [ESC] when you get the splash window, this will show you the boot process and you may found a clue about the problem

2. Digg into /var/log/messages and dmesg command (though is kind of the same as point 1)

Question, is this a fresh install or a system that was running an got updated?
It happend to me on a modified Ubuntu version, when I upgraded from 11 to 12 or somthing like that I got a lot of problems whit KDE and some login scripts

moisesrntr · 09-08-2014, 10:51 AM

Thanks for your help and reply Spatior

It's a fresh install not an update.

I'm still new to Linux so bare with me, but what is the splash window? and where can I see /var/log/messages and dmesg command?

Spatior · 09-08-2014, 11:42 AM

Hi again, and welcome to Linux

Splash window is the image that comes up at boot time, where you see the Mint logo ( http://www.linuxmint.com/tmp/clem/co...als/37/bad.png )

Now, to check the logs you may need some time:
- Access one terminal emulator (i think is the Gnome terminal) and cd to /var/log/
- Use a tex editor to open the file (I prefer Vi but is up to you)
- go to the end of the file and from there start scrolling up

Dmesg is just a command that you issue from the terminal, see below

Code:

##On a terminal
cd  /var/log/
vi -R messages
## Inside VI
##Shift+G will take you to the bottom, then use the arrows to navigate up
##When you are done type :q + [ENTER]

Code:

##To check the dmesg output, type the following on a terminal
dmesg | less
##Use the arrows to navigate the output
##When done press [CTRL] + C

moisesrntr · 09-08-2014, 12:04 PM

I tried following your instructions and I'm not sure what i'm doing. I have to use the Terminal correct?

Spatior · 09-08-2014, 12:16 PM

Hi,

Yes this is all from the terminal.

On the Code snippets I posted earlier, everything that begins with a ## is a comment and the other lines are the actual commands that you want to type on the terminal window

moisesrntr · 09-08-2014, 12:40 PM

Hi, not getting anything on the first command. I installed VIM or VI but doesn't come up when I enter cd /var/log/
vi -R messages, this all I get
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
"messages" [New File] 0,0-1 All

moisesrntr · 09-08-2014, 12:43 PM

And the other command is to log to post

yancek · 09-08-2014, 01:06 PM

If by the first command you mean "cd /var/log", there would be no output. That is simply to change to the directory which contains message files. After changing to that directory run this command to see if you have any files named messages:

Code:

ls messages*

You should be able to open them to read with a text editor or with vi/vim: vi messages