I've been running Linux Mint for a while & it has been reasonably stable since I did a clean install to 18.1.

I have 3 displays on an ATI HD6670 (DVI, HDMI to DVI & Dp to DVI adaptors). After faffing round for a while I got these running OK & they have been for months.

I turned the PC on the other day & got a black screen after boot. It was working fine the night before & I didn't play with anything.

Sometimes I get the grub menu with my boot options, usually not. Previously it sat at grub waiting for my input, now it goes onto loading LM then goes black.

I can get a command line.
I can boot OK into W7 & a live disk - the graphics card seems to be OK.

So I'm thinking that the graphics driver has gone bad somehow.

I've seen this sort of stuff: and I've read this thread https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ng-4175606615/
but it doesn't appear to offer me much.

What are the options/procedures for resolving this either from the command line or copying drivers from the live disk?
Many thanks
Update
I just suddenly got the grub options & booted into my old LM17 OK but with no DP option. I disconnected the DP adaptor & rebooted & am now into my LM18 system.
So, how can I tell if the system has a corrupt graphics driver/element or if it's a hardware issue? Cheers

Do not have solving answer for you, but from search this bug appears to look similar to your case: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1353341. From reading there, think that it might be that you will need older, or newer kernel. Hope that it can help you a bit.

I'm a bit woolly about kernels. looking on the LM forum, seems there was a kernel update. AFAIK, messing around with kernels is a lot of aggro. Given that kernel updates often seems to break things, it seems a poor way of doing things, to just update the kernel without any warning & with no (to me) obvious way of undoing it - when your PC suddenly won't work/boot etc. Grrr.

Is it possible to roll back the kernel update?

Actually, no one is forcing you to update kernel. You can always put it on hold. Though, very often, kernels are upgraded because of security patches. So it is bad idea not to upgrade kernels at all. You can always stick to the working LTS version of kernel and update just it. Anyway, there are several ways to get older version of kernel. It should be in your /var/cache/apt/archives/ directory, unless you cleaned it. Also, you can always check what different versions of kernel you can use in your GUI tool in linux mint. Update manager > view > kernels. Also, during boot, in grub you can pick one older kernel to log into it. That is under assumption that mint is doing it same like debian, who always keeps one old kernel as backup option installed automatically.

not sure what you mean by woolly and aggro.

but usually old kernels are not removed for these precise reasons.

not sure if mint/ubuntu also do it like that; if they do you probably still have a few old versions floating around. if not, i'm sure it's a mechanism that can be switched off (the automatic removal of old kernels i mean).

Whatever way I wasn't forced, it is not now and wasn't previously made obvious to me, so it has happened automatically, if not actually forced. Not least because if I was offered the option at install, what you state about security patches would override most people's concerns: (I've just looked at the Update Manager which offers 3 settings - "Safe", "Optimal" & "Everything") - mine was on "optimise...Recommended for most users". I'm not sure if I chose that or it was default but I've now set it to "safe, don't break anything" )

I thought I was. I'm after LTS/stability etc, this is one of the reasons why I am using Mint, as it is supposed to be focussed on user-friendliness and not particularly cutting edge with updates every 10 minutes...

This looks helpful, thanks:
I have a load of stuff in that directory (655 items), so assuming the kernel is in there, but not sure what to do with this information. There is nothing that looks obviously kernel-ish but then I don't know what I'm looking for.

The Update Manager shows a load of versions, so presumably that's good. What is less helpful is that there are no dates & no t much other info all it says is that I am using v4.4.0-53 "recommended for stability - Active". Can I assume that the previous one 4.4.0-51 is the one I was using before update? If I select this, I have an option to install.

I've attached a screenshot of my grub screen - I can't see another previous option (unless it's my old LM17, but that is on another disk - maybe that counts?)


ONDOHO,
Apologies, I try not to use colloquial language on here, but this slipped through.
"woolly" means vague or confused - I know that the kernel is a core part of the OS but how it functions & what it controls I don't know.
"aggro" means aggravation = problems and difficulties: like having to spend hours learning about kernels, tracking down which one I have and then deducing which one I need to reinstall & how to do it.

It looks like there are other kernels that haven't been deleted - how can I tell if they are still actually there? What will a kernel name look like and in the update manager there is a list and it looks like I have the option to install any of them

I appreciate your help chaps & am trying hard not to leak frustration!
Cheers

Look in the /boot directory. Anything there with the name vmlinuz-* is a kernel. In GRUB you can press e for edit and then edit the displayed boot line to point to a kernel that you know works.

or uname -a on console to find out, which kernel you are running.

There are ways to get exact time of installing kernel that make you problems. It is by searching dpkg logs in /var/log/dpkg.log/. But it is not as such very important for you. What is important would be taking choice. Your choice should be some of older kernels marked in your update manager as recommended, trusted or something like that. Do not have mint here, so not sure exactly. Also, I do not see that screenshot, but it is not important. Output of ls /boot is good enough to see what options you will have in grub screen.

It is easier to pick that kernel in GRUB menu, under advanced options, probably. By navigating with arrows.

consult your package manager.
kernels (and associated packages) start with 'linux-' and use a versioning scheme that leaves no space for unclarity.

Thanks
Things have taken a twist as I installed Timeshift to take a snapshot of my system before playing with the kernel. Unfortunately, It runs out of disk space & won't save to my 2tb NAS. In the meantime, it seems to have eaten any disk space I had (or coincidentally, my disk became full).
So now I'm trying to resolve this

it sounds like you should start a fresh topic, explain the new/changed situation?