Ever since I ran startx in order to switch from CLI to GUI mode yesterday, I haven't been able to get into Ubuntu 12.04. In other words, I see only a dark screen. In the past I was able to switch to GUI by using exit, but no longer.

Now the screen just goes dark after I log in each time. Luckily my computer hosts both Ubuntu 12.04 and Mint 11. Even now Mint boots up only in terminal mode but I can enter startx to get into GUI.

How can I troubleshoot this dark-screen post-login problem? Thanks very much.

julianvb

That usually means it/you selected the wrong video driver.

Where can I find the system's video drivers and which one is correct? My main need is to be able to get into Ubuntu 12.04.
If I can get into it, there is nothing I can do, short of running the Ubuntu 12.04 live CD. Thanks.

julianvb

Take a look at the link below which has a number of example commands to obtain that info with lspci.

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-t...ard-installed/

You could check the System Settings, the gear icon and look for an option to install drivers or a driver manager.

(1) I've run Ubuntu boot-repair, which does not seem to help much. I think startx may be in trouble. When I run
startx, I see the following screen response.

Xauth: error on blocking authority file /home/jul/.Xauthority
Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock and start again.

Please consult The X.Org Foundation support at http://wiki.Xorg for help.
ddxSigGiveUp: closing log
No protocol specified
Xinit: giving up
Xinit: Unable to connect to X server: Resources temporaily unavailable.
Xinit: server error
Xauth: error in locking authority file /home/jul/.Xauthority

(2) If I boot up in text mode, can I somehow go online by specifying a display? When I try the following command after specifying text mode via Grub, Linux says "No display is specified"

firefox www.google.com


julianvb

Hi, Everyone,

I've just solved my GUI problem currently under discussion by implementing a nifty suggestion from James Hicks, a fellow member of www.twuug.org. It consisted of removing the .Xauthority file from my Ubuntu home directory.

Thank you all for your enthusiastic help and advice.

julianvb